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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
L.A. Detective Harry Bosch was always haunted by the murder of a female reporter during the Los Angeles riots. Now he has an opportunity to work that cold case 20 years later. If he isn't blocked by others on both sides of the law.
I've never read a Bosch mystery before although I had been aware of the series. Although I am one of those people who usually reads in order, due to time constraints, I couldn't this time. This is the 18th book in the series. It is a selection of the Sony Readers Book Club which included a trip to Los Angeles to meet the author. More on that on a separate post.
Luckily, despite the fact that Connolly does build and age his character, there were no problems reading this and understanding who was who. Connolly's book very much reads like a television episode. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but did actually surprise me. Overall I liked the book. Will I read more? I honestly don't know at this point, but I would recommend this to people who like police style mysteries and hero characters who may not always toe the legal line.
I've never read a Bosch mystery before although I had been aware of the series. Although I am one of those people who usually reads in order, due to time constraints, I couldn't this time. This is the 18th book in the series. It is a selection of the Sony Readers Book Club which included a trip to Los Angeles to meet the author. More on that on a separate post.
Luckily, despite the fact that Connolly does build and age his character, there were no problems reading this and understanding who was who. Connolly's book very much reads like a television episode. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but did actually surprise me. Overall I liked the book. Will I read more? I honestly don't know at this point, but I would recommend this to people who like police style mysteries and hero characters who may not always toe the legal line.
Ahhh....always a good feeling when I'm reading another Bosch. This one does not disappoint.
3.5 star
Loved the first 75% of the book. Didn't like the end
Loved the first 75% of the book. Didn't like the end
4.5 stars. Harry Bosch is one of my favorite fictional detectives. The books are realistic in the police procedural aspect, but Harry is often bucking department politics and sneaking around the limitations. He has aged through the series, and is now close to retirement, which I like better than some forever-young heroes. His combination of dedication to his job, realism and drive for justice make him sympathetic, but he's nicely imperfect in both work and his personal relationships. This series is remarkable for maintaining quality over 16 books, and I will happily pick up #17 when it comes out.
The best part of this one is a closer look at Harry's relationship with the 16-year-old daughter he's raising alone. There's a nice mix of warmth and mistakes, and Harry's actions feel very true to his character, and to who Maddie is. The mystery is a good one, but not as engaging as in some other books, and the internal politics are a bit muted. Although there is at least one really nice moment where he verbally takes on his obstructive Lieutenant. I'd like to see Harry more engaged with his partner John Chu, but that doesn't happen in this installment. Not the best in the series, but a solid mystery that I read straight through.
The best part of this one is a closer look at Harry's relationship with the 16-year-old daughter he's raising alone. There's a nice mix of warmth and mistakes, and Harry's actions feel very true to his character, and to who Maddie is. The mystery is a good one, but not as engaging as in some other books, and the internal politics are a bit muted. Although there is at least one really nice moment where he verbally takes on his obstructive Lieutenant. I'd like to see Harry more engaged with his partner John Chu, but that doesn't happen in this installment. Not the best in the series, but a solid mystery that I read straight through.
I am a few books behind in the series and am trying to catch up before our weekend touring Bosch's favorite haunts. This wasn't one of my favorites -- felt the ending came too quickly -- but I enjoy seeing how he pieces the evidence together to determine the case.
Time for another Harry Bosch mystery.
The Black Box is the eighteenth book in the series. I'm finally closing in on the end, or at least on the most recent entry. The unique thing about this series has been the unwavering quality of the writing. Connelly just keeps on getting better.
Bosch is still with the Open-Unsolved Unit and, in this one, he gets to take another look at a murder that he originally started the investigation on back when it happened in 1992. It's a murder that he didn't get a chance to solve and so it has haunted him for twenty years.
In the spring of 1992, Los Angeles was in turmoil after the trial of the police officers who beat Rodney King. Riots broke out after the acquittal of the officers and many people were injured or killed. One of those killed was a young photo-journalist from Denmark named Anneke Jespersen. It was never determined why she was in the area at the time or what she was doing. Was her killing simply an incidental occurrence of the violence that was happening on the streets? Or was she specifically targeted? After Bosch and his partner were first on the scene at the murder, the investigation was handed off to a task force and Bosch never got to follow up.
Fast forward twenty years. It is 2012 and suddenly Harry has another chance at this case when the gun that was used to kill Jespersen is used in a new crime. Her case is reopened and Harry and his current partner, David Chu, are assigned to it.
After twenty years, the events of a particular night in 1992 are exceedingly murky. Some of the people who might be able to shed light on them are now dead, evidence is unavailable or else the chain of evidence cannot be proven, and, as usual, Bosch has to fight the bureaucracy that is more interested in statistics and making the department look good than in the actual solving of crimes.
