Crime

insufferably pompous Harry ( )

One of the strongest entries in this series.

With Michael Connelly you know right away that you are in the hands of a craftsman in both the smooth telling of a complex story and the crisp, perfect handling of language that makes that possible.

Harry Bosch, a grizzled Los Angeles police detective, and his new partner, 28-year-old Lucia Soto, have to work two cold cases at once. Things get complicated fast, especially when it turns out Soto knew the victims in one case.

Another complication enters in when Harry realizes that yet a third case might be tied to the one that Soto has personal feelings about. Connelly does not just relate an intricate plot. He also brings the characters to life as people with histories and relationships. The growing respect and affection between Bosch and Soto propels the novel as much as the discovery of what motivates the actors in the crimes they investigate.

An amusing note is that Connelly introduces a couple of real life police detectives into the novel as minor characters. He also thanks them for their invaluable help in writing the novel, which does explain some of the detectives' investigative techniques. This novel is recent, and Connelly is able to describe some of the many ways that technology has changed police work. One of the cases took place in 1993 and the other in 2004, so the author can meditate on how police work has changed not only from the last century but from the last decade.

A disappointment is the author's too easy assumption that anyone who flies a Don't-Tread-on-Me flag is necessarily an "-ist": a survivalist, extremist and/or racist (mostly "and"), when it ain't so. That flag denotes heritage, not hate. (Of course, extremism is in the eye of the beholder; to a Marxist, a moderate conservative is going to look like an extremist.)

In the author's page at the end of this book, the pending TV series based on Bosch (eponymously titled) is mentioned as if the series will actually come to fruition, but, so far as I know, there is only a pilot episode, available at amazon.com/prime, and there probably is not actual energy to bring more episodes to TV. I hope I am wrong about this. Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch in the pilot, is clearly perfectly cast to play this character. I could hear his voice throughout this novel. ( )

The Burning Room
4 Stars

When the victim in a 20 year old shooting finally dies from his injuries, detective Harry Bosch and his new partner, Lucia Soto begin investigating only to realize that there is more to the case than meets the eye, and the victim may not have been a random bystander after all.

Michael Connelly's writing has become more cohesive over time and this installment has few of the internal musings and scenic ramblings that plagued the first few books in the series. While Harry is a compelling character, it is evident that he is mellowing in his old age and he handles the conflicts with his superiors with more aplomb; he has definitely learned to pick his battles.

The book focuses on two separate cases. The first is the death of Orlando Merced and its possible links to the highest levels of Los Angeles' political elite, and the second is the devastating fire at the Bonnie Brae apartment complex, which took the lives of several children. Each case is well developed with the clues coming at a rapid pace, and while they are both resolved in a believable way, the resolutions feel too easy at the end.

Overall, another entertaining addition to the Bosch series and I'm glad that I've gotten back into it after taking along break.

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