As The Hollow: A Bosch Novel
by Michael Connelly begins, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is at a
cemetery. Having undergone a recent knee replacement, he can’t chase anyone,
and is using a cane for support. He doesn’t plan on chasing anyone today though
he is definitely going to confront Gregory Talbot.
He knows without a shadow of a doubt
that Talbot killed his wife years ago. It has been 25 years since he did it and
got away with it. Jenifer was found beaten to death in her apartment where she
had recently moved. The scene appeared to be of an intruder that had waited for
her to come home from work and then killed her. Bosch knows that the scene was
staged and that the husband did it.
Back in the day, Bosch was very close to
breaking Talbot. They verbally fenced in the interrogation room for a couple of
hours and then Talbot asked for a lawyer and that was that.
He still wants justice for Jennifer. Good
thing he has the help of LAPD Detective Renee Ballard and her volunteer cold
case team.
That isn’t the only long dormant case
Bosch is working and seeking justice. Decades ago, after the murder of his
mother, Bosch was in the foster system. He spent a lot of time MacLaren
Children’s Center (MacLaren Hall). Allegedly a safe place for youth in the
foster system in Los Angeles, it was a very bad place.
In a way, Bosch was one of the lucky ones.
He was only physically abused. He was never sexually assaulted. He survived the
horrible place. His friend, Charlie Edward Lamb, known to all as “Chops,” did
not.
Bosch is convinced that Chops was
murdered back in 1965. There was a place, under the stairs, that was referred
to as “the hollow.” Bosch is sure Chops was killed in that space. Now that the
lawsuit has been settled with the county, and finds will be released to the
survivors, the legal case is over. Now, through his lawyer brother, Mickey
Haller, Bosch can finally see all of the discovery materials related to the
case. That includes internal reports of what happened to Chops and other kids
at the facility.
Those records give him a thread to begin
digging into the past. That digging will also bring him into a world of
problems.
The result is a complicated and very enjoyable
read. We learn quite a bit more, through flashback scenes of his memories of his
time at MacLaren Children’s Center (MacLaren Hall), how Bosch came to be who he
is now. While it would be best to read this series in order, one could safely
read The Hollow: A Bosch Novel first as references to other reads
are fairly minimal.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4xEuMRQ
I received a digital ARC, at my request,
of the book from the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, through NetGalley,
with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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