But giving Harry Bosch a murder to solve is like giving a bulldog a bone - he's not going to give it up. He persists in spite of all obstacles and finally finds a connection between the National Guard unit that was on duty in the area where the photo-journalist was killed and Jespersen's past as a war correspondent during the Gulf War. That same unit had been present on a ship for rest and recuperation at the same time that Jespersen was on the ship during the war.
Harry doggedly traces Jespersen's travel after she was on that ship and begins to suspect that she was investigating war crimes. It seems that perhaps her killing was not a random event during a riot but that she was actually the specific target of the killer.
It's a real pleasure watching Harry as he puts facts together and finally comes up with a working theory of what happened on the night of the murder which we know he will pursue to its conclusion. At the same time, he is struggling with the perils of being father to a teenage daughter, a daughter who has decided that she, too, wants a career with the police. And he has a relationship with a new woman which looks promising but is also fraught with tension.
In the end, Harry puts himself and his career at risk in order to find justice for the murdered woman that he feels he failed twenty years before. Knowing his dedication to the murder victims whose cases he works, we wouldn't expect anything less.
The Black Box is the eighteenth book in the series. I'm finally closing in on the end, or at least on the most recent entry. The unique thing about this series has been the unwavering quality of the writing. Connelly just keeps on getting better.
Bosch is still with the Open-Unsolved Unit and, in this one, he gets to take another look at a murder that he originally started the investigation on back when it happened in 1992. It's a murder that he didn't get a chance to solve and so it has haunted him for twenty years.
In the spring of 1992, Los Angeles was in turmoil after the trial of the police officers who beat Rodney King. Riots broke out after the acquittal of the officers and many people were injured or killed. One of those killed was a young photo-journalist from Denmark named Anneke Jespersen. It was never determined why she was in the area at the time or what she was doing. Was her killing simply an incidental occurrence of the violence that was happening on the streets? Or was she specifically targeted? After Bosch and his partner were first on the scene at the murder, the investigation was handed off to a task force and Bosch never got to follow up.
Fast forward twenty years. It is 2012 and suddenly Harry has another chance at this case when the gun that was used to kill Jespersen is used in a new crime. Her case is reopened and Harry and his current partner, David Chu, are assigned to it.
After twenty years, the events of a particular night in 1992 are exceedingly murky. Some of the people who might be able to shed light on them are now dead, evidence is unavailable or else the chain of evidence cannot be proven, and, as usual, Bosch has to fight the bureaucracy that is more interested in statistics and making the department look good than in the actual solving of crimes.
But giving Harry Bosch a murder to solve is like giving a bulldog a bone - he's not going to give it up. He persists in spite of all obstacles and finally finds a connection between the National Guard unit that was on duty in the area where the photo-journalist was killed and Jespersen's past as a war correspondent during the Gulf War. That same unit had been present on a ship for rest and recuperation at the same time that Jespersen was on the ship during the war.
Harry doggedly traces Jespersen's travel after she was on that ship and begins to suspect that she was investigating war crimes. It seems that perhaps her killing was not a random event during a riot but that she was actually the specific target of the killer.
It's a real pleasure watching Harry as he puts facts together and finally comes up with a working theory of what happened on the night of the murder which we know he will pursue to its conclusion. At the same time, he is struggling with the perils of being father to a teenage daughter, a daughter who has decided that she, too, wants a career with the police. And he has a relationship with a new woman which looks promising but is also fraught with tension.
In the end, Harry puts himself and his career at risk in order to find justice for the murdered woman that he feels he failed twenty years before. Knowing his dedication to the murder victims whose cases he works, we wouldn't expect anything less.
There are a lot of moving parts to solving a case. Harry brings all the people and their clues together to create the black box for a journalist that was murdered. Similarly Michael Connelly brings all the characters together to feed us what we need to know and when. That's mystery crime for you. However in this book there was no excitement.
Always love some Bosch and this book did not disappoint this fan! Bosch is back with another idiot for a boss which I sort of enjoy because Bosch always manages to stick it to "the man." The mystery in this one was pretty brilliant... A woman shot in the LA riots but something doesn't add up and of course Bosch can't let it go. The tale is weaves together in a masterful way so it's riveting edge of your seat fun. My only minor UGHs about this one is I absolutely hate Hannah the girlfriend. There's no depth there and she seems highly needy. Foreshadowing leads me to believe she won't annoy mech longer. The 2nd is Bosch's relationship with daughter Maddie. The teen angst and Bosch trying to talk to a teenage girl is brilliant and even comical but the fact of how much he leaves his daughter alone? Gives her a gun? And she's I believe only 14? Ugh Bosch you clearly don't know the emotional range of a teenage girl. I just wish there was more depth to their relationship. It seems like they are strangers sharing space in a house. I'd like to see some changes there. But despite these few nitpicks I adored the book.
One of Connelly's best. A great amount of action and mystery is complemented nicely by some drama in Bosch's personal life.