THE WAITING (Ballard and Bosch book 6)(audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published in October of 2024 by Little, Brown, and Company.
Read by Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver, and Madison Lintz.
Duration: 10 hours, 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch first showed up in a novel in 1992. The Waiting is the 25th book in the series, but he has appeared in more than 30 books and short stories.

Bosch is aging. He has aged right along with the series. He would be about 74 years old in this book and he is no longer the detective that goes out and finds the bad guys, but he does contribute from time to time.

His protégé Renee Ballard is in charge of the cold case unit of LAPD.  Her unit is almost entirely made up of volunteers and they go through unsolved serious crimes and see if modern technology (like DNA comparison) can help to solve them.

This book is mostly a Ballard novel, but Bosch does play a critical role in one of the three mysteries that are dealt with in this novel. I have a feeling that the "Bosch" in the Ballard and Bosch books will soon switch from Harry Bosch to his daughter, Maddie Bosch. Maddie was involved in two of the three mysteries in this novel

In the first mystery, Ballard's car is broken in to when she is out surfing. Her wallet, her badge, and her gun are stolen...

In the second mystery, the unsolved team gets a genetic hit that shows a familial match to a serial rapist and murderer. 

In the third mystery, new evidence shows up in one of LA's longest-standing unsolved murders.

Three different actors read the parts of Ballard, Bosch, and Bosch's daughter, Maddie.

The mysteries were all compelling, the story moved along briskly, and there is a stunning and dramatic twist at the end.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Waiting (Ballard and Bosch book 6) by Michael Connelly.

RESURRECTION WALK (audiobook) (Book 7 of the Lincoln Lawyer series) by Michael Connelly

 

Published in November of 2023 by Little, Brown and Company.
Read by Peter Giles, Titus Welliver, and Christine Lakin.
Duration: 10 hours, 30 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The seventh book in the Lincoln Lawyer series is also a crossover with the more prolific Harry Bosch series. 

Mickey Haller is known as "the Lincoln Lawyer" because, at one point, he didn't actually have an office and he used the backseat of a Lincoln automobile as his office while he rode through LA's infamous traffic. Haller is a high profile defense attorney known for his antics and willingness to make any argument for the defense. But, lately, Haller has started his own version of the Innocence Project - he is looking for cases of truly innocent people who were mistakenly convicted.

Harry Bosch is Haller's older half brother (by 15 years.) Bosch is a retired LAPD detective and has always looked at defense attorneys as slimy characters that use tricks to get the guilty people that he arrested set free. 

Despite that mindset, Bosch has always hated sloppy police work - it convicts the wrong people and leaves the guilty free to continue on with their crimes. It's that angle that draws Bosch in and lets him work as an investigator for the most outrageous defense attorney in Los Angeles.

The author, Michael Connelly

Bosch sorts through the big pile of letters that arrive in Haller's office and finds the ones that seem plausible to him and he does what he does best - he investigates.

When he comes across a case of a woman who is convicted of killing her ex-husband (a sheriff deputy) in her front yard after an argument, Bosch is convinced that there's more to the case than the files suggest.

Once he starts digging, Bosch and Haller get sucked into a complicated mess...

My review:

This is a satisfying, complicated mystery coupled with a lot of dramatic courtroom scenes. 

This book would probably not be a great place to jump in as a first novel in either series. If you watch the Lincoln Lawyer series on Netflix or the Harry Bosch series on Amazon/FreeVee, be aware that there is significant divergence between the shows and the books.

The audiobook goes back and forth between the three readers that typically read the audiobooks nowadays. If the action features a certain character in a chapter, that reader reads the chapter. The other actors read for their character if there is dialogue. It is a nice touch and it works.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: RESURRECTION WALK (audiobook) (Book 7 of the Lincoln Lawyer series) by Michael Connelly.

DESERT STAR (Renee Ballard /Harry Bosch mystery) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

 

Published in November of 2022.
Read by Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, and Peter Giles.
Duration: 9 hours, 37 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The latest Harry Bosch novel has Bosch returning to work with LAPD as a retired volunteer. Renee Ballard was offered a chance to "write her own ticket" because of her work (and very ugly internal politics) in the last novel.

