Monday, May 15, 2017

The Overlook by Michael Connelly


The call comes in one evening.  A body has been found at The Overlook, a place where tourists can stop and look out at the lights of the city.  When Detective Harry Bosch gets to the scene he finds that the victim is Stanley Kent, a doctor and that he has been shot in the back of the head, execution style.  When they go to his house, further terror is discovered.  His wife is found in the bedroom, naked and tied up.

She tells a story of two intruders breaking in and forcing her to strip, tying her up, then taking pictures.  When the detectives hear that, they check and find that the pictures were sent to her husband along with instructions to meet them at the overlook.  But what did they want?  There wasn't a demand for money.  Instead the criminals wanted something far more dangerous.  For Dr. Kent worked with nuclear medicine and was around radioactive substances daily.  They want him to bring cesium and from that a dirty bomb can be created.

The case has suddenly gotten much bigger.  The FBI is called in and they try to take control and push the LAPD to the side.  Harry has another issue.  His former lover, FBI Agent Rachel Walling, is also assigned to the case and she hasn't forgiven Harry for their breakup.  Harry isn't about to be pushed aside.  While the FBI considers the terrorist threat the most critical, Harry is determined to solve the murder that took the life of Dr. Kent.  Can he solve the case while fighting off the federal agency?

This is the thirteenth novel in the Harry Bosch series.  Harry is not a cuddly detective.  He is a hard man, unafraid of anyone and adamant about solving the cases he is assigned.  His personal creed is that everyone matters and no case is more important than another, a bedrock tenet that came from his mother's murder when he was a child.  Readers familiar with Bosch will be interested to read another case and those new to him will be intrigued by his personality and the look into police procedure.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

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