The Drop – A Harry Bosch Mystery
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company 2011
400 pages
Detective Harry Bosch is back in The Drop, the latest mystery novel by Michael Connelly. On the edge of retirement, Bosch has been approved to stay on with the LA Open-Unsolved homicide unit that tracks hits on cold case files. Hungry for a new and exciting case, with his partner David Chu, he is assigned to investigate new evidence regarding a DNA match from a sex crime from 1989 which may have been inadvertently mishandled by the system.
Their involvement is sidetracked by the immediate priority investigation into the death of George Irving, son of former deputy police chief, and Bosch’s nemesis, councilman Irvin Irving, who has taken a dive off of a hotel balcony. Homicide or suicide, Irving’s high profile death is ripe with suspicion and dirty politics, with Bosch being hand picked to handle the investigation.
Filled with betrayal, surprise, shock, and multiple references to high jingo, The Drop is complex enough, always interesting, and you never know exactly where it will take you.
Here we see a different, more personal, reflective and philosophical side of Harry Bosch, but do not think that he has lost his edge.
The focus on the Irving case, while good, does not always reflect Connelly’s masterful, exciting style. That being said, The Drop ends the tease and shifts into high gear, dropping into darkness like a plummeting elevator, as details of the cold case unleash their horror in true Connelly fashion. Although not one of Connelly’s mind blowers from start to finish, The Drop is definitely a good solid read.