With the help of a sponsor on the city council, she re-established the cold case unit. It has a shoestring of budget and she is the only full time officer in the unit. Everyone else is a volunteer with different skills - a former prosecutor who helps with search warrants, a former FBI field agent, an expert in making family connections with DNA results, an officer who retired early due to health reasons are part of the team. But, Ballard's biggest catch for the team is her sometime unofficial partner - retired LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch.

Bosch may be old (70+) but he is up on the current technology and trends and he makes a big impact right away with some new ideas to apply to old case files. It's a good thing because that sponsor from the city council wants the unit to solve a cold case from his past...

My review:

One of the things I like best about this series is the fact that Michael Connelly has decided to let Harry Bosch age. Some characters, like James Bond, don't age. That has advantages in a thriller - the character can take a punch, he can run, he can romance the pretty girl.

But, over time it doesn't make sense.

More importantly, to me anyway, when the character doesn't age it is saying that old characters don't have much to offer if they can't run fast and beat up a room full of bad guys. Bosch has got a bum leg, an old Jeep and is a bit of a grump. But, he is full of drive, has no bigger ambitions than solving the next murder case and has lots and lots of spare time. 

The first 80% is a top notch police procedural. Some of the best Connelly has written. The last 20% of the book is good, too, but it is marred by a nonsensical plot point (see spoiler "note" down below) that makes it seem a bit more contrived.

It is clear that Connelly has put Bosch on a timer of sorts and this is one of the last Bosch books. I can respect that - Bosch books have been coming out for the last 30 years and Connelly is 66 years old. He still has time to end the series the way he wants to rather than have it go on in substitute author limbo like has happened to so many other authors like Robert B. Parker and his Spenser and Jesse Stone novels. 

Fans of Harry Bosch should not mourn yet. This book clearly is the first part of a two part series within the series. Bosch and his half brother Mickey Haller have a case to work on.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DESERT STAR (Renee Ballard /Harry Bosch mystery) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly.

*****Spoiler note*****

Harry heads off literally across the country from L.A. to Key West to confront a suspect without a cell phone. His cell phone is stuck in a car impound lot because his car was part of a crime scene. Throughout the whole book he has been texting, emailing, filming and recording with his phone. He is not a stereotypical old guy who has no idea how to use his phone and doesn't see a use for it. 

Connelly gives an explanation, but I think that the character Harry Bosch would have picked up a burner phone, got hold of Ballard and had her pass the phone number on to others while he was flying to Florida.

SWITCHBLADE (short story) (audiobook) (Harry Bosch #16.5) by Michael Connelly

Published in 2014 by Hachette Audio.
Read by Len Cariou.
Duration: 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

This short story was the closest thing to a straight out police procedural that I have read from Michael Connelly. By that, I mean that although Harry Bosch is the main character in this story, it really is just the story of how a police officer reviews a cold case and figures out who the bad guy is based on one new clue. Any police officer could have been the main character because Harry Bosch was just sort of along for the ride.

Len Cariou read the book. Cariou used to read a lot of Connelly's books. Now

The narrator, Len Cariou, at the dinner
table on his TV show.

Cariou is best known as the grandfather on the TV show Blue Bloods and I kept imagining that he was reading it to me at the dinner table from the TV show, which kind of ruined the mood of the story (not that it was much of a story).

I rate this short story 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Switchblade by Michael Connelly.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5

THE NIGHT FIRE (Harry Bosch #22) Renee Ballard (#3) (Bosch and Ballard #2) Michael Connelly

Published by Hachette Audio in October of 2019.

Read by Titus Welliver and Christine Lakin.

Duration: 10 hours, 4 minutes.

Unabridged.

Michael Connelly has been publishing Harry Bosch since 1992. Harry Bosch started as a grumpy older detective and Connelly has decided to let him age (unlike, say, James Bond who has been basically the same age for almost 60 years). Bosch is now 70 years old and is long past being a LAPD police detective. 

But, he's still on the hunt.

The Night Fire brings back Renee Ballard is a police detective who has been relegated to "the late show" - better known as the nighttime Hollywood beat. It's a world of homeless camps, prostitutes, food trucks and party people going to and from the latest clubs. It's a punishment because she turned in a superior officer for sexual harassment and the old boys network believed the man rather than the woman.

The author, Michael Connelly

This is the second time Ballard and Bosch have worked together. She has the power of the badge and the access to LAPD resources. He has experience and the freedom to work as a free agent - without the restrictions police sometimes have.

