Suspect, by Robert Crais

I have been in a reading lull lately, unable to get into a book, let alone finish one.  Don't know why I am in this mode but it is very disconcerting. I keep bringing home books, picking them up, and putting them down. Robert Crais is a favorite "go to" author when I want something easy and readable and distracting.  After I brought this book home, I realized it wasn't Crais's usual characters of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, but a new character, Scott James.  I was going to return it but Walt had picked it up and liked it, so I decided to give it a try. And I  finished it!  And I did enjoy it. Scott James is an LA detective who is recovering from serious gunshot wounds some months earlier in a mob hit in which his partner Stephanie was murdered. He is trying to deal with that trauma and get back on the job and ends up working with the LAPD K-9 unit. He is matched with Maggie, a German shepherd  who was wounded by a Taliban sniper in Afghanistan who also killed her partner, Pete.  LAPD isn't sure if Maggie can work again as she is suffering from PTSD. Together  James and Maggie slowly begin to work together and on the sly begin hunting down clues about the night when Scott and his partner were shot.  Of course they forge a strong relationship which helps both of them to heal mentally and physically . We even get the perspective of Maggie, as several chapters are told from her viewpoint. It was really interesting to read about how K-9 dogs are trained and about the relationship they form with their handler.  If it sounds a little corny, I thought so too, but actually the book was quite good and I would call it a very good read. I wouldn't be surprised if Scott and Maggie reappear in another book by Crais. He sure has a way of creating believable, likable characters, even a dog.