Review: THE DROP, Michael Connelly

• 
  This edition an e-book made available on Libby by my local library
  
• Published 2011
• The Drop is the 24th novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the fifteenth novel featuring Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch.
• author website 

Synopsis (author website )

Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two.

DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab’s DNA cases currently in court. 

Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught with internal politics. Councilman Irvin Irving’s son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch’s longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry handle the investigation. Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries: a killer operating unknown in the city for as many as three decades, and a political conspiracy that goes back into the dark history of the police department.

My Take

Two very different stories in this novel,  with Harry Bosch under political pressure to focus on resolving whether a recent death is murder or suicide. 

Harry's partner gets very frustrated when Harry keeps excluding him from decision making. The partner does the unforgiveable and leaks bit of their investigation to the press.

Meanwhile there is a case that Harry really wants to focus on.

A good read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• THE OVERLOOK
• THE BRASS VERDICT
• THE CONCRETE BLONDE
• 4.3, THE REVERSAL
• 4.4, SUICIDE RUN
• 4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION
• 4.5, THE POET
• 4.5, FAIR WARNING
• 4.5, THE NIGHT FIRE  
  

Review: THE NIGHT FIRE, Michael Connelly

• 
  This edition available on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07NL757ZF
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company (October 22, 2019)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 449 pages
• #3 in the Ballard and Bosch series 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him.

Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, John Jack Thompson, is dead, and his widow gives Bosch a murder book, one that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD twenty years before -- the unsolved killing of a troubled young man.

Bosch takes the murder book to Detective Renée Ballard and asks her to help him discover what about this crime lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. As she begins her enquiries -- while still working her own cases on the midnight shift -- Ballad finds aspects of the initial investigation that just don't add up.

The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a disturbing question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?
Written with the intense pacing and masterful suspense that have made Michael Connelly "the hard-boiled fiction master of our time" (NPR), The Night Fire continues the unofficial partnership of two fierce detectives determined not to let the fire with burn out.

My Take

I've read this for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group as our last novel for 2024. Other American novels we've read this year have struggled to find popularity and I'm not sure what the reaction will be to this one, despite Connelly's general popularity. I have not read any of the Ballard and Bosch series before, but this was a book set from the library, so perhaps I will also pay the penalty for embarking mid series.

Detective Renée Ballard works 'The Late Show', the notorious graveyard shift at the LAPD. It's thankless work for a once-promising detective, keeping strange hours in a twilight world of crime. Harry Bosch has recently retired although he "forgot" to hand his badge in and is not averse to using it when it suits him. He has also recently discovered that he has acute myeloid leukemia. He has begun chemo therapy but feels he has a death sentence hanging over him. He has recently had a knee replacement and this recovery is limiting his ability to move quickly.

When Harry attends the funeral of his former mentor John Jack Thompson, Thompson's wife gives him a "murder book" related to a cold case from 20 years before. As Ballard and Bosch begin to look at the case they ask themselves why Thompson took the book with him on his retirement, when by rights he should have handed it in. Even stranger is the fact that Thompson does not seem to have made any steps to investigate the case himself. Why is that?

Both Bosch and Ballard are also working on other cases, and so this novel is really a police procedural, exploring the sorts of cases that occupy the time of LAPD detectives. While Bosch knows some of those still working in LAPD he is not popular and neither is Ballard. And of course there will come a time when the cases have elements in common. Bosch for example is doing some investigative and consulting work for his half-brother Mickey Haller who is defending a young man accused of murdering a judge.

The novel is structured to reflect the actions being taken by the two individual detectives. The reader is told by section heading whose P.O.V. it is.

So what will my group make of this novel?

