This is the fourth Michael Connelly book featuring Harry Bosch.It is where I began reading his work.Harry Bosch is short for Hieronymus Bosch who his mother had named after the Dutch painter she had admired.In this novel he is the detective who is now investing the cold crime death of his own mother.At the time of her tragic demise, he is only a child of eleven and she was working as a lady of the night.How do you investigate a murder that is thirty years ago and of your own flesh and blood? Although Harry could not bear to investigate this crime before now, he believed that it is probably why he chose to be a detective in the first place.This was his calling but he couldn't do it before now because it always haunted him.It had helped to form him into the person he was today.He knew that.His life had always been somewhat confusing.It was now that Harry's life is in complete disarray.His house has been condemned because of earthquake damage and his girlfriend is gone.Probably he chased her away with all his problems.He has a drinking and smoking obsession too.Recently, Harry had to give up his badge because he lost his temper and assaulted his boss who he had never liked.Because Harvey Pounds was his commanding officer, he was immediately suspended.Things were not going well.Now, he needs to go for a psychiatric exam before they will even consider taking him back.At this point, he has time on his hands.It is not long before he is so bored that he decides to look at some cold cases, to see if he had missed anything previously.He decides this is the time that he needs to face facts.It is the examination of his very own mom's murder that he needs to come to terms with.It had become part of his life.It is that underlying issue that finally needs to be confronted.He wants a normal life.This is it.This is his chance.No one was ever even accused of the crime and he was going to finally find the culprit, even if so much time has elapsed.Harry opens up the three decade old file on his mother and is drawn into a past that he never wanted to go back to.It was a painful past.He soon discovered that the investigation that originally had been done was not a clean one.Who was the detective who had fumbled this one? His mother had been a street walker and a prostitute so maybe that's why it was not properly done.He didn't like the smell of it and was now kicking himself for not facing this before.Harry felt ashamed.Someone has done a horrible investigation of his mom and now he was going to fix it.He looked at all the old evidence.He follows the lost trail.He would get justice for this crime.He discovered that someone powerful was able to keep this case quiet and he knew that he would discover this truth.He still had to be careful how he investigated this, since he had no badge now.He was still under suspension.He had to sneak around and try to get the assistance of friends in the department.He goes against all company policy.He feels like a lost coyote.He sees coyotes regularly near his hillside home.He is lost, hungry and confused, but he will survive.He will be whole again once he solves this case.He knows that.It has defined his live up to now.Get the monkey off your back and rise again.Bosch's unauthorized search leads him to some powerful political characters with connections to the very LAPD.He puts his own life in danger by resurveying this old crime that was deliberately buried.There is good and evil living side by side here.A reference to Arno Conklin in the earlier search had alerted him.It seems that something was out of order.He had been one of Los Angeles's top prosecutors and had gone on to be the city's district attorney.The only other person interviewed during the first investigation, was Meredith Roman, his mom's best friend.It turns out that they had both worked for a pimp by the name of Johnny Fox.Harry uses a contact at the LA times by the name, Keisha Russell, to gather past files on Conklin and Fox.From the articles, Harry discovers that Conklin's campaign manager was Gordon Mittel.Now he has one more suspect.He borrows his boss's batch secretly and goes to investigate.An old case, it may have been.It was still dangerous when powerful people are involved.Harry then investigates Fox, Conklin, and Conklin's close friend, Mittel.He first discovers that Fox was killed in a hit and run.He was in the process of distributing campaign literature for Conklin who had been running for DA.He learns that Gordon Mittel is now a successful lawyer and still into campaign finance.His current client is Robert Shepard who is running for the senate.Harry drives to Shepard's house and goes to a fund raiser there.He sees Mittel there also and gives him a note.He signs in at the door using the name of his boss as he has his detective credentials.The note says; what