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Angels Flight by Michael Connelly
4.0

Another deep notch in Connelly's belt!

Howard Elias is part of the Los Angeles upper crust. As a very high profile African-American attorney and racial activist, his lucrative practice consists in large part of suing the LAPD for real, perceived or imagined civil rights infractions against the black community in LA. When he is murdered in a particularly vindictive fashion on the very eve of an important trial against four white officers, the administration of the LAPD recognizes that it has no choice but to investigate its own members and let the chips fall where they may. The case is assigned to Harry Bosch and his Hollywood homicide squad, rookie black female officer, Kiz Rider and a senior detective, Jerry Edgar, also a black officer in good standing. The political considerations behind the choice of this team to investigate the case are obvious. Bosch, Rider and Edgar, probably more through good luck than good management, have never been sued by Elias. That the squad has two black members obviously makes the choice even more politically palatable.

Michael Connelly has stepped up to the plate once again and treated us to an exciting police procedural that will thrill Harry Bosch fans to their very toes. Los Angeles is graphically portrayed as a tinder box ready to explode into a reprise of the Watts riots that took place in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial. As we've come to expect, Bosch continues to be a come-what-may investigator whose only pursuit is the truth. As Bosch's former partner, Frank Sheehan, comes under suspicion for the murder, Bosch's friendship, his loyalty and the steadfastness of his principles are tested to their limits.

This might not be the best novel that Connelly ever wrote. But I still haven't encountered the entry in the growing Harry Bosch canon that doesn't keep me flipping pages at a torrid pace. Internal departmental politics and race take centre stage in Angel's Flight as Bosch butts heads with the senior levels of the department, the FBI, Internal Affairs and even his own partners. Readers who have followed Bosch from the very start will also be interested in the side plot about his new wife, former FBI agent, Eleanor Wish.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss