ECHO PARK by Michael Connelly
Detective Harry Bosch is back in Michael Connelly's latest novel ECHO PARK. This time out Connelly has Bosch working over a cold case that has been haunting him for years. This case has Harry working with Rachel Walling, a woman who has been a part of his life for many years. Connelly knows Harry inside and out and he is as comfortable writing about him as we are in reading about him. ECHO PARK isn't the best Bosch book but it is good enough to provide reading enjoyment for many winter nights.
The abduction of Marie Gesto is a case that has haunted Harry Bosch for many years. She was abducted and presumed dead but Harry never solved the mystery and never caught the killer. Now suddenly Harry is presented with a scenario he never expected. A man has been caught and charged with several murders. In exchange for escaping the death penalty he has offered to come clean on several others - one of which is Marie Gesto.
Harry does not like the idea of this man being able to escape execution but he also knows Marie's parents need closure. For this reason and several others he agrees to the deal. This brings him into contact with Raynard Waites, the man claiming to be Marie Gesto's murderer. It also brings Rachel Walling back into Harry's life. She is an FBI agent with profiling experience. Harry wants to get her read on the case before he talks with Waites.
Harry and Rachel were once romantically involved, and their involvement with this case causes the sparks to arise once more. But the differences that caused problems in the past are still there in the present and theirs is a tenuous relationship.
ECHO PARK does not have the strong emotionalism that many of the previous Bosch books did. Harry has always been a haunted character who had an air of sadness that permeated everything he did. That sadness is not present here. He is haunted by Marie's abduction and his inability so solve the crime, but it does not make him morose or weigh him down. He just does whatever is necessary to get to the bottom of the murder this time out.
Connelly is a genius at presenting a crime and then showing the steps that lead to its solution. You get absorbed by these books and enter Harry Bosch's world completely. If you have been a reader of all Connelly's Bosch books then you have an awareness of the characters that makes the reading that much more enjoyable.
Michael Connelly has not written his best book in ECHO PARK but it is certainly head and shoulders above most of the other "mysteries" on the market today. Any chance to spend time with Harry Bosch is an invitation fans of great fiction should not refuse.
ECHO PARK is published by Little, Brown and Company. It contains 405 pages and sells for $26.99.