This novel is interesting from page one to its surprise ending, with no let up. Bosch is portrayed as a man of integrity, but he sees life in black and whites, and this personality trait affects, in interesting and positive ways, virtually all the events in this story. Bosch works two crime cases and is able to see facts missed by others, even experienced police officers. One case concerns an apparent suicide, but was it murder? The son of Bosch’s nemesis Irving Irvin fell off of a high-level hotel apartment that had meaning for the son. His father is a man who once worked at a high level job with the police until Bosch discovered something that made him resign. Irvin requests that the Chief of Police assign Bosch to the case, despite their past. He says he wants to find out the facts, was it really a suicide. He says he wants Bosch on the job because Bosch will find out the facts, and he will not hide anything.
The second case is an old cold case. While checking cold cases, the police check the DNA of blood found on a belt. It turns out to be the blood of a then eight year old. Since the case involves a rape and murder, it seems unlikely that the eight year old committed the crime. Since this fact may indicate that the police somehow made a mistake, this sensitive case is assigned to Bosch.
There are also several very interesting subplots. One concerns Bosch’s current partner. This man has a queer ever-questioning personality that frequently bothers Bosch. Bosch finds himself in a situation where he feels that he must hide information from his partner. This angers the man, who retaliates. Will Bosch who sees matters in black and white be able to forgive him? Another subplot is the sexual attraction that Bosch feels toward a certain woman who has a terrible secret, a black mark. Can Bosch overlook it? Still another is Bosch’s relationship with his former partner who now works with the Chief of Police. Again, Bosch’s integrity comes into play. Another is his relationship with his daughter. Here, and only here, there is no black and white; it is all love; love that goes both ways; love that it is a pleasure to read about.
Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of eighteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides. The Orthodox Union (OU) and Yeshiva University publish weekly chapters of Drazin and Wagner's book Let's Study Onkelos on www.ou.org/torah and on www.yutorah@yutorah.org. His website is http://booksnthoughts.com. Related Reviews:
The Reversal, by Michael Connelly.
Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. Haller takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.
Echo Park, by Michael Connelly.
When a serial killer confesses to the murder of Marie Gesto, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, now working with the Open & Unsolved Unit, must determine if the confession is valid. If it is, Bosch, who originally investigated her disappearance, must live with the guilt of letting Gesto's killer escape justice back in 1993.
