Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

Bosch isn't really a cop anymore but he still investigates cases.  When he runs into Ballard, the case he's working intrigues her and she starts working on it in off hours.  They make a good team but it takes a while for trust to develop.  Can they solve a cold case nine years old?

Little, Brown and Company and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 30th.

Bosch has the mother of the dead girl living with him.  She's off drugs and she's still dealing with her daughter's death.  He's trying to help her but she's beyond help.

Ballard is still living with the sting of being shifted to the night crew because she turned her supervisor in for sexual harassment.  He's still got his position.  It doesn't seem fair but who cares except her?

They are going back through 3" x 5" cards the various cops made on cases hoping for clues.  There's boxes and boxes to go through.

Ballard takes Bosch out on some of her calls:  They found three boys on top of a strip club looking through the skylights.  Most of the calls were more serious than that.

There's a Mexican gang member trying to kill Bosch, Ballard is going after the killer and she gets caught in the garage  with the killer.  

Will either one of them be alive at the end of the story?  Read it and see. 

The Late Show by Michael Connelly

Renée is a new character and I like her very much.  She's tough, determined and won't let anything get her down.  She's been treated badly before, so now she's being much more careful but she still pursues cases that intrigue her.  She just covers her butt better.

Little Brown and Company and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It has been published so you can grab a copy now.

As is usual, this is a fast paced read with casualties along the way.  Renée accused her supervisor in the past of harassment.  He wanted more than just good police work.  However, even her own partner wouldn't back her up.  She gets stuck on the night shift which is where old police officers go to die or retire, whichever comes first.  What she finds is that's where the interesting cases show up.  Her new partner tells her she needs to turn it in to the squads that handle those cases.  But she's invested in the transvestite that took such a beating with brass knuckles he/she might die.  And she hates the fact that a young waitress was shot in the bar.  Especially since she thinks a cop was involved.  So she keeps snooping.

She does find the guilty parties but one of them finds her and almost kills her.  When she fights back and kills him, they try to make her look like she used excessive force but she survives that.  It helps that she recorded the cop talking to the reporter and feeding him false information.

She also finds evidence left for her by her previous partner.  Someone has killed him in his garage, and he knew he was skating close to death.  Now she has the information to take down a bad cop.  If only she lives long enough to do it...

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch is back.  He has a rookie partner he's not sure about and a cold case from twenty years ago.  Does he get discouraged?  No, Harry gets to work.

Little Brown and Company and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It was published the first part of this month, so you can get a copy now at your local bookstore.

Harry is a grizzled old investigator who is willing to call in favors and slip a little on the wild side to get the job done.  I admire him as a character not only for his dedication to the case but for his vigilante side.  He's not sure about his new partner.  She's a good cop but she got promoted quickly and he's not sure she's seasoned enough.  The longer he works with her and learns about her motivation and desires and reactions, he begins to realize she might even be a better cop than he is.  He's happy to see that.

This is a mix of two cases with different players.  

One is a rich political backer, one is an ex-mayor, and the others are all either employees or friends of power.  It began with a man that got that shot while playing in a band in a public park.  He dies from the bullet wound twenty years later.  That means the case is open again.  When Harry finds he was not the intended target, it changes the complexion of the case.  Soto can speak Spanish, so she's really useful in interviews with Hispanics.

While Harry is pursuing this case, he finds Soto is trying solve a dead case herself.  A fire was set at a building that housed a daycare and almost everyone died.  One child lived; that child was Soto.  There also happened to be a bank robbery a couple of blocks away.  Harry thinks they might be related and he's right.

This is an intense read with two good mysteries being solved at the same time.  It kept me glued to the story.  I was rooting for both Harry and Soto.  Of course, Harry gets in trouble again.  Somehow he always does.  It will be interesting to see what Mr. Connelly does with him in the next book.  If Harry is in it, I'll be reading it!

