Every time Michael Connelly puts out a new Harry Bosch mystery novel I end up hitting the sack at four or five in the morning because I made the mistake of starting it late in the day. It’s enough to almost hate the guy. The Overlook is a book you want to start first thing in the morning with a pot of coffee already brewed, lunch already made, and the local pizza joint’s number on your speed dial on the phone you have to remember to plug back in before you dial for supper. If Michael Connelly had any consideration for his readers he would end a chapter with “This is where Harry Bosch decided to get a good night’s sleep to start the investigation refreshed the next day and so should you.” Kindle: The Overlook (A Harry Bosch Novel Book 13)
At least The Overlook is a short Harry Bosch mystery by Connelly standards. It was originally serialized in The New York Times Magazine but the blurb on the jacket says the book version has been expanded and revised. This time, Bosch is with the Homicide Special division of the LAPD -it seems they can’t find the right place to keep the trouble out of the detective-and has a new partner. When a prominent doctor is killed execution style and lots cesium is missing (no, not the vitamin, the radioactive stuff used for cancer treatment) everybody from the FBI and agent Rachel Walling to the LAPD’s Homeland Security style task force gets in the way of the investigation.
The Overlook is another great Michael Connelly mystery. This time around the detective’s new partner Ignacio, Iggy Ferras allows the prolific (thank God!) author to poke a bit of fun at his favorite detective’s lack of technological savvy and age. It also allows Bosch / Connelly to slip in an old war story as he teaches his new partner some of the old tricks.
The Overlook is not as dark and soul searching as the other Bosch mysteries. I found this to be a bit refreshing as this detective is certainly not the life of the party. Less interesting is the usual passage about the cop’s time in Vietnam.
Connelly is in top form here and this mystery, with its many surprising but warranted twists and turns, will more than please his many fans.
Note April 2018: Is it just me or did Connelly actually start sending Bosch to bed in later mysteries?
Michael Connelly
The Overlook
Little, Brown and Company 2007
Hardcover
224 pages
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