• the US court and justice system is very different to the Australian/British one and I think they will have a problem accepting some of the scenarios;
• the partnership between Ballard and Bosch is an interesting one, highly productive, but once again a scenario that probably could not happen "here";
• the language of the novel might cause a problem: e.g. the corpse of a homeless man incinerated in his tent is referred to as a "crispy critter." We all know what that means but it's use as common terminology would not happen "here".
  There is also a lot of swearing, not a common feature of local crime fiction novels.
  There is also use of other local terminology e.g. "Did you roll the coroner out yet?" and referring to patrol cars congregating at an all night ruck park: "They can all code seven there without leaving their zones". Ballard "hooked a left down the hallway."
  I felt like I was getting a lesson in LAPD "speak".
• the structure of the murder book - the chrono, the inclusions,
• do the resources that the LAPD have available to them exist in Australia? e.g. the bullet archive - the national database that holds unique ballistic details and cartridge casing found at crime scenes
• there are times when both Ballard and Bosch ignore proper procedure. They also put themselves in considerable danger.
  

It is a very detailed and quite long novel. Lots for an Australian reader to take in.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• THE OVERLOOK
• THE BRASS VERDICT
• THE CONCRETE BLONDE
• 4.3, THE REVERSAL
• 4.4, SUICIDE RUN
• 4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION
• 4.5, THE POET
• 4.5, FAIR WARNING

Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch series
   1. The Late Show (2017)
   2. Dark Sacred Night (2018)
   3. The Night Fire (2019)
   4. The Dark Hours (2021)
   5. Desert Star (2022)
   6. The Waiting (2024)

Review: FAIR WARNING, Michael Connelly

• 
  format: e-book made available through my local library on Libby
• File size : 1088 KB
• Publication date : May 26, 2020
• Print length : 325 pages
• Publisher : Allen & Unwin (May 26, 2020)
• ASIN : B081ZR4TYF (Amazon)
• Jack McEvoy #3

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, he realises he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.

Jack investigates against the warnings of the police and his own editor, walking a thin line between investigation and obsession, and makes a shocking discovery, connecting the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. But then he himself becomes a suspect, and as he races to clear his name, Jack's findings point to a serial killer who uses personal data shared by the victims themselves to select and hunt his targets.

My Take

Jack McEvoy originally appeared in THE POET in 1996. Now, over 20 years on, he is an investigative journalist for a website called Fair Warning. (The author tells us that this site actually exists, https://www.fairwarning.org/, and that he is on its board. Myron Levin, the founder and editor of the site also appears in this book)

Jack is interviewed by FBI agents about the death of a woman that he dated once. When they tell him that they have DNA from the scene he voluntarily gives his own DNA to prove that it wasn't him. The woman died from AOD (internal decapitation) and Jack discovers that she is one of a number of cases with similar deaths. He also discovers that all of the victims had recently sent their DNA to a cheap DNA research company, who pass anonymous DNA results out into the community to fund their work.
Jack works with colleagues at the Fair Warning website to investigate these cases and then pulls in Rachel Walling, ex-FBI, to assist. Rachel is also a character from THE POET.

There are a number of issues of concern raised in the novel such as how much control there is over how DNA results are used, who gets access to them, and the political implications of the novel have not suited all readers.
I was reminded of a novel that I read last year THE ONE, by John Marrs where DNA is used to find people's life-long partners. And then there have been other crime fiction DNA-based novels such as WICKER by Kevin Guilfoyle, DIRTY LITTLE LIES by John Macken and JAR CITY by Arnaldur Indridason (see more )

What interested me in particular in FAIR WARNING was Connelly's revival of the original investigative duo of Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling after such a long gap. That in itself was unusual. And it seems likely that we will meet them again in the future.

Plenty to think about in this book.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

THE OVERLOOK
THE BRASS VERDICT
THE CONCRETE BLONDE
4.3, THE REVERSAL
4.4, SUICIDE RUN
4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION
4.5, THE POET

Review: THE POET, Michael Connelly

• this book first published in 1996
• this edition: e-book, made available through Libby
• source: my local library
• #1 in Jack McEvoy novels
• Awards in 1997:
  Anthony Awards Best Novel,
  Dilys Awards Best Book

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

The apparent suicide of his policeman brother sets Denver crime reporter Jack McEvoy on edge. Surprise at the circumstances of his brother's death prompts Jack to look into a whole series of police suicides and puts him on the trail of a cop killer whose victims are selected all too carefully. Not only that, but they all leave suicide notes drawn from the poems of writer Edgar Allan Poe in their wake. More frightening still the killer appears to know that Jack is getting nearer and nearer. An investigation that looks like being the story of a lifetime, might also be Jack's ticket to a lonely end.

