Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Bosch

  • Resurrection Walk

    Resurrection Walk

    Followers of Michael Connelly will not be disappointed with his latest book Resurrection Walk. He has a wonderful talent for writing. His intimate knowledge and understanding of the policing and legal systems in Los Angeles make his stories genuine and believable.

    He has the ability to compose characters who are likeable, fallible, and clever. Very clever. It is amazing how Harry Bosch, the Lincoln Lawyer’s partner can read a crime scene description and find details overlooked.

    In this story, we realise that Harry is older and is having treatment for cancer. Mickey, his lawyer friend, has asked Harry to go through the mail that he receives every day, asking for his help.

    Mickey has a huge reputation as a defence lawyer and is sought after by many even though his charges are huge. Harry is most skilled at being able to read between the lines. One such letter has just arrived. It is from a woman who is in jail. She was convicted of shooting her husband in the back. He was a Deputy Sheriff.

    Harry askes to read the crime scene notes and while the reader may not see anything obvious, Harry is instantly suspicious. He gains more information from the autopsy report and suggests that Mickey and he interview the woman in prison. Although she has no money, if she has been wrongly imprisoned, she will be able to sue the County.

    As the case is examined, more anomalies come to light and a huge area of corruption becomes obvious. Mickey and Harry are both in danger from ruthless killers who will stop at nothing to remain supreme. Try putting this one down!

  • Desert Star

    Desert Star

    Because he was a former Police Reporter, Michael Connelly has an innate understanding of procedures and strategies used by Police. This gives his novels such an authentic feel that the reader becomes engrossed in the pathways taken by the Law agents, and the care with which they must proceed. Add to this the characters of Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch, who we have followed and embraced, and the reader is ready to settle down for a serious session.

    Both these officers have been coerced into returning to a special branch of Policing. They have agreed to join a “Cold Case” team. For Renee it is a promotion and for Harry, a chance to finally see justice for a murdered family. Desert Star moves Ballard and Bosch into the fascinating world of forensic science which is paramount in these cold cases. It is amazing to see what can be discovered from a few drops of urine left at a murder scene, and a half palm print left on a windowsill years’ before.

    Harry has always struggled to conform to rules, but his thorough research and inability to leave any stone unturned in an investigation, make his input invaluable. The most innocuous object could trigger his focus and open a whole new aspect of the case. Renee has set down rules which she wishes the volunteers to abide by and all, but Harry, can be relied on.

    The characters are realistic, the writing crisp and clear and at no stage does the reader have to check on who or what is happening. Michael is a master Crime fiction author who always enables the reader to unfurl the case along with the Police. There is drama, humour and satisfaction in this wonderfully crafted novel.

  • The Dark Hours

    The Dark Hours

    Bosch is back as the sidekick to Renee Ballard in this latest release from Michael Connelly based in the current times of the pandemic and the riots in Hollywood.

    Dark Hours sees Renee Ballard finishing her shift and heading out into the revelry of New Year’s Eve, just in time to witness the traditional pistol shooting into the sky, that marks the end of one year and the beginning of the new, except that for one shop owner, the new year will never arrive.

    Murder has been done and as she looks at the case fully she realizes it has similarities to one Bosch was working on some time ago. She is also involved with a case of serial rape with offenders who will not hesitate to kill.

    Undermining her love of her work is the serious challenge of being on the night shift, a place she should not be, facing the direct chauvinistic behavior of the other members of the force, who she realizes cannot be trusted as they have their own agenda.

    She calls once again on the help of Harry Bosch a man she would trust with her life and the only one she feels she can talk with and get an honest option on these two cases. Bosch, now retired is bored to bits with this thing called retirement and no matter how he tries to move on, his first and last love is policing, being a detective. When Ballard arrives asking for his input he jumps at the chance.

    But as Ballard gets closer to the case she finds she is suspended from duty, but refuses to give upon the case of the rapists. After much introspection she makes the decision to retire, hang up her badge as the soul destroying workplace and other force members is making her life far too hard.

    As the case she is working clandestinely begins to come together she and Bosch have to once again back each other to the very limit, as the suspects in the rape cases are becoming more brutal as they realize their chances of being caught are negligible.

    As with all Connelly books he sets the scene in real time adding to the reality of the storyline that pushes the limits time and time again as Bosch and Ballard have to pit their formidable wits and skill to solve the crime.

    Brilliant, engaging and another terrific thriller from Michael Connelly.

  • The Law of Innocence

    The Law of Innocence

    Mickey Haller has been a feature of previous Bosch thrillers as the go to man for legal issues as Harry Bosch, his half-brother, often becomes involved with his cases in a deeper than ever expected manner, frequently running close to the wind on the legal side of things. But what happens when Haller becomes the victim, the suspect in a case where a body is found in the boot of his car and not just any body, but the body of a well-known con man, Sam Smailes.

