Copyright 2016 by Hieronymus, Inc. Published by Grand Central Publishing.
This is one of the series of mysteries featuring Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, a retired LAPD detective working as a PI in southern California. He is a cerebral detective who can be tough when required. In this book he shoots a bad guy, so I guess he is pretty good with a gun, too.
There are two plots here: (1) a serial rapist, known as “The Screen Cutter,” is on the loose in the San Fernando Valley and (2) a dying billionaire is looking for a possible heir. In the case of the rapist Bosch participates in the search as a part-time, unpaid cop for the San Fernando PD. The second case is taken as a private job. I expected these two cases to somehow cross paths and possibly even converge, but they didn’t. It was like watching two TV shows on a split screen. It seems like Connelly had two ideas for stories but didn’t have quite enough detail for a separate book for each, so he just threw them together. In my view both suffered from not being fleshed out enough. He should have written two separate books.
I like Connelly’s style and was fully engaged until near the end. In both cases there was significant threat of violence and suspense, but in the end there was very little of either. It was a literary promise unfulfilled. Both stories disappointed me. So while I enjoyed about 90% of the book, I can’t give it high marks. This book was a 99-yard drive that stalled on the 1-yard line. Great promise and fun getting there, but a huge disappointment at the end.
5 out of 10.