My Take:

I was mainly prompted to read this because firstly, I have never read it before; and secondly, because there is a new title in this series, FAIR WARNING, recently published.  My Connelly reading has mainly been Harry Bosch.

Apparently before reading FAIR WARNING, I should also read THE NARROWS (2004) and THE SCARECROW (2009)

THE POET is one of those novels when you've just worked it all out, there is another twist, and you realised you've missed something major or there was something that you didn't know. It all makes for very engrossing reading.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read
THE OVERLOOK
THE BRASS VERDICT
THE CONCRETE BLONDE
4.3, THE REVERSAL
4.4, SUICIDE RUN
4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION 

Review: ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION: Three Harry Bosch Stories, Michael Connelly

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
  
• File Size: 415 KB
• Print Length: 98 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (October 11, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005SDPHM0

Synopsis (Amazon)

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch tackles three tough cases that span a legendary career in this never-before-collected trio of stories.

In CHRISTMAS EVEN, the case of a burglar killed in mid-heist leads Bosch to retrace a link to his past. In FATHER'S DAY, Bosch investigates a young boy's seemingly accidental death and confronts his own fears as a father. In ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION, Bosch delves into one of the first homicides he ever worked back as a uniformed rookie patrolman, a case that was left unsolved for decades. Together, these gripping stories span Bosch's controversial career at the LAPD, and show the evolution of the haunted, legendary investigator he would become.

My Take

From the reviews on Amazon, it seems that die-hard Michael Connelly fans won't particularly like these short stories, because they are short, lacking a bit in character development, and have pretty simple plot lines.

On the other hand if you are looking for some good quality quick reads, then they may hit the spot, as they did for me.

My rating: 4.4

I've also reviewed
THE OVERLOOK
THE BRASS VERDICT
THE CONCRETE BLONDE
4.3, THE REVERSAL
4.4, SUICIDE RUN  

Review: SUICIDE RUN, Michael Connelly

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 422 KB
• Print Length: 112 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (October 4, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005SDMDRW
• source: I bought 

Synopsis (Amazon)

In this first collection of three thrilling Harry Bosch stories, Michael Connelly once again demonstrates that he is the greatest living American crime writer.

In SUICIDE RUN, the apparent suicide of a beautiful young starlet turns out to be much more sinister than it seems.
In CIELO AZUL, Bosch is haunted by a long-ago closed case - the murder of a teenage girl who was never identified. As her killer sits on death row, Bosch tries one last time to get the answers he has sought for years.
In ONE DOLLAR JACKPOT, Bosch works the murder of a professional poker player whose skills have made her more than one enemy.
Whether investigating a cold case or fresh blood, Bosch relentlessly pursues his quarry, always on the lookout for the 'tell'.

My Take

This short story collection, quickly read, is an excellent reminder of what is so good about the Harry Bosch stories.

SUICIDE RUN is the perfect illustration of the fact that Harry Bosch always picks up more from a crime scene than others do. Great story.

CIELO AZUL is written in the first person, Harry Bosch's point of view. He shows how he never achieves closure if he can't give a murder victim a name. Again a great story.

ONE DOLLAR JACKPOT - this one is more a novella in length and structure. Harry Bosch has a gut feeling about this one but lacks proof. It demonstrates how often his gut feelings are right.

This is a really quick read, if you are looking for one, but still gives you some essential Harry Bosch.

My rating: 4.4


I've also reviewed
THE OVERLOOK
THE BRASS VERDICT
THE CONCRETE BLONDE
4.3, THE REVERSAL

Review: THE CONCRETE BLONDE, Michael Connelly

I'm cheating a little bit here - I haven't quite finished listening to this audio version of the book, but I am only minutes away, so nothing is going to change my mind.

Originally published in 1994. I downloaded this version at Audible.com

Justice is a concrete blonde - that's what Honey Chandler the prosecuting attorney tells Harry Bosch as they stand outside the courtroom smoking a cigarette. Why? She doesn't speak and she is blind.

