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daif's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
marbles66's review against another edition
4.0
Harry Bosch's life is on the edge. His earthquake-damaged home has been condemned. His girlfriend has left him. He's drinking too much. And after attacking his commanding officer, he's even had to turn in his L.A.P.D. detective's badge. Now, suspended indefinitely pending a psychiatric evaluation, he's spending his time investigating an unsolved crime from 1961: the brutal slaying of a prostitute who happened to be his own mother.
Even after three decades, Harry's questions generate heat among L.A.'s top politicos. And as the truth begins to emerge, it becomes more and more apparent that someone wants to keep it buried. Someone very powerful...very cunning...and very deadly.
Edgar Award-winning author Michael Connelly has created a dark, fast-paced suspense thriller that cuts to the core of Harry Bosch's character. Once you start it, there's no turning back.
This was a great book. Harry finally finds out who killed his mother. It's not who you think.
Even after three decades, Harry's questions generate heat among L.A.'s top politicos. And as the truth begins to emerge, it becomes more and more apparent that someone wants to keep it buried. Someone very powerful...very cunning...and very deadly.
Edgar Award-winning author Michael Connelly has created a dark, fast-paced suspense thriller that cuts to the core of Harry Bosch's character. Once you start it, there's no turning back.
This was a great book. Harry finally finds out who killed his mother. It's not who you think.
brel102's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
weaselweader's review against another edition
5.0
A blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural!
LAPD's Harry Bosch is a troubled man with what the lay person would call lots of issues and some serious psychological baggage. His childhood as a county ward was unhappy and troubled, his wife has left him for good and his home is condemned to the wrecker's ball as a result of recent earthquake damage. When Bosch shoved his superior officer through a plate glass window in the precinct office as a result of his interference in an interrogation, he is summarily suspended, put onto stress leave and his return to active duty was stalled pending a positive report from mandatory psychiatric counselling with Dr Carmen Hinojos. Conversations with Hinojos on his personal life vision, "Everybody counts or nobody counts", together with a review of his family history, prod an angry Bosch into the realization that he (like the LAPD of some thirty years earlier) had swept his mother's murder under the carpet because she was just a prostitute - a life that didn't count for anything and one whose murder wasn't worth the time, effort and expenditure to solve. Against all the rules of his suspension from duty and all of Hinojos' best advice, Bosch pulls his mother's murder book and the scanty box of evidence from the police vaults and sets himself on a belated personal mission to solve his mother's murder and bring her killer to belated justice.
In a superb blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural, THE LAST COYOTE is told strictly from Bosch's point of view but Connelly masterfully flicks from one scene to another - the proverbial psychiatric couch of Dr Hinojos' office; the memories of his troubled youth as the son of a prostitute and a ward at McLaren Hall; Bosch's musings and self-recriminations as he gingerly walks the tautly strung high wire of his own nerves and personally evaluates his life, his actions and his conversations with Dr Hinojos; and, of course, the exciting discovery of his mother's murderer as the events of thirty years earlier impact on those still alive today.
I think it's safe to generalize that psychological thrillers only succeed when the characters are superbly drawn and I think it's also safe to say that Connelly has succeeded once again in bringing an irascible, self-absorbed and driven yet self-doubting Bosch to life for his faithful readers. We are happily witness to his growth and pain as he meets and falls for Jasmine, a lady whose troubled history competes with Bosch's own!
In a marked departure from his other works, Connelly has also treated us to a small slice of mysticism with the introduction of Bosch's dreams of a coyote - his animal totem appearing to him in a vision quest, as it were! It is Bosch's personal identification with the lost, wandering coyote that provides him with insight into his own personal travails as he seeks to re-establish purpose and meaning into a life that is drifting aimlessly!
And, of course, like all well crafted thrillers, the ending comes with a twist that will catch you totally flat-footed. Five stars and two thumbs up to a totally enjoyable read ... again!
Paul Weiss
LAPD's Harry Bosch is a troubled man with what the lay person would call lots of issues and some serious psychological baggage. His childhood as a county ward was unhappy and troubled, his wife has left him for good and his home is condemned to the wrecker's ball as a result of recent earthquake damage. When Bosch shoved his superior officer through a plate glass window in the precinct office as a result of his interference in an interrogation, he is summarily suspended, put onto stress leave and his return to active duty was stalled pending a positive report from mandatory psychiatric counselling with Dr Carmen Hinojos. Conversations with Hinojos on his personal life vision, "Everybody counts or nobody counts", together with a review of his family history, prod an angry Bosch into the realization that he (like the LAPD of some thirty years earlier) had swept his mother's murder under the carpet because she was just a prostitute - a life that didn't count for anything and one whose murder wasn't worth the time, effort and expenditure to solve. Against all the rules of his suspension from duty and all of Hinojos' best advice, Bosch pulls his mother's murder book and the scanty box of evidence from the police vaults and sets himself on a belated personal mission to solve his mother's murder and bring her killer to belated justice.
In a superb blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural, THE LAST COYOTE is told strictly from Bosch's point of view but Connelly masterfully flicks from one scene to another - the proverbial psychiatric couch of Dr Hinojos' office; the memories of his troubled youth as the son of a prostitute and a ward at McLaren Hall; Bosch's musings and self-recriminations as he gingerly walks the tautly strung high wire of his own nerves and personally evaluates his life, his actions and his conversations with Dr Hinojos; and, of course, the exciting discovery of his mother's murderer as the events of thirty years earlier impact on those still alive today.
I think it's safe to generalize that psychological thrillers only succeed when the characters are superbly drawn and I think it's also safe to say that Connelly has succeeded once again in bringing an irascible, self-absorbed and driven yet self-doubting Bosch to life for his faithful readers. We are happily witness to his growth and pain as he meets and falls for Jasmine, a lady whose troubled history competes with Bosch's own!
In a marked departure from his other works, Connelly has also treated us to a small slice of mysticism with the introduction of Bosch's dreams of a coyote - his animal totem appearing to him in a vision quest, as it were! It is Bosch's personal identification with the lost, wandering coyote that provides him with insight into his own personal travails as he seeks to re-establish purpose and meaning into a life that is drifting aimlessly!
And, of course, like all well crafted thrillers, the ending comes with a twist that will catch you totally flat-footed. Five stars and two thumbs up to a totally enjoyable read ... again!
Paul Weiss
sunsetdreams13's review against another edition
4.0
flawless1k's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
andrew65's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
I'm very much enjoying this series, but I do wish (and so does his therapist!) that Bosch were less angry, hot-headed, etc. I'm sure it adds drama ... how much of a novel would we get if the hero were a nice quiet person who didn't like to trouble people? But it's so over-the-top that it's almost cartoonish, to my mind. I wouldn't want to ask him "any cream or sugar?" for fear that he'd lash out at me. I'm sure the author knows this, which makes it bearable (unlike with Patrica Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, where the main character was Awful, but the author thought she was Terrific).
This is the novel where Bosch is on leave for being too angry and hot-headed, and decides to investigate his Mother's murder on the sly, in case I forget (it's so easy for books in series to slide into one another, and the title doesn't help. If it were "Who Killed My Mother?" I'd remember for sure).
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
This is the novel where Bosch is on leave for being too angry and hot-headed, and decides to investigate his Mother's murder on the sly, in case I forget (it's so easy for books in series to slide into one another, and the title doesn't help. If it were "Who Killed My Mother?" I'd remember for sure).
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)