Typically, in a Harry Bosch novel there is a serious main mystery and one or two smaller, secondary mysteries. I am rating this book 3 stars out of 5 because all of the mysteries (there are 3) all feel like they should have been secondary mysteries. One of the mysteries lurks on the edges and is resolved in the same way. It could have easily been edited out. I think it would have been better without it. Maybe Connelly is laying the foundation for a future mystery...or maybe not.

The book was read by Titus Welliver and Christine Lakin. Welliver plays Harry Bosch on the Amazon Prime Video show Bosch. Welliver reads the chapters that are primarily about Bosch, Lakin reads the chapters primarily about Ballard. When they converse, each reads the lines of their respective characters. They were quite good.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly. 

SUICIDE RUN: THREE HARRY BOSCH STORIES (kindle) by Michael Connelly

Published by Little, Brown and Company in 2011.

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is back on the case in these three short stories. Fans of the series know that Harry has had a long career in print and he had already had a long career before he started showing up in Michael Connelly's books. These stories are at varied points in his career, he has various partners and co-workers from throughout the series show up and he has various degrees of success in them.

Two of the stories are quite short - short enough that I was just starting to settle in for a good Harry Bosch story and they just...ended. The third is a pretty good story and just long enough that I found myself wishing that Connelly had fleshed it out a bit more into full book length.

I rate this collection 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories.

DARK SACRED NIGHT: A BALLARD and BOSCH NOVEL (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published by Little, Brown and Company in 2018.

Read by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver

Duration: 10 hours, 39 minutes.

Unabridged.

Harry Bosch is now long-retired from LAPD, but in Dark Sacred Night he continues his work as an unpaid reserve officer with the tiny San Fernando police department (see this linked video to see the author explain the situation). He is investigating a cold case murder of the leader of a gang based in San Fernando. Bosch is determined to solve it, even if most people would just let it go because of who was killed. His motto is "Everyone Counts or Nobody Counts" - even gang leaders.

But, he is also working on another, more personal case. In a previous book, Bosch broke up a prescription drug ring and met an addict who fell into addiction because she was self-medicating to kill the pain of her daughter's murder.

Meanwhile, LAPD Detective Renee Ballard continues her work as an overnight detective - part of the "Late Show". She finds Harry Bosch doing some unauthorized digging through LAPD filing cabinets looking for anything that can help. The case intrigues Ballard and she and Bosch decide to join forces.

But, as often happens, there is more to this case than anyone imagined. Mistakes will be made and some lines will be crossed that shouldn't be crossed...

I very much like the fact that Michael Connelly is letting Harry Bosch age. There are good and bad things to that - Bosch has tons of experience and knowledge, but he is losing a step. Ballard is an interesting character (much better in this book than in her first one) and she and Bosch make an interesting pairing. They are very similar people, despite their obvious differences.

The audiobook is read by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver. Welliver plays Bosch in the Amazon TV show based on the Bosch novels and has been reading the Bosch audiobook as of late. In this book, he reads the chapters that are primarily Bosch-based and Lakin reads the chapters that primarily feature Ballard. The last chapter features a back and forth between the two readers that I liked a lot.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DARK SACRED NIGHT: A BALLARD and BOSCH NOVEL by Michael Connelly.

TWO KINDS of TRUTH (Harry Bosch #20) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published by Hachette Audio in 2017
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 9 hours, 54 minutes
Unabridged

Harry Bosch returns in his twentieth outing, more or less (there are a lot of overlapping characters from other series in Michael Connelly's newer books). Although Bosch is primarily known as an LAPD detective, he is now retired and is working as a volunteer detective for the comparatively tiny San Fernando Police Department. He clears cold cases because San Fernando hasn't had an actual murder in years.

But, the opioid crisis has hit San Fernando and the owners of a family-owned pharmacy in one of San Fernando's main shopping districts are killed in an obvious hit by two gunmen. Bosch and the three full-time detectives swing into action.

Bosch is also distracted by a case from the 1980's that has come back to haunt him. A death row inmate has new evidence that exonerates him and he is blaming Harry Bosch for framing him in the first place and Bosch may be held financially responsible. Bosch, with the help of his half-brother Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) has to act to save his good name, his life savings and to keep a murderer on death row.

Two Kinds of Truth is read by Titus Welliver, the actor that plays Harry Bosch in the Amazon streaming TV show Bosch. The Harry Bosch series has had a series of strong audiobook readers and Welliver continues that streak.

