City of Bones
Large Print Edition
By Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company Large Print, (2002)
ISBN: 0-316-15431-8
Genre: Mystery - Detective
Reviewed by Auggie Moore - August 25, 2002
Hard-boiled detectives, gum shoes, you know the type - a good guy at heart, if judged by his outward appearance, you might be tempted to think he is one of the bad guys. One such detective is Harry Bosch. A hard worker, who will stick with a case until it's solved, Bosch can still come across as a bit of a hard case. If you were to psychoanalyze the brash detective, you'd most likely attribute his hard outward shell to the fact that he grew up an orphan. This could also be used to explain why he is primarily a loner, although he does occasionally find time for a girlfriend, and why he is a chain smoker despite all the warning from the Surgeon General. Personally, however, I think Bosch has a bit of a superiority complex, and he uses his antisocial behavior as a means of keeping other people at bay. Who is right? It's anyone's guess, but even so does it really matter? No matter how he came about his neurosis, they help to make him such a interesting character, and a great detective.
In The City of Bones by Michael Connelly, Bosch, a Los Angles Police Department Detective, finds himself trying to solve a murder that took place over twenty-years ago. The only real clue that he has when he first gets the case is a human bone from a ten-year-old boy, which was dug up by a dog. This gripping mystery looks at that side of life that no one likes to look at - dysfunctional families and the harm that people, who should love each other, can do to each other. Along the way, Connelly reveals more about Bosch's internal workings than he has in perhaps any of the other eight books that featured Bosch.
City of Bones is well plotted, and the story is fast paced and riveting. It can be a little intense at times, making it more 'real' than I sometimes liked, which only proves that Connelly is a pro when it comes to creating realistic story lines and dialogue. The characters, from main players such as Bosch's longtime partner Jerry Edgar and Bosch's new interest, the rookie copy Julia Brasher, are all fully developed and lifelike. Connelly is a great writer, and this book is full of emotion, and action, at least until near its end. Unfortunately, Connelly fell a bit short with this ending by not giving us as sensational a wrap-up as all the tension he worked so hard to build up throughout the book, leads the reader to expect. Nonetheless, this book was fantastic that will keep you glued to the pages as Bosch tracks down the murderer of the young boy. Without doubt, I'm looking forward to seeing what Connelly has in store for Bosch in his next book.
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