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A review by weaselweader
The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
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