Michael Connelly - The Poet

An excellent thriller, unusually fro him not part of his Harry Bosch series. A journalist uncovers a serial killer who has been killing cops and making it look like suicide each time. He gets tied up with the FBI investigation, which is well handled, although a late twist does rather depend on a couple of pretty contrived ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - The Overlook

Another of his Harry Bosch novels. Here a man is murdered, having stolen a quantity of radioactive material from a lab he worked in, and there are strong clues that Islamic terrorists are behind it, so in comes the FBI in force, which as ever puts Harry's back up, as even if the material recovery is their priority, ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer

The first I've read by him not to star detective Harry Bosch, and I wondered how he'd do with a lawyer protagonist. It's brilliant, with a completely original plot, starring a lawyer who specialises in getting people off without any concern for actual guilt or innocence - indeed, he assumes guilt. So what to do ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - Nine Dragons

Harry Bosch arrests a triad member for a murder in LA, and gets warned off - and then his daughter, living with her mother in Honk Kong, is kidnapped. Not so much police work in this one, as Harry heads off to rescue his daughter, but there's plenty of very exciting action and big emotional drama. There's a bit of a ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - City of Bones

One of his more muted novels, with a particularly depressing murder case (a child who had clearly suffered years of abuse before his death), no big set piece action scenes, and a surprisingly ambiguous finish to the plot - followed by Harry Bosch quitting as a cop (though having read later books, I know he returns). ( Read more... )

Jonathan Kellerman - Flesh and Blood

I keep comparing him to Michael Connelly - I tried them close together, liked them a comparable amount and they are both crime writers setting their stories in LA. This one rather emphasises their differences: Kellerman is a better writer of prose and dialogue, and the psychological insight he brings to his books ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - Trunk Music

As I've said of others by him recently, this is brilliantly plotted, twisting around and leading to a number of surprises and dramatic set-pieces. It also has interesting relationship stuff for Harry Bosch, both with a new work partner and a romantic one. Gripping and exciting, as usual.

Michael Connelly - Echo Park

Another tremendous crime novel. One murder case has haunted Harry Bosch for 13 years; now, a luckily captured man confesses to that and a string of other murders, and someone finds a reference to him, never followed up, in the papers on the old case. Did Harry fuck up, and leave this man free to kill lots of others? The ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - A Darkness More Than Night

His most regular star, homicide cop Harry Bosch is rather tied up in court for this, on a murder case he cracked. The main focus is instead on former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb, clearly not his first appearance, but new to me. Terry is called in to help on another murder, and soon starts putting clues ( Read more... )

Michael Connelly - Angels Flight

This is even better than the first I read by him, though again we get some bad cops as part of the explanation - I hope not all of his will be like that. Nonetheless, the twists and turns in this plot are strong and often unexpected, and he is still excellent in the shades of grey in the police. I was stopped by the ( Read more... )