By Michael Connelly Warner Books, 2001If you like police procedurals/mystery thrillers this is a pretty good one, although not without flaws. This book is part of Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. Bosch is an LA detective who becomes the prime suspect in a film industry related murder. Terry McCabe, a retired FBI profiler, directs the investigation. The plot is dense with twists and turns that engage the reader. No need to have read earlier Bosch novels, but if you have it does give more depth to the story. Main characters are well developed and their motivations ring true. The fact that McCabe would immediately suspect Bosch in the murder strains credibility, but if you read this genre you must accept some of these plot directions. Some literary references to the paintings of Bosch’s name sake, Hieronymus Bosch, again seem implausible and slightly overdone but do support the plot. One of the reasons I like Michael Connelly novels is that his character development is among the best, but in this novel his female characters are one dimensional. McCabe’s wife Graciela is portrayed only as an anxious, worried character. His former partner Jaye Winston again presents with motivations that are murky at best. The ending is known about three quarters through the book, but the author continues to provide suspense as the murderers are apprehended.
On rereading this review it sounds overly negative. I did like this book and within this genre I continue to think Michael Connelly is among the best. A good read!
1 comment:
I liked this book and the main characters but had a hard time swallowing some of the plot line. I thought the sections about the owls and the Bosch paintings seemed to drag on and on and on and just were not believable (or even interesting.) Nevertheless it was a decent read and I'll probably read more of the books in this series.
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