#michael connelly

Harry Bosch #13

by Michael Connelly

When a physicist is found murdered, execution style, on an overlook with a stunning view of L.A., and then it is discovered that there is no trace of the radioactive cesium that he’d stolen from a hospital, all clues point to a terrorist threat and the FBI and Homeland Security are called in.  With the feds involved, Harry Bosch soon finds himself being shut out of his own murder investigation.  Though the feds are zeroed in on the terrorist angle, things don’t quite line up, and Bosch is determined to find the killer.

Another winner from Connelly.

Harry Bosch #1

by Michael Connelly

In the first Harry Bosch novel, Connelly introduces us to his character, a homicide detective who uses his talent of observation and his ability to think outside the box to solve cases.

When a body is discovered inside a pipe, it assumed to be a case of drug overdose. But Bosch is called to the scene and notices some details that the others have not.  There’s a jolt of recognition when he takes a look at the victim’s face and recognizes a man he served with in Nam.  As more details come to light, he realizes that what looked like a simple murder is much more complicated, but Bosch is determined to unravel the mystery and bring the killer to justice.

This book ran a little long and I had an issue with the format.  Instead of using standard ‘chapter’ divisions, Connelly divided his book into very long 'parts’, in which there were no breaks between scenes. The text simply ran on, with no demarcation.  Perhaps this was an issue with the digital formatting, rather than the author. Nevertheless, it was annoying.

The plot was complicated, but the book was good.  I could hardly put it down.

by Michael Connelly

I’ve heard a lot about Connelly but never read him.  I decided to begin with his very first novel—but it was out, and I didn’t have the patience to wait on a hold list.  So I ended up with this one, Chasing the Dime, because I was intrigued by the blurb:

The phone messages waiting for Henry Pierce clearly aren’t for him: “Where is Lilly? This is her number. It’s on the site.”

So I decided to give it a try.  I’m glad I did.

Henry Pierce is a research scientist whose marriage is on the rocks because of the hours he’s spending at the lab chasing his obsession.  When he moves into a new apartment, the new phone number he’s assigned belonged to a sex worker, and he is constantly getting calls from men wanting to connect with ‘Lilly’.  Why would Lilly move on but not remove her old phone number from the escort’s web site? Henry is determined to find out what happened to her.  The deeper he delves into Lilly’s mysterious disappearance, the deeper into trouble he finds himself.

This was anexcellentbook!