100 Books in One Year #43: Lost Light by Michael Connelly
Cannonball Read / Brian Prisco
Book Reviews | February 11, 2009 | Comments (3)
Another solid turn out from a series that I’ve fallen in love with. It’s so deep in this series, it’s practically stupid to explain any of the plots, because this is a series that you want to read from book one. What’s always been astounding about the trials and tribulations of Harry Bosch, detective of the LAPD, is that the story ages and changes with the landscape of L.A. The stories started before the Northridge earthquake that leveled part of the city, through the Rodney King riots, and now post 9-11. Never once are these pivotal events ever paramount in the story, but their effects are felt. Bosch’s house is condemned from potential earthquake damage. One of the cases involves the court system, a jury forever warped by LAPD beatings. This book delves into the anti-terrorism effects of the Patriot Act on the police system.
I didn’t read the first one until I came out here, and so it’s kind of fascinating to know all the locations referenced. But most of all it’s Bosch that I’m drawn to. Though Clint Eastwood played a different Connelly character in “Blood Work,” Bosch is a relic of the time of Dirty Harry. He drinks, he smokes — or did — and he barely understands how to use a computer. He’s the eldest of the old school. Connelly still uses the Bosch character, with a few more novels in the series, but now he’s blended him with Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, a shifty attorney, and he’s meshing all of his characters together. Being a fan of Preston and Child, I dig when authors do that.
Bosch is investigating an old case, involving a young girl’s murder four years ago, and the theft of two million dollars from a movie set. Connelly’s extremely adept at intersecting the different storylines, and carefully meting out the plot. What I like about Bosch is that he’s human. He fucks up, he makes mistakes, he remembers stuff later, he does the wrong thing — and it almost kills him.
Again, I’m not really keen on writing a review of a book eight or so deep in a series, so all I can recommend is reading The Black Echo, which is the first Harry Bosch novel.
This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. Details are here and the growing number of participants and their blogs are here.
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Comments
Posted by: TK at February 11, 2009 9:08 AM
It's around this entry that I lost track of this series... not because it was bad - anything but, actually. I think I just exhausted myself reading them. Thanks for the reminder - time to get back into them.