I remember really enjoying Michael Connelly's first book, and
first Harry Bosch book, THE BLACK ECHO (1992). I reread it
for procedurals month. It's a busy week in the life of Harry
Bosch, homicide detective, and there are lots of details
about autopsies, crime scenes, how police stations work,
bugs, etc. There's a lot about Bosch's private life, but it's
all tangled up in the case. All the police work he does is
shown to the reader, but it's nothing like a Sjowall/Wahloo
book. It's a police thriller with a noir hero at the centre.
Bosch is no upright noble knight, but more of a guy trapped
in nightmares and history who's hemmed in on all sides but
keeps trying to find some justice and truth.
He's also a cliche, and Connelly has Bosch think about that
one night when he's sitting at home, depressed, drinking
booze and listening to jazz. The heist that's behind
everything seems original, but it's based on a real event.
Bosch's sweaty nightmares, the Vietnam background that he
can't escape, his lieutenant that hates him, the Internal
Affairs guys that follow him on their spare time, it's all
stuff you've seen before. Connelly pulls it off, though, and
brings things to a big finish with lots of twists. Connelly
really knows how to keep you in knots as the end gets
close.
Rereading it I noticed some holes, but I can't fault Connelly
too much for a few in his first book. One thing that does bug
me is that Bosch's position in his department, and what
happens at the heist at the end, don't seem at all realistic.
Perhaps someone with experience can comment. Something like
this wouldn't be too far out of place in this book:
"Someone's going to try to kill
the mayor," Bosch said. "I've
got a rifle, targets made up to look like
the mayor at a range
set up in the woods, and a note that says,
'I'm going to kill the
mayor.'"
"You're a cowboy, Bosch," the
lieutenant said, grimacing. "You
don't fit in."
"We've had three anonymous
phone calls today from a guy saying
he's going to shoot the mayor when he goes
to the Hollywood Bowl
tonight. He said he'd be wearing a purple
hat."
"I don't like you, Bosch, and
some day I'm going to bust you
back down to handing out traffic tickets.
But I guess if you
don't have anything better to do you can
take Toothless Johnson
and keep an eye on things, just in
case."
Here's a quote from when Bosch is in Special Agent Eleanor
Wish's apartment:
| The two top shelves were mostly high-brow book-of-the-month
offerings
| descending into crime fiction by writers like Crumley and
Willeford
| and others. He had read some of them. He opened the glass
door
| and pulled out a book called THE LOCKED DOOR. He'd heard of
it but
| had never seen it to buy.
What book would this be? I found one by that title by an Edna
Roughley, from 1948, but a book set in a mission on a Papuan
island doesn't seem to fit.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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