Longtime readers of the Harry Bosch series will be pleased to know that Jerry Edgar, an old partner of Harry's comes back to the series and plays a serious role.

This is the fourth Harry Bosch novel in a row that I thought would provide a good exit for the character. However, I am glad that Michael Connelly keeps on finding new things for Harry to do. In this book there were several new situations and new combinations of characters that kept it interesting.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly. 

THE WRONG SIDE of GOODBYE(Harry Bosch #19) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published by Little, Brown and Company in November of 2016.
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 10 hours, 21 minutes
Unabridged.

In The Wrong Side of Goodbye Harry Bosch is now completely separated from the LAPD and is keeping himself busy with a little detective work and volunteering as a reserve officer for the small city of San Fernando. San Fernando has less than 25,000 residents, covers less than 2 square miles and is completely surrounded by Los Angeles. But, they are cash-strapped and can use the help and Bosch needs to keep fighting crime - it just who he is.

Bosch has been digging around on a serial rapist case and has finally started to shake some things loose and the case is starting to break wide open. Out of the blue he gets a call from a former boss at LAPD who now works private security. A reclusive billionaire wants Harry to look for a possible heir from a former girlfriend that he was forced to break up with more than sixty years ago. He has no other heirs and the sharks from his corporation are already circling around in anticipation that he will die soon. Harry gets sucked in by this tragic story and starts to feel a real connection.

Harry tries to balance his commitment to this private investigation with his commitment to the San Fernando Police Department when things start to get very dangerous with both cases...

For fans of Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer), he makes several brief appearances.

This was an excellent audiobook. Titus Welliver reads this audiobook and he has an excellent feel for Harry Bosch. He ought to since he plays him on Amazon's television adaption of the series. He delivers the feel of urgency to catch the criminal and the patience that all hunters must display. I blew right through this audiobook, listening to it at every opportunity.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Wrong Side of Goodbye. 

THE CROSSING (Harry Bosch #20) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published in November of 2015 by Hachette Audio
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes
Unabridged

In The Crossing Harry Bosch is newly retired from LAPD - a forced retirement due to a suspension due to a rules infraction. Harry's past caught up to him - too many people in too many important places are tired of Harry's "screw protocol - I'm going to solve this case" attitude.

So, Harry is now unemployed. He's suing the department. He's restoring an old motorcycle - a project that he's been looking forward to for a long time. And, he is miserable. 

His goal has always been to solve murders. It's practically his reason for his existence. Now, he has no more murders to solve because he is off the force.

Along comes his half brother, Mickey, the defense attorney, also known as "the Lincoln Lawyer" with a proposal. He wants him to do a little work on a murder case as an investigator for the defense because his regular investigator was hurt in a suspicious motorcycle accident. Normally, Harry would have nothing to do with a defense lawyer. In his mind, they get murderers off the hook and he'd be a traitor to everything he worked for his entire career.

Titus Welliver, the narrator of this audiobook, portraying
Harry Bosch in Amazon Video's series Bosch.

But, against his better instincts he agrees to look at the file. And, once he starts digging into the case he notices a few loose ends. And, he can't help pulling on those loose ends, even if it means he has to cross over to the other side...

Just to be fair, I have enjoyed every Harry Bosch novel but one. Quite simply, I am a fan of the series and of the author. This book is a solid addition to the series. I enjoyed the procedural part of the story and the internal struggles of Bosch as he struggles with the concept of crossing over to the defense (thus, the title). But, in the end, the resolution of the case was not as clear as the characters in the story believe it to be. 

Titus Welliver, the actor who portrays Harry Bosch on the Amazon Video television series. He does a great job. He totally gets Bosch's grumpy side.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. 

This audiobook can be purchased on Amazon.com here: The Crossing.

THE BURNING ROOM (Harry Bosch #17) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published by Hachette Audio in November of 2014
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 10 hours, 11 minutes
Unabridged

The Burning Room feels like the beginning of the end to the long, productive career of LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, Bosch and his new partner work on two different cold cases. One case is unique in that the murder victim just died but the shot that killed him was fired years before - the injury finally overwhelmed him. 

The second case is personal to Bosch's new partner, Lucia "Lucy" Soto. As a child, she was in a day care that was operated in the basement of an apartment building when someone set fire to the garbage in another part of the basement with a Molotov cocktail sort of device. The resulting fire killed a number of the children and their teacher. Since Soto has such a personal stake in this case she should preclude herself from it - but Bosch works it so that they can re-open the case as part of another case.

