Book #77 of 2022:The Burning Room by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #17)Another perfectly competent p

Book #77 of 2022:

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #17)

Another perfectly competent police procedural with detective Harry Bosch, looking into a pair of cold cases from decades back: a shooting recently upgraded to a homicide after the victim finally succumbed to his injuries and the bullet could be extracted from his spine, and an apartment building arson that the veteran cop’s new partner survived as a child. Neither crime’s details are particularly distinctive against the protagonist’s lengthy career at this point, and they both peter out in somewhat downbeat fashion by the end, but they’re solidly interesting enough to pass the time beforehand. My only slight complaint is how silly and superstitious he sounds to keep harping about the momentum of the investigation(s) and the need to push on immediately from one development to the next, given how many years have already passed in each matter.

For long-term readers of the series, it’s the changes in the hero’s personal life that will likely carry greater importance, despite being sidelined by the novel’s episodic plot. Harry’s daughter Maddie is now sixteen, dating, and showing an interest in following her parents into law enforcement, for instance, and her father is nearing his mandatory retirement age with the LAPD. These notes suggest possible future storylines more than they impact the present, but the serialization helps brighten up an otherwise run-of-the-mill volume.

[Content warning for gun violence, racism, death of children, and domestic abuse.]

★★★☆☆

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