The First Rule

''Crais just gets better and better . . . Crais''s novels are as appealing as chocolate eclairs and just as satisfying. Trouble is, like cream cakes, I want to eat them all at once'' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

''A nerve-racking, switchbacking tale of guilt and redemption...so good it gives you goosebumps'' EVENING STANDARD

Joe Pike is out for revenge and no cop, no bad guy, no one alive, is going to stop him.

Frank Meyer had got out of ''the life'' safely. He had put an end to his mercenary days, turned over a new leaf and settled down with his wife and children. It had been a hard decision but, encouraged by his boss and friend Joe Pike, he had walked away.

Ten years later, a group of armed men break into his Los Angeles home and brutally gun down him and his family. It''s a vicious, cold and professional job. The crew leave no trace behind except the bodies.

But they have made one catastrophic, and almost certainly t