Michael Connelly. Photo by
Mark DeLong Photography

While the cases were interesting, the interplay between Bosch and Soto really got my attention. Clearly, Bosch has found a detective that shares his level of commitment and he is happy to coach her - he offers critiques when needed and praise when deserved and she works hard to figure out what he does that makes him such a good detective.

Everything points to Bosch moving on to greener pastures. This is the 17th Harry Bosch book ) and he is approaching the age of forced retirement. He reminisces about old cases (he has a point to them so he is not just telling stories just to tell them), he leaves it to his partner to use the technology stuff, including internet searches. He does the old school stuff, like looking at newspaper clippings and picking locks with paper clips. Together they make a powerful team and Bosch seems to delight in telling people that they pair old detectives with the most talented newest ones so that they can learn. I am a teacher and I recognize the relationship as being the same that I have had with student teachers - mentor and mentee.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly even though Bosch seems to be moving out to make room for Soto, especially with the surprise ending. 

The audiobook was read by Titus Welliver who plays Harry Bosch in Amazon's adaptation of the series for streaming video. I have heard Welliver do several Robert B. Parker audiobooks - he was not bad with those but he is much better with this book. That is not surprising though - Connelly's books always do well as audiobooks. They read like they were designed to be read aloud.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: The Burning Room (A Harry Bosch Novel)

THE BRASS VERDICT (Lincoln Lawyer/Mickey Haller #2) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

When Harry Met Mickey

Published by Hachette Audio in 2008.
Read by Peter Giles
Duration: 11 hours, 54 minutes
Unabridged

At the end of The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller was gutshot, a horrific injury and one that is difficult to survive, let alone recover from.  At the beginning of the second book in the series, Mickey Haller is not practicing law. Due to his injury, Haller has developed an addiction to pain killers and has been in rehab getting clean. As he descended into addiction he has driven his ex-wife farther away and made that relationship even more difficult.

Despite the drugs, Haller was able to recognize that he was in no position to practice law. Then, one day out of the blue he gets a phone call from the chief judge on Los Angeles. A fellow defense attorney named Jerry Vincent has been murdered and Mickey Haller is supposed to take on all of his cases. Haller and the Vincent used to cover for one another on occasion and they listed one another as the attorney who would cover for them in case of emergency in all of their contracts with their clients.

So, Mickey Haller goes from an attorney with no cases to an attorney with multiple cases, including the biggest case in Los Angeles. Haller has inherited the case of Walter Elliott, a Hollywood producer accused of shooting his wife and her lover multiple times after he found them naked together in their oceanview home.

As Mickey starts to get up to speed with his cases he meets the detective assigned to solve the murder of  Vincent - it is none other than Harry Bosch, the main character in Michael Connelly's other series.

Bosch and Haller clash several times, each ones gets the best of the other only to be bested the next time they butt heads.

Haller soon discovers that some vital information was stolen from Vincent when he was murdered and he puts his whole defense team to work trying to figure out what could be missing and if it was the reason Vincent was killed.

As the date for Walter Elliott's trial looms Haller learns that his client may be hiding much more than he thought and he may even have some answers for the questions swirling around the murder of Jerry Vincent. Haller finds that he must walk a tightrope between helping the police and protecting his clients and not getting killed himself...

Some might claim that this book dragged. Instead of dragging, I would say that the reader gets to see Haller deal with multiple new cases and figure out how some of them might just tie together and give him some sort of clue as to what is really going on. 

I like Peter Giles as the voice of Mickey Haller. As I noted in another audiobook review, Giles captures that smooth courtroom delivery perfectly. His readings as Harry Bosch were so-so, but that is to be expected - they are very different characters.   

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

You can find this book on Amazon here: The Brass Verdict: A Novel

THE BLACK BOX (Harry Bosch #18) by Michael Connelly

First published in November of 2012.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Bosch book, Michael Connelly has Harry re-visit a case from twenty years ago in The Black Box. The book starts with a flashback to the Rodney King Riots in 1992. There were so many questionable deaths during the riots (more than 50) that LAPD put out rolling homicide teams that documented scenes as well as possible until they were called out to yet another death. Harry Bosch and this then-partner Jerry Edgar were one of those teams. 