     As always with Connolly thrillers the plot is complex, well researched and constructed giving the storyline a massive acceptability as the cases are often those close to real life somewhere, adding a layer of authenticity that novel after novel keeps the much loved characters alive on the pages.

    Taking a slightly different turn, being based predominantly in the Courtroom and jail, makes a change from the far roaming geography of previous works and as it is set at the beginning of 2020, the fact that there is a rumour of a virus that is going to change the way the world operates, builds in the reality of the timeframe.

    But how is Hallett, who is pretty good at finding a way through the legal morass, going to work his way out or what is becoming more and more like a set up. As he is a lawyer and not all that well loved by members of the Judiciary, he is finding that trying to mount a defence from his jail cell, somewhat challenging.

    He calls on the help of Bosch, Maggie, Cisco and other close friends to do the leg work for him and as always once the real digging begins, what is uncovered is explosive. But the question still remains, why he was framed.

    Fast moving, entertaining and compelling The Law of Innocence is a must read over the summer months as in a slight twist, this time it is Haller narrating his story, with Bosch as a secondary character, which in an interesting concept.

  • The Night Fire A Ballard and Bosch Thriller

    The Night Fire A Ballard and Bosch Thriller

    After the funeral of an old friend John Jack Thompson, a man who was Bosch’s mentor when he was a rookie homicide cop, Harry Bosch, now recently retired, is asked to take care of a Murder Book kept by Thompson, when he left the department many years before. Bosch wonders why Thompson kept the Murder Book and what is in it that he expects Bosch to discover and finish. After all the murder of a young man who was dealing drugs was more than 20 years old!

    And so, begins the latest in the gripping Harry Bosch series from Michael Connelly, with Bosch now mentoring Renee Ballard, an intelligent, first rate detective with that special fire in her belly for ensuring a case is closed, done properly and delivering answers.

    What begins as a somewhat reluctant investigation into a case that was a very cold case, quickly begins to look very much like something else entirely, causing Bosch to rethink his feeling and beliefs of his mentor John Jack, and stretches both Ballard and Bosch’s expertise to new limits.

    Ballard gets sent to a late-night arson case where a homeless man is burned to death. As the details of the case unfold, both Bosch and Ballard begin to suspect that perhaps this latest death has strong links to the past, links to the more than 20-year-old murder in John Jacks’ Murder Book. All Connelly’s novels consist of more than one crime scenario with The Night Fire being no exception.

    Working tirelessly to discover what was behind the unsolved murder all those years ago, digging up secrets from the past, which eventually lead inside a crime syndicate that means business, and are happy to remove whatever is in their way, in order to get what they want, pushes both Bosch and Ballard into terrible danger.

    Yet again they form a formidable team, that of the veteran cop whose seen it all and a ferociously intelligent young woman moving up into the darkly masculine world of crime investigation.

    Well-constructed with the high standard of detail that has come to be an integral component of Connelly’s work, The Night Fire will enthral until the final word, which is as always not what would be expected, and leaves a thread dangling as a tempter for the next Ballard and Bosch novel.

     

  • Dark Sacred Night A Ballard and Bosch Novel

    Dark Sacred Night A Ballard and Bosch Novel

    There are many features that lead to writing a superb Crime Thriller, and it seems that Mr Connelly has them all covered. His research shows us his intense knowledge of Police procedures and practices, as well as the natural responses that may be expected from Senior Detectives. His characters are interesting and to begin with, a little understated, but we soon learn that Renee Ballard is a quiet, unassuming woman who is fixated with her Police work. She meets an older detective, (Harry Bosch), whose thinking matches and enhances hers.

    Renee has been moved to the Hollywood division and is working the night shift. She meets Harry who has quietly come into the room not knowing she was there. Eventually, they talk about the cold case that has Harry so focussed. A fifteen-year-old girl, who was a run away, was found murdered ten years ago. No one has been found who may have committed the crime. Harry has met Daisy’s mother who has taken to drugs to cope with her grief. He has now become obsessed with this case. Renee is horrified by the gruesome details and when, times are quiet, she helps Harry to search through old records held in card form, for possible suspects.

    The chapters are headed Bosch or Ballard, and we follow their progress, not only of Daisy’s case, but other call outs for Renee.  Harry is also investigating the execution of a 52-year-old gang leader. He had a witness from that time, but Bosch made the mistake of leaving his card for the witness, in case he needed to call the detective. When the man was found dead with Bosch’s card between his teeth, the tension begins to build, and inevitably a confrontation occurs.

    As the pace of the story builds, gradually we learn more about the intense research that the two detectives have been doing. Little by little, a picture begins to build, but not before the gang captures Harry, and Renee bends the rules to save her friend. We begin to learn more about the characters and see their trust in each other develop. They are both rather quiet, dogged individuals, who have the ability to think laterally.

    As well as working towards solving Daisy’s murder, Renee is called out on other cases.  These again show her analytical thinking and confidence in her own ability to read the crime scene. This is a superb Crime thriller, and hopefully we will see more of these two characters working together.