LAPD detective Harry Bosch is being prosecuted by the widow of a man he shot 4 years earlier. Harry burst into a flat and shot dead a man whom he thought was the serial killer the Dollmaker. Now Harry is in court being portrayed as the worst of the worst, a rogue cop, who believes he is judge, jury and executioner.

The day the trial starts a new body is found, embedded in a concrete floor, as the result of a tip off received by the LAPD. It has all the trade marks of being the work of the Dollmaker, but how can that be if the Dollmaker was killed by Harry 4 years before?

The dark heart does not beat alone

Much of THE CONCRETE BLONDE deals with the trial, with Harry's doubt about whether the man he killed really was the Dollmaker, and if he was, who killed the blonde in the concrete.

This is a tightly plotted book, excellently read. I was impressed by the variations in voice that the narrator Dick Hill was able to produce. I also enjoyed the structure of the story and the other elements that were included such as Harry's relationship with Sylvia.

My rating: 4.9

As you know I do like reading books in order of publication, but I am all over the shop with the Harry Bosch books. I recently read, enjoyed, reviewed THE BRASS VERDICT My rating was 5. On this blog I have also reviewed THE OVERLOOK (not a Harry Bosch book) which I gave 4.6 to. I have NINE DRAGONS, the most recently published in the Harry Bosch series, on my shelves somewhere.

THE CONCRETE BLONDE IS #3 in the Harry Bosch series.

From Michael Connelly's own site:
Harry Bosch Appearances:The Black Echo (1992)
The Black Ice (1993)
The Concrete Blonde (1994)
The Last Coyote (1995)
Trunk Music (1997)
Angels Flight (1999)
A Darkness More Than Night (2001)
City Of Bones (2002)
Lost Light (2003)
The Narrows (2004)
The Closers (2005)
Echo Park (2006)
The Overlook (2007)
The Brass Verdict (2008)
Nine Dragons (2009)
The Reversal (Coming October 5, 2010)

Reviews at Amazon you might enjoy

Review: THE BRASS VERDICT, Michael Connelly

Allen & Unwin, 2008, ISBN 978-1-74175-544-2, 422 pages

The murder of his old colleague Jerry Vincent is a stroke of luck for defense lawyer Mickey Haller. Jerry has left instructions that Mickey should take over all his clients. There are over 30 cases on Jerry's books including a very high profile murder case: a Hollywood film mogul accused of the double murder of his wife and her lover.

After a bout of drug addiction and 12 months rehabilitation and slow recovery Mickey has been considering whether he is ready to go back to work, but now he has to hit the ground running. As he takes up the reins, he finds LAPD Harry Bosch sniffing around the edges. But is he interested in Jerry Vincent or Walter Elliot, the movie mogul?

This is a book full of twists and turns. There is no doubt that Mickey Haller is a clever lawyer. A slight complaint I have is that though it is written from Mickey's point of view, the reader is not entirely in his confidence. Connelly uses Harry Bosch to sling a few other arrows into the mix, and so right until the end you don't really know the full story.

THE BRASS VERDICT is #14 in the Harry Bosch series (even though for the most part Harry's role seems minor) and #2 in the Mickey Haller series. #1 was THE LINCOLN LAWYER, and my mini-review is below. The pair will meet again in NINE DRAGONS.

In 2009 THE BRASS VERDICT won the Anthony Award for Best Novel, and all I can say is that I can really see why: interesting story tightly plotted, good characters, keeps the reader interested right to the end.

My rating: 5

Check Michael Connelly's own site for complete lists, blurbs etc.

Other reviews to check:

• Caribou's Mum: fast-paced and gripping, with twist and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the end.
• Petrona: a superb novel. It is Michael Connelly’s nineteenth, displaying all the hallmarks of an author at the peak of his powers.
• Crime Scraps: a very well constructed not too complicated legal thriller ... an excellent holiday read

My mini-reviews of other Connelly titles

THE CLOSERS (2005) my rating: 5
After 3 years of retirement, Detective Harry Bosch is once again on active duty with the LAPD, this time assigned to the newly formed Open-Unsolved Unit. His former partner Kizman Rider and he are charged with using new technologies to find the answers to previously unsolved murder cases. A DNA hit has found a link between a weapon used to kill a beautiful mixed-race teenage girl seventeen years earlier and a man with White Supremacy ties. Although there were too few clues to solve the murder when it occurred, Bosch and Rider, using modern police resources, now uncover evidence that leads them to suspect and pursue several potential murderers before they arrive at the truth.