prior work got Johnny Fox his job? Then he leaves the party.He is later traced back to his boss because of the badge.Harry's further hunt discovers that one of the earlier detectives had been receiving a payoff check for years but he was now deceased.The check had come from a fake corporation whose officers were Eno, Gordon Mittel, and Arno Conklin.Soon there are four LAPD officers at his door.His boss, Harvey Pounds had been found dead.Harry was a prime suspect and was taken downtown.He now realized that his scare tactics at that private fund raiser had probably got his boss killed.Through Keisha Russell, he learned that the person who had written the article years before was Monte Kim.Bosch visits Kim and found that he had photos of Conklin and Fox with two women, his mom and friend that he had used to blackmail Conklin.Bosch then confronts Conklin at a nursing home.He decides that Conklin had been in love with his mother.Her murder had happened on the very day they were going to have a Vegas wedding.Conklin revealed to Gordon Mittel, his plans and was told it would ruin his career if he married a prostitute.Conklin believes that Mittel had most likely murdered his mother.Bosch believed him, too.Then he was hit over the head in the parking lot and Conklin ended up dead in his room.Bosch finds himself bloody and just waking up at Mittel's house.He is locked up and bleeding but he notices a pool table.He grabs a cue ball.Bosch tells Mittel that he left his evidence in Conklin's room.Mittel tells his aid to finish him off.Bosch makes him miss, and then cracks him with the ball.Mittel runs from the room with Bosch in hot pursuit.There is a struggle and Gordon falls off a cliff.He is dead and then Harry runs back to only find Jonathan missing.He heads to Meredith Roman's apartment to ask her more questions.It is too late.She is dead from an apparent suicide.She left Harry a note.He tries to call emergency and sees Jonathan there.He tells Harry that he was waiting for him.He had a gun in his hand.Jonathan thinks he is going to finish off Bosch so blurts out the truth.He is Fox.He never died.He stayed working for Mittel.He also murdered Pounds and Conklin.The police arrive at the end and the true killer is shot trying to run.Justice had finally been served and Harry Bosch was free at last.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Book Review of The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
This is the fourth Michael Connelly book featuring Harry Bosch.It is where I began reading his work.Harry Bosch is short for Hieronymus Bosch who his mother had named after the Dutch painter she had admired.In this novel he is the detective who is now investing the cold crime death of his own mother.At the time of her tragic demise, he is only a child of eleven and she was working as a lady of the night.How do you investigate a murder that is thirty years ago and of your own flesh and blood? Although Harry could not bear to investigate this crime before now, he believed that it is probably why he chose to be a detective in the first place.This was his calling but he couldn't do it before now because it always haunted him.It had helped to form him into the person he was today.He knew that.His life had always been somewhat confusing.It was now that Harry's life is in complete disarray.His house has been condemned because of earthquake damage and his girlfriend is gone.Probably he chased her away with all his problems.He has a drinking and smoking obsession too.Recently, Harry had to give up his badge because he lost his temper and assaulted his boss who he had never liked.Because Harvey Pounds was his commanding officer, he was immediately suspended.Things were not going well.Now, he needs to go for a psychiatric exam before they will even consider taking him back.At this point, he has time on his hands.It is not long before he is so bored that he decides to look at some cold cases, to see if he had missed anything previously.He decides this is the time that he needs to face facts.It is the examination of his very own mom's murder that he needs to come to terms with.It had become part of his life.It is that underlying issue that finally needs to be confronted.He wants a normal life.This is it.This is his chance.No one was ever even accused of the crime and he was going to finally find the culprit, even if so much time has elapsed.Harry opens up the three decade old file on his mother and is drawn into a past that he never wanted to go back to.It was a painful past.He soon discovered that the investigation that originally had been done was not a clean one.Who was the detective who had fumbled this one? His mother had been a street walker and a prostitute so maybe that's why it was not properly done.He didn't like the smell of it and was now