If you like the LA confidential atmosphere with its blond platinum hookers, its sleek black cars and its smoky air, read The Last Coyote. I am fond of Harry Bosch, the detective created by Michael Connelly. I love his tenacity, his hate of politics and his total incapacity to fit in the mold of the perfect LAPD detective. Michael wrote seventeen books featuring Bosch, all huge commercial success.
Connelly is very gifted at creating an ambiance, surely because of his deep knowledge of the city of Los Angeles and of its police work, as he used to be a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. If I had to pick one book featuring Hieronymus (yes-like the Dutch painter), I would pick The Last Coyote as it is one of the books where you get to explore Harry's personality as he is investigating his mother's murder.
Contrary to a lot of thrillers, the solution is never straightforward. You progress step-by-step with Bosch, to find the truth, often an ugly one. Yes sometimes Harry investigates serial killers (The Concrete Blonde) but far more often it is the ordinary citizen who hides a dirty little secret. Maybe that is also why I like so much Michael Connelly's hero. He just reminds me that we live in a world of appearances where nothing is ever perfectly as it seems and where it is difficult to draw the line sometimes between bad and good.
Connelly is very gifted at creating an ambiance, surely because of his deep knowledge of the city of Los Angeles and of its police work, as he used to be a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. If I had to pick one book featuring Hieronymus (yes-like the Dutch painter), I would pick The Last Coyote as it is one of the books where you get to explore Harry's personality as he is investigating his mother's murder.
Contrary to a lot of thrillers, the solution is never straightforward. You progress step-by-step with Bosch, to find the truth, often an ugly one. Yes sometimes Harry investigates serial killers (The Concrete Blonde) but far more often it is the ordinary citizen who hides a dirty little secret. Maybe that is also why I like so much Michael Connelly's hero. He just reminds me that we live in a world of appearances where nothing is ever perfectly as it seems and where it is difficult to draw the line sometimes between bad and good.