ECHO PARK (2006) my rating: 4.9
#12 in the Harry Bosch series. For 13 years Harry has kept in mind the disappearance of Marie Gesto. Marie disappeared when she left a supermarket. Harry has kept in touch with her parents but they all long ago gave up hope that they would ever see Maria alive. Now in the LAPD Open Unsolved Unit, Harry gets a phone call from the District Attorney: a man accused of killing two other people has put his hand up to Maria's murder. Since then he has murdered 9 others. Apparently the killer contacted Harry's partner at the time and they missed making the connection to Maria's murder. Harry does not like the guilt being laid on him. An excellent read. Just when you think you have it all worked out, the plot takes another turn. I'll certainly be looking for the next one (due out May 2007)

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (audio CD) (2006) my rating: 4.5
Los Angeles defence lawyer Mickey Haller gets his first high-paying client in years when a Beverly Hills rich boy is arrested for brutally beating a woman. His case quickly falls apart and Mickey is under personal pressure which makes him dangerous to work for. The CD case says this is an abridged version. The gravelly voice of the reader Michael Brandon took a bit of getting used to.

THE OVERLOOK (2007) my rating: 4.6
Harry Bosch has recently moved from LAPD's Open Unsolved Unit to the prestigious Homicide Special squad. He has a new partner, a youngster Ignacio Ferras, who regards him as a bit of a dinosaur, and this is their first case. A body has been found at the overlook above the Mulholland Dam, and it's rather obviously a murder. The victim is a medical physicist who supplies a radio active substance called cesium for use in medical procedures that use radioactive therapy.
Alarm bells go off for Harry when FBI agent Rachel Walling turns up at the scene of the crime. Rachel is attached to one of the FBI's Homeland Security operations called the Tactical Intelligence Unit. The body is easily identified and once the fact that a large quantity of cesium is found to be missing, the case becomes a tussle between the LAPD and the FBI. The FBI are saying this is a possible terrorist killing.
My full review: THE OVERLOOK

THE OVERLOOK, Michael Connelly

Allen & Unwin, 2007, 260 pages.

If I needed it, the ease and speed with which I read THE OVERLOOK is really confirmation that crime fiction, police procedural bordering on thriller is absolutely my genre of preference.

Harry Bosch has recently moved from LAPD's Open Unsolved Unit to the prestigious Homicide Special squad. He has a new partner, a youngster Ignacio Ferras, who regards him as a bit of a dinosaur, and this is their first case. A body has been found at the overlook above the Mulholland Dam, and it's rather obviously a murder. The victim is a medical physicist who supplies a radio active substance called cesium for use in medical procedures that use radioactive therapy.

Alarm bells go off for Harry when FBI agent Rachel Walling turns up at the scene of the crime. Rachel is attached to one of the FBI's Homeland Security operations called the Tactical Intelligence Unit. The body is easily identified and once the fact that a large quantity of cesium is found to be missing, the case becomes a tussle between the LAPD and the FBI. The FBI are saying this is a possible terrorist killing.

For Harry, the involvement of Rachel is fraught with all sorts of hurdles, given a previous relationship. The FBI involvement spell danger for Harry in a number of other ways, including some he can't forsee. His new partner Iggy Farras causes other problems for Harry, not the least because Harry likes to be the alpha dog, works on hunches, rarely discusses anything, and doesn't do partnerships at all well.

THE OVERLOOK was originally serialised in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and Connelly says this gave him a chance to re-visit the book prior to publication as a book, although he did not make substantial changes.

I haven't read all of the Harry Bosch series, 13 books since BLACK ECHO in 1992, but I have enjoyed all that I have read. This one was no exception.

My rating 4.6

Michael Connelly's website is at http://www.michaelconnelly.com/index.html
His next novel is called THE BRASS VERDICT.
Here's the blurb from the website page:
Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller and LAPD Detective Harry Bosch team up in this new novel by Michael Connelly.
Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.
Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.