Most of the victims they dealt with were people local to the neighborhoods where they were found so Anneke Jespersen, a foreign press photographer from Denmark stuck out and Harry Bosch always remembered her and felt guilty because he knew that he did not do a good job of starting the investigation into her murder due to the chaos of the riot - the investigation was barely started when they were called to another scene and by the time a true formal investigation was started the trail was long cold. The same could be said for almost all of the murders they looked into during the riots.

Michael Connelly.
Photo by Mark Coggins

Harry Bosch is still working in the Open-Unsolved Unit (the cold case squad) and Anneka Jespersen's case has been referred to them because of a ballistics match with other murders. So, Harry Bosch does his thing which is mostly starting to dig and irritating everyone else around him. The most important feature to the story is Bosch's sense that the end is near - his career has a definite ending date now and Bosch's investigation have picked up a sense of desperation - he will never be able to solve them all.

Connelly works in a nice literary allusion while Bosch is discussing one of his daughter's assignments. She is reading The Catcher in the Rye and they discuss if briefly. Bosch knows almost nothing of the book, but I was struck by the similarity between Bosch and his deep almost unrecognized need to solve as many murders as he can before he is forced to retire and this famous passage, perhaps the best-known passage, from The Catcher in the Rye: 

"You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through the rye'? I'd like – "

"It's 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye'!" old Phoebe said. "It's a poem. By Robert Burns."

"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns."

She was right, though. It is "If a body meet a body coming through the rye." I didn't know it then, though.

"I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,'" I said. "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy."

Holden Caulfield wants to save all of the kids in his misunderstanding of the words of the poem - it's the only thing he'd really like to be. Harry Bosch has to solve all of the murders. He has to be the man who finds justice for these victims. It's the only thing he really wants to be.

At one point Bosch is describing the work of his favorite jazz musician, Art Pepper, but the description fits Bosch perfectly as well: "Powerful and relentless, and sometimes sad." (p. 199) This relentless nature earns him the ire of his new boss, Lieutenant O'Toole, and the chief who knows that Harry could very well solve this case on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the riots and it would look bad politically for one of the few solved murders to be that of one of the few white victims. He wants Harry to postpone his investigation for a few months, but Harry just can't do that and continue to be Harry Bosch. 

Despite the improbable dramatic ending I found this book to be a most satisfying Harry Bosch story, full of Bosch's disdain for bureaucracy and his willingness to go with an educated hunch no matter the cost. The ongoing story line describing Harry and his daughter is interesting, especially with her possible interest in becoming a police detective after she completes her education. Bosch's love life is giving the short shrift in this story. Bosch and his partner Chu continue to float along - they are partners in only the loosest sense of the world.

On an interesting note, one of Michael Connelly's real-life technical advisers about the workings of the Open-Unsolved Unit, Rick Jackson, makes a couple of extended appearances and works with Bosch.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE BLACK BOX (Harry Bosch #18) by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on January 19, 2014.

THE DROP (Harry Bosch #17) by Michael Connelly

Published in 2011 by Little, Brown and Company

I am a big fan of the Harry Bosch series, having read 15 of the 16 books in the series (so far) and given all but one top marks. The Drop continues that excellent trend. This is a gritty mystery story (really, it is two mysteries) with a number of twists and turns and a morally ambiguous ending.

Bosch is part of the D.R.O.P program - the Deferred Retirement Option Plan. This allows police officers to work up to five years past their mandatory retirement age, with the department making the decision as to how long he will work. When the story starts Harry has 3 years left in the DROP program and he is working cold murder cases with a young partner named David Chu. 

Harry sees the end of his career coming and he wants to get as many cases solved as he can. When a DNA hit on a rape/murder from the late 1980s points to a convicted child molester who would have been nine years old when the victim was killed Harry suspects that something else is going on. 

Just as he starts to dig into this case he get called into a current case involving the death of his son of his nemesis, former cop and current city councilman Irvin Irving. The preliminary investigation suggests that Irving's son jumped from the balcony of a hotel room, Irving suspects that it was murder and wants Harry to be involved so that it will be investigated properly.

The book goes back and forth between the cases and introduces a new love interest for Harry Bosch who forces Harry to consider why he is a detective in the first place. The strain of these cases strain the new partnership with David Chu and Harry is dismayed to hear that his daughter might be interested in police work as well (but proud as she participates in a target shooting contest).

