Showing posts with label the burning room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the burning room. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Review: "The Crossing: A Bosch Novel" by Michael Connelly

It has been approximately a year since the events of The Burning Room and these days find Bosch retired, suing the LAPD over the retirement and other issues, and spending his time working on restoring his vintage motorcycle. He should be spending his days working homicide cases.

That is exactly what his half-brother Mickey Haller wants him doing. Part of that is by helping Bosch with his lawsuit against the department. Another part of that would be convincing Bosch to work for him as an investigator. Mickey Haller, known to one and all as “The Lincoln Lawyer,” has no idea how strongly Bosch feels about such a move. To do that, to slip over and work for the defense (the dark side), would betray everything Bosch has ever stood for as a detective with his three decades plus with the LAPD.            .

Haller’s client is a man by the name of Da’Quan Foster.  A reformed man, Foster is sitting in jail on a murder charge and Haller is sure he did not do it. Haller is positive that his client is a pillar of the community these days and is willing to deal with the consequences if Bosch proves otherwise. All he wants right now is for Bosch to look over the case and offer an opinion. The problem for Bosch, more than being asked to crossover and work for the defense to help set a man free, is that if Foster is innocent the wrong man is in custody.  The idea that a killer might be out there walking free is a small possibility and the only reason Bosch takes a look. It does not take him long to determine that there are questions and inconsistencies in the prosecution case and, at the very least, some sloppy police investigative work.

The Crossing: A Bosch Novel is another solidly good book from author Michael Connelly who has been doing this a long time. Part police procedural and part mystery, the read moves rapidly as Bosch, working without the legitimacy of the police department, has to finagle and nuance his way through an increasingly complex case. A case that ultimately leads to one of the best climatic endings in this series to date.

While events earlier the series are briefly referenced one could read this first if you are new to the series. If you are, why have you waited so long?



The Crossing: A Bosch Novel
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Book Group)
November 2015
ISBN# 978-0-316-22588-5
Hardback (available in e-book and audio formats)
400 Pages
$28.00


Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System who may or may not have known I would review the book after reading it. They just want the book back intact.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Review: "The Burning Room" by Michael Connelly

The end is near for LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. He has less than a year to the end of his career and isn’t sure what the future holds. His latest case in the Open-Unsolved Unit (cold cases) features a victim who just died though he was shot over ten years ago. The bullet that ripped into Orlando Merced that fateful day did not kill him outright. Instead it lodged into his spinal column making him a paraplegic and a repeat customer of the medical system. 

 
He also became a political cause for a certain mayoral candidate. While that candidate is no longer Mayor, politics is a major reason why Bosch and his new partner Lucy Soto got the case. Politics is also why Lucy Soto is paired with Bosch. That pairing and Bosch’s willingness to help his partner is why another case will take precedence for large sections of the book.


The latest in the long running series, The Burning Room is a complicated and yet fast moving read. While some have again criticized the evolution of the character and have claimed the author is phoning it in or has hired a team of ghost writers, neither is the case for those readers that are aware that the Bosch character has continued to evolve over 19 books. Inevitably those commenters seem to be longing for a book that appeared a decade or so ago and Bosch is now a far different character than he was then.


Life has happened and while Bosch still clearly feels moral outrage and disgust his actions in regards to both are considerable more subtle in recent reads than a decade ago. He is also not surprised by anything a politician does at this point in his long career that has shown him repeated examples of the worst of the human condition. Despite the usual richness in detail there is a clear distantness to the novel as Bosch begins to wind down a career he so clearly loves. A very good read in all aspects the book leaves the reader wondering what the future holds for the beloved character as well as his creator.


The Burning Room
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Book Group)
November 2014
ISBN# 978-0-316-22593-9
Hardback (also available in large print, e-book and audio editions)
401 Pages
$28.00


Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library system who don’t care what I say in a review. They just want their book back.



Kevin R. Tipple ©2014