kicking himself for not facing this before.Harry felt ashamed.Someone has done a horrible investigation of his mom and now he was going to fix it.He looked at all the old evidence.He follows the lost trail.He would get justice for this crime.He discovered that someone powerful was able to keep this case quiet and he knew that he would discover this truth.He still had to be careful how he investigated this, since he had no badge now.He was still under suspension.He had to sneak around and try to get the assistance of friends in the department.He goes against all company policy.He feels like a lost coyote.He sees coyotes regularly near his hillside home.He is lost, hungry and confused, but he will survive.He will be whole again once he solves this case.He knows that.It has defined his live up to now.Get the monkey off your back and rise again.Bosch's unauthorized search leads him to some powerful political characters with connections to the very LAPD.He puts his own life in danger by resurveying this old crime that was deliberately buried.There is good and evil living side by side here.A reference to Arno Conklin in the earlier search had alerted him.It seems that something was out of order.He had been one of Los Angeles's top prosecutors and had gone on to be the city's district attorney.The only other person interviewed during the first investigation, was Meredith Roman, his mom's best friend.It turns out that they had both worked for a pimp by the name of Johnny Fox.Harry uses a contact at the LA times by the name, Keisha Russell, to gather past files on Conklin and Fox.From the articles, Harry discovers that Conklin's campaign manager was Gordon Mittel.Now he has one more suspect.He borrows his boss's batch secretly and goes to investigate.An old case, it may have been.It was still dangerous when powerful people are involved.Harry then investigates Fox, Conklin, and Conklin's close friend, Mittel.He first discovers that Fox was killed in a hit and run.He was in the process of distributing campaign literature for Conklin who had been running for DA.He learns that Gordon Mittel is now a successful lawyer and still into campaign finance.His current client is Robert Shepard who is running for the senate.Harry drives to Shepard's house and goes to a fund raiser there.He sees Mittel there also and gives him a note.He signs in at the door using the name of his boss as he has his detective credentials.The note says; what prior work got Johnny Fox his job? Then he leaves the party.He is later traced back to his boss because of the badge.Harry's further hunt discovers that one of the earlier detectives had been receiving a payoff check for years but he was now deceased.The check had come from a fake corporation whose officers were Eno, Gordon Mittel, and Arno Conklin.Soon there are four LAPD officers at his door.His boss, Harvey Pounds had been found dead.Harry was a prime suspect and was taken downtown.He now realized that his scare tactics at that private fund raiser had probably got his boss killed.Through Keisha Russell, he learned that the person who had written the article years before was Monte Kim.Bosch visits Kim and found that he had photos of Conklin and Fox with two women, his mom and friend that he had used to blackmail Conklin.Bosch then confronts Conklin at a nursing home.He decides that Conklin had been in love with his mother.Her murder had happened on the very day they were going to have a Vegas wedding.Conklin revealed to Gordon Mittel, his plans and was told it would ruin his career if he married a prostitute.Conklin believes that Mittel had most likely murdered his mother.Bosch believed him, too.Then he was hit over the head in the parking lot and Conklin ended up dead in his room.Bosch finds himself bloody and just waking up at Mittel's house.He is locked up and bleeding but he notices a pool table.He grabs a cue ball.Bosch tells Mittel that he left his evidence in Conklin's room.Mittel tells his aid to finish him off.Bosch makes him miss, and then cracks him with the ball.Mittel runs from the room with Bosch in hot pursuit.There is a struggle and Gordon falls off a cliff.He is dead and then Harry runs back to only find Jonathan missing.He heads to Meredith Roman's apartment to ask her more questions.It is too late.She is dead from an apparent suicide.She left Harry a note.He tries to call emergency and sees Jonathan there.He tells Harry that he was waiting for him.He had a gun in his hand.Jonathan thinks he is going to finish off Bosch so blurts out the truth.He is Fox.He never died.He stayed working for Mittel.He also murdered Pounds and Conklin.The police arrive at the end and the true killer is shot trying to run.Justice had finally been served and Harry Bosch was free at last.
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