The Overlook (Harry Bosch)
by Michael Connelly
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Book Reviews of The Overlook (Harry Bosch)
Book Review: A Great Overlook!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This current Harry Bosch offering by Michael Connelly is just as exciting as all his other Harry Bosch offerings. Michael is an expert in writing detective novels, as he was a Crime Reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Harry is a Detective for the Hollywood Special Homicide Division and his first case from being transferred from the Cold Case Unit, has him finding a body on the Overlook over Hollywood. With his young partner, Iggy, they, along with the FBI, attempt to track down the murderer of a Phycisist working with Cesium, a radioactive isotope used for treating ovarian -uteran Cancer. Along with murder, Harry is thwarted by the FBI, who wants Harry out of the loop, since a heist of this isotope by known terrorists makes this a National Security issue. With a few plot twists and turns, this makes for an outstanding who-donut. If you can handle the few bad words, this is a great novel. Since I was born and raised close to LA, there are places very familiar to me. If you want to learn more about how Homicide works and all the politics between the divisions and between the locals and the Feds, you'll enjoy this offering and the rest of the Harry Bosch books. Michael's new one with Harry comes out in a few days. I highly recommend this page-turner, as it takes you straight to the last page to resolve the case.
Book Review: Suspenseful
Summary: 3 Stars
If you love Harry Bosch, you will both enjoy this book and find it frustrating. Here you will find Bosch's trademark authority-resisting swagger, his spot-on instincts about other people, his weakness for lady FBI agents -- all the things that make him a great hard-boiled detective. He is honorable enough to want to take a bullet for one of his partners in this case, but realistic enough to know that he has to defer to her in this instance. Most of the time he calls the plays perfectly, but he is still fallible and makes some pretty serious mistakes (the mention of which would make me a spoiler).
But while the mystery of who did what to whom and why they did it, does get tied up here, Bosch himself moves from one complicated position to another, and the novel leaves us with more painful questions about his mental state and indeed his very future than we started out with. This tension -- between a relatively straightforward plot (one reader accurately compared it to an episode of "24") and an increasingly desperate detective -- remains unresolved, which gives the book an unfinished and frustrating feel. I hope Connelly gets back to Harry soon, because I for one don't like being left in this kind of suspense!
Book Review: It's short, but still enjoyable
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the 13th entry in the Harry Bosch series. While a much shorter version of his novels than usual, Connelly does his usual terrific job of snaring you and reeling you into the mystery so the pages fly by.
Harry is now in the Homicide Special Squad; a squad to handle cases that may be long running or have a special difficulty attached. With his new rookie partner, Ignacio Ferrras, Harry is assigned the case of Dr. Stanley Kent, who appears to have been murdered execution style. When it appears that radioactive material is involved the FBI as well as Homeland Security get involved in the case. Soon Harry is getting pushed out of the case, setting off a cat and mouse game between the various agencies. The government is only interested in the radioactive material and its ties to terrorists; Harry wants to solve the homicide. The appearance of a former flame of Harry's just adds to the intrigue.
A very fast read, I read it in one day and really enjoyed it, clever plotting and some surprise twists made for a good mystery. Also there is a phone number in the book and if you call it you get Harry Bosch's answering machine! Really!!
Book Review: DON'T OVERLOOK THIS CONNELLY OFFERING
Summary: 4 Stars
The Overlook is classic Michael Connelly. Featuring Detective Harry Bosch, late of the LAPD's Homicide Special Squad, and his new partner Ignacio (Call me Iggy) Ferras it offers a mystery that contains all the excellent police procedural murder investigation elements that bears Connelly's signature coupled with an in depth look at the nasty little war that goes on between local and Federal government agencies when they are involved in the same case.
It seems that the murder victim in this case is tied to the disappearance of radioactive material suitable for making a dirty bomb, so of course the FBI and Department of Homeland Security come into the picture and proceed to play a nasty little game of hide and seek with a couple of witnesses thereby reeking havoc on Harry's investigation and thwarting him at every turn.
Harry, of course, is not to be deterred in this cat and mouse game and author Connelly succeeds in providing his readers with yet another story that is intricately plotted, filled with clever clues and misdirection and offers a read that is satisfying down to the very last page. 3 1/2 stars for this one
Book Review: Disposable Fiction
Summary: 3 Stars
Adjectives that come to mind: bland, harmless, shallow, forgettable. The plot is predictable, simple and fast-paced without much depth to it. So are the characters. The author seems to assume that his audience will have read other Harry Bosch novels already, but this is my first and perhaps only one. The characters have no depth, and aside from their names there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between any of them. Other reviewers have mentioned that this book feels like a synopsis of a TV crime-show episode, and they are right. I guessed the "surprising" twist ending halfway through. Like a TV show, this novel is ephemeral entertainment designed to do nothing more than distract you for a brief time, and not burden you down with any thoughts or feelings or anything deep to ponder when it's over. It's a fine book to pick up at the airport newsstand and read while waiting for your connecting flight. It's short, it'll help pass the time, it requires no commitment on the part of the reader ... but it doesn't deliver a whole lot of satisfaction.
A very average read. Neither good nor bad. The best I can say is: It isn't boring.