Like all of the books in this series, The Drop is often brooding and intense as the reader watches Harry pursue the case over everything else. Simply one of the  best series going.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Drop (Harry Bosch #17) by Michael Connelly. 

The Reversal (Harry Bosch #16 and Mickey Haller #4 ) by Michael Connelly

Not the best Harry Bosch (or Mickey Haller) book but solid enough

Published in 2010 by Little, Brown and Company
389 pages

Bosch and Haller are half brothers, as has already come out if you follow the series. Bosch has become a bit more domesticated, now that he is a full time dad and has a niece and a brother and an ex-sister-in-law and I am not sure if I like it. I like the brooding intensity of the earlier installments of the  Bosch series.

Not that The Reversal does not have its creepy moments, its dramatic moments and action. It has all of that, but it just didn't feel like a Bosch book - and that was all because of the inclusion of Haller and the fact that it was a hybrid book.

In The Reversal defense attorney Mickey Haller has been asked to step in as a special prosecutor in a 24 year old case involving a child murder. The case was resolved 24 years ago but a DNA test has cast doubt on the verdict and a court has ordered the conviction to be reversed. The prosecutor has chosen Haller to re-try the case and Haller has picked his ex-wife to help and Bosch to be his investigator.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Reversal by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on January 1, 2012.

Lost Light (Harry Bosch #9) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Tremendous. Unbelievably strong.

Published in 2003 by Hachette Audio.

Read by Len Cariou.

Duration: 19 hours, 37 minutes.

Unabridged.

Allow me a rare moment to gush over Lost Light by Michael Connelly. I've reviewed over 500 books and rarely do I gush, so please permit me this indulgence.

Harry Bosch has retired. He no longer has the power and the protection of the badge. He also no longer has the limits and restraints of a cop.

He is enticed to start investigating a case that he never solved and soon gets sucked into way more than he bargained for. Connelly leads us into the dark world of criminal conspiracies, police bureaucracy and the FBI counter-terrorism unit.

Len Cariou, the narrator, did such a strong job that I can honestly say that I have never heard a better job of narration, and maybe only one or two that equal his effort. Cariou is especially strong reading the part of Lawton Cross, a former LAPD detective who is a quadriplegic due to an injury sustained in a shootout. I know we have a fascination with assigning spoken word Grammies to politicians reading their own books lately, but I have to wonder how readers like Cariou get overlooked when they do this kind of quality work.

Michael Connelly

The FBI interview scene with Lawton Cross is so strong that when it ended I actually had to turn of my car's stereo and drive the last few minutes to work in silence. That kind of power in a piece of throwaway pulp fiction is appreciated.

Fun moments:

Harry Bosch at the computer trying to use a search engine. Maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but Connelly made it entertaining, light and one of the pivotal moments of the book all at the same time.

Watch for a brief interaction with Robert Crais's Elvis Cole character. No words are exchanged, so you've got to pay close attention.

Bravo.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Lost Light by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on March 11, 2008.

The Narrows (Harry Bosch #10) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Thoroughly enjoyable audiobook

Published by Hachette Audio in 2004.
Read by Len  Cariou
Duration: 11 hours, 1 minute.

Unabridged.

Fans of Harry Bosch know that he is named for the Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch the painter specialized in sweeping panoramic paintings of hell, with details of how individual sinners were being gouged, burned and otherwise tormented by gleeful demons. Connelly has commented many times that Harry Bosch is meant to be our tour guide through the hellish side of Los Angeles - the world of serial killers, hidden sins and chaos. Interestingly, Bosch the detective sits in his house high in the hills of Los Angeles looking down on the panorama of it all, just as the viewer of a Bosch painting sees hell from high above.

In The Narrows, Bosch spends a great deal of time in Las Vegas. It would not be inappropriate to say that Vegas is "Sodom" to LA's "Gomorrah" - twins in sin. Bosch is worried that his daughter is growing up in Las Vegas and he is living there part-time trying to be the best father he can be. But, mostly he's in and out of Vegas on business in this story. Bosch investigates the death of a friend, confronts the FBI, encounters hookers, bikers and just some plain old lost souls all while hunting a killer and trying to be a dad. Besides being a Bosch book, it's also the sequel to two other books in the Connelly family of books: The Poet

Michael Connelly

and Blood Work.