9 Dragons by Michael Connelly

I've been reading Connelly's Harry Bosch books for years now, and he's never disappointed with any of his stories.

Harry Bosch is almost too human. He has his faults, sometimes he doesn't take the right action or respond in the right way, but it's his way and he means well for the most part. His life has not been all a bowl of cherries. He has his sorrows, his vices, and his own demons.

Despite all that, he's a good cop. He sometimes steps outside the lines of allowed behavior to get the criminal, but he doesn't worry about it.

This story begins with the suspicion that a Hong Kong triad has murdered a local store owner that Harry knows. But as the story escalates, there is more than one plot involved, and somehow he has to figure out the true reason the old man was shot.

In the meantime, someone near his own heart is in danger, and he is afraid that might also be the actions of the triad.

Harry still has his demons when the story ends, but you know there will be another story coming. There are still more cases in Harry's future. And more challenges in his personal life.

If you'd like my ARC of this book, please leave a comment here on the blog, and then email me at info NOSPAM @bookfaerie.com (take out the spaces and NOSPAM) and tell me why you'd like to read it. I'll choose a winner in about a week.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is very good at scaring me - and this book did, too.

He brings back his character newspaperman Jack McEvoy, who first appeared in The Poet. In this book, Jack has just been downsized out of a job, which he's not very happy about. But before he leaves his post at the Los Angeles Times, he gets a phone call from a black woman who says her son was convicted of a crime he didn't commit. This is a common comment from most women believe in their men, but she caught Jack's attention when she accused him of being part of the reason he was behind bars. She claims that what he printed in the paper was what condemned him.

Thinking about it, Jack decides he'll check it out a bit and see if her claim might be right. If her son isn't guilty, it would be a great blow out story to end his career.

As it turns out, it could end his life...

He's tracking a very astute killer who is also a computer whiz and knows all the ins and outs of hacking as well as using connections available to track people. He's also not alone.

As he begins following the tracks of the killer, he finds his email doesn't work, his cell phone is dead, all his credit cards have been cancelled and more... Then he notices someone following him in Vegas, and the only thing that saves him from death is the fact that Rachel, an FBI agent and a former girlfriend, is waiting in his room for his return.

From there, the speed of the story picks up. Jack's "replacement" is young blonde reporter who has cuthroat instincts and writes a good story. When Jack gets back home, he finds her under his bed - dead...

The FBI question him, but he had Rachel with him so he has an alibi.

The closer he gets to the killer, the more dangerous it gets for both he and Rachel.

And until you get to the very last page, you aren't sure how many will die and who will win.

A very entertaining read!

If you'd like my ARC, leave a comment here on the blog AND email me at info@bookfaerie with your name and address and tell me why you'd like to have it. I'll pick a winner in about a week.

Do you like Harry Bosch?

Then you've got a treat to read!

I reviewed Michael Connelly's The Brass Verdict, which has Bosch and Mickey Haller, an attorney in it. Both characters are well thought-out strong characters and they don't especially trust each other.

Mickey was recovering from being shot on a previous case and hadn't gone back into active practice yet. When he gets summoned by a Judge, he's not sure exactly what's going on, but he knows it's serious.

It seems another lawyer he knows has been killed, and Mickey was the lawyer named to take over the cases. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to go back to work yet, but he began to feel the old excitement at pending cases and agreed to do it.

However, the pending cases could be suspects for the murder of the previous attorney, and Harry Bosch wants to look through them. Mickey won't let them because it would compromise the cases. So he looks through them. And realizes he has one case that is really worth some money - and would help his new business get off the ground and running. It helps that he really doesn't care if his client is guilty or not. But even that doesn't remove the danger from the case.

And Harry cares about who killed the previous attorney and whether people are are innocent or guilty...

The story moves along quickly, has some quirky points, and justice is served - even if it might not be the court who serves it.

I enjoyed this combination of characters and this was a usual full-bodied story by a master storyteller, Michael Connelly.

Try it, you'll like it!