Book ~ "The Big Empty" (2025) Robert Crais

From Goodreads ~ Traci Beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family but Traci never believed it. The police couldn't find her dad and neither could the detectives her mother hired but now, ten years later, Traci is a super-popular influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire a new detective: Elvis Cole.

Taking on a ten-years-cold missing person case is almost always a loser but Elvis heads to Rancha where he learns an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya, might have a line on the missing man. But when Elvis finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the simple missing persons case becomes far more sinister and dangerous. Elvis calls in his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, to help, but even Pike might not be able to help.

As Elvis Cole and Joe Pike follow Tommy Beller's trail into the twisted nightmare depths of a monstrous evil, the case flips on its head. Victims become predators, predators become prey and when everyone is a victim, can Elvis Cole save them all?

In a case that tests Elvis Cole's loyalty to his clients and himself, the truth must come out no matter the cost. Elvis must face The Big Empty and see justice done.

Elvis Cole is a private detective and is hired by Traci, an influencer and baker, to find her father. Tommy had disappeared on his way home from work 10 years ago. Traci's mother had hired a private detective to find him but nothing came of it so she had him declared legally dead. With the 10 year anniversary of his disappearance coming up, Traci wants Elvis to reopen the case and find out what happened to her father. Ten years is a long time and a lot of the people from the initial investigation are dead or have moved. Elvis finds a witness who hadn't been interviewed all those years ago and this eventually provides him with more clues to follow and he does eventually find out what happened, which provides him with a moral dilemma.

I discovered the Elvis Cole series in the 1990s.  What attracted me to it was that Elvis was funny and tried to be charming ... the books were a fun read.  I found the last few in the series more heavy and serious and not as much fun and didn't really enjoy them. This book seemed to be reminiscent of the earlier books ... yay! It's written in first person perspective when the focus is on Elvis and third person perspective when it's Joe Pike, Elvis' friend and partner (always fun to have Joe in a book!), and the "kill car" (I wasn't crazy about the kill car chapters).  Though it's #20 in the series, it works as a stand alone. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.