I listened to this as a book on tape and found it thoroughly enjoyable and a welcome diversion during my daily commute. Len Cariou narrates and he does a fantastic job of finding Bosch's "voice". 5 stars for Cariou. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Narrows (Harry Bosch)

Reviewed on April 3, 2008.

Angels Flight (Harry Bosch #6) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Race is THE issue in this great mystery

Published by Hachette Audio
Read by Dick Hill*
Duration: 10 hours, 55 minutes.
Unabridged

Angels Flight, an early installment in the Harry Bosch series, is as good as the rest in the series meaning, at least in my mind, it is a proud member of one of the best set of detective novels currently being produced.

Michael Connelly's books are usually deep and gritty and this one is no different. The lead character is Harry Bosch, the leader of a 3 detective team in the LAPD that is assigned an unusually sensitive case. A well-known civil rights attorney that has successfully sued LAPD over and over again for violations of federal civil rights laws has been murdered on the eve of an especially notorious case against the LAPD. Of course, everyone inside LAPD and out believe that a police officer killed him in a fit of revenge and the city is seething.

Set just a few years after the Rodney King riots and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Los Angeles is racially tense, to say the least. This works well with one of the main themes of the entire series - Harry Bosch's name. Harry's real name is Hieronymus Bosch. If you are not familiar with Hieronymus Bosch let me explain. The real Hieronymus Bosch is a Renaissance painter that painted detailed and fanciful paintings of the torments of hell, including demons, strange creatures and their victims. Connelly often presents Harry Bosch as a man walking among the sites and smells of hell - torture, betrayal, riots and the literal burning of parts of the city in protest are the backdrop of this moody, brooding book.

Michael Connelly

Connelly deftly handles the tricky topic of racial discrimination and issues of black and white in this book. While the case is being worked race tints every aspect of the case - Black vs. White vs. Blue (LAPD) is a frequent topic that is discussed - not overtly but neatly inserted as conversations that flow quite naturally in the context of the story.

I heard this book as an audiobook and it was truly a joy to hear Dick Hill's narration*. He's done several of Connelly's novels and I've never been disappointed with any that he's narrated. He is as good as it gets.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Angels Flight by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on December 19, 2008.

*Note: This audiobook has been re-recorded. The version with Dick Hill as the narrator can be tricky to find. 

The Black Ice (Harry Bosch #2) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Not the best Bosch book, which means that it is merely very, very good and not excellent

Originally published in 1993.
Audiobook originally published in 1998 by Brilliance Audio.

Read by Dick Hill.
11 hours, 11 minutes.

Unabridged.

Connelly's Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch is named after a Renaissance painter who specialized in fanciful and gruesome visions of hell from high above and detailed looks at the tortures that it holds for its residents. Hieronymus Bosch is designed to be our guide through the modern hell of Los Angeles - at least that's the way it seems to the Hollywood Homicide Division.

Fittingly, The Black Ice starts with Harry Bosch watching a wildfire burn part of the canyon below his home. His thoughts are interrupted with a radio call about a homicide and Bosch descends the mountain into the madness. A long, complicated case unrolls for Bosch as he goes against direct orders and privately investigates the presumed suicide of a narcotics and I will go no further so as to avoid spoilers.

Michael Connelly

Dick Hill read this installation of the Bosch series with a great deal of skill. It was a joy to listen and was the best thing about my commute for more than a week.

While not the best of the series that does not mean it is not an excellent book. I consider this to be one of the best series going right now and am happily working my way through them.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Black Ice.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on January 15, 2009.

City of Bones (Harry Bosch #8) by Michael Connelly

Not the strongest of the series but very, very good

Winner of the 2003 Anthony Award.

Published in 2002 by Little, Brown. 

Michael Connelly is one of the two best living detective writers, in my opinion, the other being Robert Crais. Having noted in the title for this review that City of Bones is not the strongest in the series, I must also note that it makes this book receive a grade of merely an "A" rather than the normal "A+."

Michael Connelly

Bosch's books are gritty but not over the top. He is principled but not a boy scout. This particular Harry Bosch novel, City of Bones, deals with an old homicide uncovered in the hills surrounding Los Angeles. Bosch finds romance, has a major career shift and it has a surprise ending. No other plot details to avoid spoilers.

You can join the Bosch novels at any point but I'd recommend starting at the beginning.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: City of Bones by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on May 3, 2009.