| Michael Connelly is back with his eleventh book in the Harry Bosch series. In this installment, Bosch returns to the L.A.P.D. working for the Open-Unsolved unit (Connelly's renaming of the Cold Case Division) after a three year retirement. The 1988 murder of bi-racial sixteen-year-old Rebecca Verloren is the case he is working on. Through straight, untainted police work Bosch comes up with a possible perpertrator in Roland Mackey. With Mackey as the primary suspect, Connelly -- through his deftly crafted tale -- makes you believe that anyone could have a motive to do the murder.
Everyone from the former boyfriend, to high school girlfriends, to the parents and other peripheral people all get Bosch's brain working. Eventually Bosch and his partner Rider start working the Mackey angle hard as the other suspects seem to be weaker or dead ends. This leads to Bosch getting Mackey's phone tapped and infiltrating his job through some clever undercover work. But Mackey's reaction to the info Bosch supplied through his undercover ploy leads to chase between him and the police that ultimately changes the direction of the story. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60% Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - none Setting United States Yes The US: - California City? Yes City: - Los Angeles Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references A lot of techno jargon? Yes Unusual forms of death - run over Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |
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