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A review by mentat_stem
The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
4.0
This is the 4th Bosch novel written, the 6th Bosch novel I've ready and the 7th novel I've read by Michael Connelly. I keep reading this author because I started reading him in my last happy year of marriage. My mother in law sent me a bunch of Connelly novels and it's a way for me to keep that relationship alive.
I'm also figuring some of what makes Connelly great. Bosch is a character defined by pain - his personal pain, the pain he causes those who get close to him and the collective pain of Los Angeles that results in the murders he investigates.
The framing story for The Last Coyote involves therapy sessions Bosch is undergoing after assaulting his superior officer. It's clear to me that that's the glue that connects me to this story more so than the others I've read. I'm not violent, but I am currently in therapy. The larger setting for the novel is the aftermath of the big Los Angeles quake in the '90s. On this backdrop of destruction and involuntary leave Bosch starts an investigation of his mother's 1961 murder.
The plot offers plenty of political intrigue that paint dark shadows onto the landscape that Bosch has been and continues to navigate. Becoming a homicide detective,, getting demoted to the Hollywood division that has originally investigated his mother's murder have all led Bosch toward this investigation. It's not clear what solving the case will mean for Bosch, but it's continued to hook me as a reader.
Connelly has a habit of. It makes the sum of his stories a bit larger than the individual books. Having read some of the novels out of order, they still manage to be solid mysteries.
As the pieces were furiously shifting into place, there's a pair of scenes that highlight what I love about this author. Connelly meticulously describes the process of getting a fingerprint off of some paper. Bosch observes and names the chemicals the tech is using. The tech narrates what he's doing with phrases like, "here come the clouds." It's a tightly written dramatization of a pivotal clue coming into focus just as the the plot is. He follows that by opening the next chapter by describing the sunset in terms of the finger printing chemicals. He's mentioned sunsets earlier in the novel. It's beautiful and deep and a ton of character development all wrapped up in the procedural minutiae needed to make this type of crime novel believable.
Not everything in the book rises to that level of craft, but it shows up when it needs to and I'm hooked for the next dozen novels.
I'm also figuring some of what makes Connelly great. Bosch is a character defined by pain - his personal pain, the pain he causes those who get close to him and the collective pain of Los Angeles that results in the murders he investigates.
The framing story for The Last Coyote involves therapy sessions Bosch is undergoing after assaulting his superior officer. It's clear to me that that's the glue that connects me to this story more so than the others I've read. I'm not violent, but I am currently in therapy. The larger setting for the novel is the aftermath of the big Los Angeles quake in the '90s. On this backdrop of destruction and involuntary leave Bosch starts an investigation of his mother's 1961 murder.
The plot offers plenty of political intrigue that paint dark shadows onto the landscape that Bosch has been and continues to navigate. Becoming a homicide detective,
Spoiler
killing a serial killer who preyed on prostitutesConnelly has a habit of
Spoiler
introducing victims and killers and central characters in earlier booksAs the pieces were furiously shifting into place, there's a pair of scenes that highlight what I love about this author. Connelly meticulously describes the process of getting a fingerprint off of some paper. Bosch observes and names the chemicals the tech is using. The tech narrates what he's doing with phrases like, "here come the clouds." It's a tightly written dramatization of a pivotal clue coming into focus just as the the plot is. He follows that by opening the next chapter by describing the sunset in terms of the finger printing chemicals. He's mentioned sunsets earlier in the novel. It's beautiful and deep and a ton of character development all wrapped up in the procedural minutiae needed to make this type of crime novel believable.
Not everything in the book rises to that level of craft, but it shows up when it needs to and I'm hooked for the next dozen novels.