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It is clear right from the start of Robert Crais latest crime novel SUSPECT that this is a dog's story. We first meet Maggie, a three-year-old German shepherd, in Afghanistan. She is a military dog and works with Corporal Pete Gibbs, with whom she shares a deep bond. When Pete is ambushed and killed, she does not want to leave his side, incurring severe wounds as she hovers over him. Throughout the book, as much of the story as can be explained from a dog's point of view is done so. The peculiar dog hierarchy, the sensory universe of this animal, the things that are important to dogs—Crais makes sure that the way Maggie sees the world is always present. This can be interesting and informative, yet often becomes overdone. Maggie's new master is LAPD officer Scott James, a man haunted by his own past. He and his partner Stephanie were gunned down at what turned out to be a crime scene that they were unlucky enough to be near. Stephanie, dying of her wounds, begged Scott not to leave her as he tried to go back for his gun. Her face and last words are in his nightmares. His only hope is that he can find her killer and avenge her death. Scott decides to volunteer to be a K-9 officer for a number of reasons, not least because he does not want another human partner. His cop friends tell him to take medical leave, but Scott wants to continue with his job. He is attracted to Maggie at once, although she is considered difficult, suffering from a dog's version of PTSD. She cowers at loud noises and if he cannot train her to withstand this stress, she will be removed from the program and from his care. The plot is not difficult to figure out: crooked cops are involved in the whole business. The question is who and why. Some of the tension is created by Scott not knowing whom he can trust and who is working against him. Also, there is the continued threat that Maggie, now bonded with Scott, may be removed from his care, either because he will no longer be a cop or because she will remain too traumatized to work effectively. When Maggie gets tired, she has a slight limp in her hind leg and Scott tries to prevent the chief dog trainer from noticing it. Scott knows that Maggie would be disqualified if she had a disability. The plot of this novel is less compelling than it might have been. The explanation for the killings seem to come out of nowhere and the culprits are not given enough description or development. A violent scene near the book's end leaves us more concerned about the survival of Maggie than of Scott, but both characters could have been better used. §Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.
Reviewed by Anne Corey, January 2013
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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