Connelly hinted at the 1992 Los Angeles riots before, but this time he puts Bosch in the middle of them. Then, he brings him back twenty years later to close a cold case that he wasn’t allowed to fully investigate in the midst of the chaos. Connelly has a mastery of the investigative details that sometimes amazes me – tracking the gun through various crimes in this one is superb. There’s some Hollywood hi-jinx in the climax, and some behavior that seems too questionable even for Bosch. But those little things don’t ruin the book.

4 ½ bones!!!!!
Recommended ( )

MC weaves the a Bosch investigation of a 20 year old murder during the LA Riots into into a tight, well told mystery with a believable and relatively quick ending. Maybe could have spent more time with the bad guys but MC developed Annika Jespersen well and Bosch's relationships with O'Toole and Mendenhall will be interesting down the road. MC also does well showing Bosch being reflective and changing as he ages. Its the rare book that keeps me up to the wee hours just so I can read the ending on a work night. This one did. ( )

During the 1992 Rodney King riots, a German journalist is found murdered in an alley. With all that's going on around the various crimes committed then, the case is never solved. 20 years later, Harry Bosch gets the case out of the cold files and sets out to solve it. He gradually pries into details from that murder and the conspiracy that caused it.

First Connelly (and thus Bosch novel) I've read, this is the 18th in the series. Coming in very late like that, I had kind of expected that there would be a lot that I missed in the story and characters; maybe there was, but I didn't really sense that. Though there are loose ends left hanging (in his relationships especially with his bosses) that I would imagine are parts of the larger Bosch story. In the end, it was a very good police procedural, and I know some thing he's one of the best crime writers working today; this was certainly an involving read. ( )

I finished this book in six hours, and that was with looking up all the places that Harry Bosch visited and even computing the cost of his meal at Craig's on Melrose (Yes, I'm that anal). The story was a really good one, and the build up was incredible. Every one of Mr. Connelly's books has been gold in my opinion. The only thing that I will say is that the build-up was let out as quickly as a popped balloon. It felt a little bit one note, and disappointing.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I think it's obvious by my short reading time. I'd recommend it, I just wish the final pages were as good as the beginning. ( )

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
(Print: 11/26/2012; 9780316069434; Little, Brown and Company; 403 pages.)
Audio: 1/15/2013; Hachette Book Group; 9781619695603; Duration 10:30:16; 9 parts.
(Feature Film: No, but it might sort of be incorporated into the tv series.)

Series: Harry Bosch, Book 16 (25th novel by the author)

Main characters:
Harry Bosch-LAPD homicide detective.
David Chu- LAPD Homicide detective-Bosch’s partner.
Madeline "Maddie" Bosch-Harry’s daughter
Hannah Stone-love interest
Nancy Mendenhall-IAD Investigator

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
Harry and his partner, David Chu, catch a cold case that began as his when Jerry Edgar was his partner 20 years ago, during the L. A. Riots. It was taken from them at the time because of the overload of cases caused by the riots. But was this one of those? What was this blond beauty doing at night, in the middle of gang territory? And now that a few clues are coming to light, Harry’s caught, once again, in politics when his superiors ask him to step back from the case. How would it look if the only crime being solved from the riots was the murder of a white woman?

AUTHOR:
Michael Connelly (7/21/56). According to Wikipedia, in 2012, with this book Connelly won “the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000.”

NARRATOR:
Michael McConnohie. According to Wikipedia, Michael “is an American voice actor, writer and director who has provided many voice roles in movies, anime, and video games. He and fellow actress Melodee Spevack run a production company called VoxWorks.”
I didn’t recognize any of the titles of his credits, but then I don’t play video games. His narration here was great.

GENRE:
Thriller, fiction

LOCATIONS:
Los Angeles, Kuwait

SUBJECTS:
War correspondents, L. A. riots, 1992, military, politics, ballistics, police procedure.

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1: “Snow White 1992”
“A guardsman with sergeant stripes came to the door and leaned down to look at the car’s occupants.
‘Sergeant Burstin, San Luis Obispo. What can I do for you fellows?’
‘Homicide,’ Robleto said. He hooked a thumb toward Bosch and Edgar in the back.
Burstin straightened up and made an arm motion so that a path could be cleared and they could be let through.
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘She’s in the alley on the east side between Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Street. Go on through and my guys will show you. We’ll form a tight perimeter and watch rooflines. We’ve had unconfirmed reports of sniper fire in the neighborhood.’
Robleto put his window back up as he drove through.
‘My guys,’ he said, mimicking Burstin’s voice. ‘That guy’s probably a schoolteacher or something back in the real world. I heard that none of these guys they brought in are even from L.A. From all around the state but not L.A. Probably couldn’t find Leimert Park with a map.’
‘Two years ago, neither could you, dude,’ Delwyn said.
‘Whatever. The guy doesn’t know shit about this place and now he’s all like take charge? Fucking weekend warrior. All I’m saying is we didn’t need these guys. Makes us look bad. Like we couldn’t handle it and had to bring in the pros from San Luis O-fucking-bispo.’
Edgar cleared his throat and spoke from the backseat.
‘I got news for you,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t handle it and we couldn’t look any worse than we already did Wednesday night. We sat back and let the city burn, man. You see all that shit on TV? The thing you didn’t see was any of us on the ground kicking ass. So don’t be blaming the schoolteachers from ‘Bispo. It’s on us, man.’
‘Whatever,’ Robleto said.
‘Says ‘Protect and Serve’ on the side a the car,’ Edgar added. ‘We didn’t do much of either.’
Bosch remained silent. Not that he disagreed with his partner. The department had embarrassed itself with its feeble response to the initial breakout of violence. But Harry wasn’t thinking about that. He had been struck by what the sergeant had said about the victim being a she. It was the first mention of that, and as far as Bosch knew, there hadn’t been any female murder victims so far. This wasn’t to say that women weren’t involved in the violence that had raked the city. Looting and burning were equal-opportunity endeavers. Bosch had seen women engaged in both. The night before, he’d been on riot control on Hollywood Boulevard and had witnessed the looting of Frederick’s, the famous lingerie store. Half the looters had been women.
But the sergeant’s report had given him pause nonetheless. A woman had been out here in the chaos and it had cost her her life.”

RATING:
I gave this book 5 stars. This was a particularly captivating episode. ( )