Book Review - "Trunk Music" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 6

1997

Meaningless Rating: ***1/2

A consequential entry in the Bosch canon, Trunk Music finds the LAPD detective commuting between Sin City and the City of Angels. A porno producer is found dead in the trunk of his Rolls Royce, bullet to the back of the head. All indications show it's a mob hit, but of course, if it was, we wouldn't have much of a novel. The mystery is fine, with enough of a twist of Greek tragedy to render it a cut above, and with a change to Bosch's status quo, this book rates fairly high on the list of Connelly's crime universe.

Book Review - "The Poet" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 5

 Meaningless Rating: **

In this overwrought, and sometimes flat-out stupid, novel, Connelly introduces the first new hero since Harry Bosch to his crime fiction universe: Denver journalist Jack McAvoy, who is convinced his police detective twin brother did not kill himself. But digging into the case reveals something even more sinister at play - a serial killer who hunts police detectives on particularly difficult cases, stages their suicide, and quotes lines from Edgar Allen Poe in their supposed suicide notes. The hunt brings him into an uneasy alliance with the FBI, and a ridiculous romance between himself and one of the agents. (Again I ask - are any of his characters capable of the simple one night stand?)

There's an unfortunate tendency with serial killer fiction to make them closer to a comic book super villain than the evil which actually haunts our world. Is this because we must make sense of the unconscionable? Or is it simply the inability of an author to truly capture evil and accurately portray it? Connelly seemed able to do it with his first serial killer in "The Concrete Blonde," so why not here? Was that a happy accident, or since the titular serial killer of "The Poet" takes up so many scenes, the author has to make it somehow palatable to the audience? I don't know the answer, but I do know it leaves this antagonist feeling closer to Batman's Riddler or Joker than Ted Bundy.

As usual the red herrings are obvious, though the twist is a true surprise, and one that isn't contrived - or at least, not any more contrived than anything else about the killer. The usual deficiencies regarding relationships abound, though Connelly does show a knack for some of the quieter moments between Jack and his sister-in-law, and his background in newspapers lends verisimilitude to a story that's about as real and gritty as anything produced by DC or Marvel Comics.

Book Review - "The Last Coyote" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 4

 Meaningless Rating: ***1/2

On suspension due to throwing his supervisor through a window, Bosch finally commits to solving the biggest case of his life - the murder of his mother, a Hollywood prostitute. As I went through the story, I feared Connelly would tie the murder into the larger tapestry of Los Angeles, make it a big conspiracy among the city's rich and/or powerful... And while there is certainly an element of that (Connelly can't completely forgo his more soap operatic tendencies), he smartly grounds the resolution, and in doing so, he's able to keep human his evermore mythological hero. Bosch's romances still ring hollow - a one night stand is never simply a one night stand, but a grand statement about life and death and love - and every plot beat requires a deep examination into Bosch's psyche. Unfortunately, while the character is interesting, there's just not much to Bosch, no depths for the author to plumb, and so this "insight" rings false. One looks forward to the quiet confidence Connelly has in his later work.

Book Review - "The Concrete Blonde" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 3

 Meaningless Rating: ****

In the greatest Bosch-verse novel up to this point the author shows early on his aptitude for the courtroom drama. The legal proceedings, while breezy to read, are riveting and full of escalating tension. Also, Connelly introduces his first, and still best, serial killer. He completely forgoes motivation for the Dollmaker (the name given to the killer by the media based on his MO for painting his victim's nails), and presents his copycat as little more than a sick son of a bitch. The red herring is obvious, the resolution less so, and decidedly bleak as characters suffer collateral damage both emotional and physical. Even Connelly's penchant for schmaltz can't overpower this exciting, twisted entry in the Bosch-verse. Only the third in the series, and perhaps still the best to date?

Book Review - "The Black Ice" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 2

 Meaningless Rating: ***1/2

It's a warm Christmas night in the city of angels. LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is called out to a flea-bag motel. Fellow officer Calexico Moore has been found dead, his head painting the faded, smoke stained walls, the AC on full blast to slow the decomposition and delay the finding of his body. Moore's life was in shambles: his marriage was over, and he was under investigation by IA for selling a new street drug, the Black Ice referenced in the title. The department is quick to rule it a suicide, sweep the embarrassment under the rug. Except for Bosch. Something doesn't seem right, and he can give a damn about appearances and the reputation of the LAPD. His investigation takes him south of the border, putting him smack dab in the middle of a cartel power struggle, climaxing in yet another set piece worthy of an action movie.

I remember thinking when I first read this book that it was one of the weaker entries in the early part of the series; on re-read, I see it as one of the strongest. In the first novel, Bosch comes across as an over-zealous do-gooder. Yes, he does things his way, but he still follows the letter of the law. By the end of this second book, Connelly succesfully course corrects his hero, makes it clear that Bosch lives by his own code, his own sense of justice. Unfortunately, Connelly either doesn't see what makes his creation so interesting, or he lacks the will or talent to fully explore it. I think it's the latter. Connelly does attempt to tackle the morally gray nature of Bosch, yet it feels insufficient. I can't help but feeling it would be best not to explore Bosch's nature. The novels are more interesting when things are left ambiguous, when we're not tossed a cursory scene of Bosch wrestling with his demons so he doesn't scare away the mass market paperback crowd.

Book Review - "The Black Echo" (Michael Connelly) - Bosch-verse Book 1

Meaningless Rating: **1/2

Michael Connelly's debut novel, and the first in his shared crime fiction universe, in which we are introduced to the quietly tortured, resolute genius of LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. The murder of a fellow Vietnam veteran leads to the unraveling of a heist and a damn good Heat-esque set piece (three years before the movie). Flashbacks, loves, turncoats, and department bureaucrats abound: Connelly does nothing new with the cliches and stereotypes, though he does wield them confidently and expertly - and that's not nothing. Where he falters is in the human moments; Connelly is reductive of emotions. Ham-fisted dialogue renders an awkwardness in the reader - I was embarrassed for our hero. But... one can't help but feel the potential in Connelly's hero. Bosch is compelling (there's a reason the tropes with which Connelly builds his work have withstood the ravages of time). Masterful mystery-thriller plotting and pacing allows the reader to easily and quickly move past the negatives.