City of Bones" turns its focus on Harry and features a great play on the origin of Harry's name (a famous painter) that figures in the solution of the mystery as well. Connelly's writing continues to impress me with his direct style and excellent flow.

For a large part of the story, McCaleb and Bosch are operating independently until their worlds connect. Terry believes Harry is behind the murder of Edward Gunn because aspects of the crime scene seem to provide a connection. What makes this story compelling are the contrasts of the investigative styles of these two men. Both have really good instincts but their approaches couldn't be more different.

Preview Book

Obviously Bosch is a flawed and imperfect man, and that is why he is compelling and interesting and his series didn't stop at a duology, Twobook McWho. But a sadistic killer he is not. There's never a single doubt in my mind on this point, no matter how hard TERRENCE tried to force it all to fit. And it was so frustrating that he tried so hard to make it fit. Being forced to watch him "work" this case was exhausting to my eyes because they kept trying to roll out of my skull every 2 minutes or so as the logical leaps and fallacies abounded. Michael Connelly writes about crime fiction and detective mysteries and has innumerable fans across the globe, including Bill Clinton! The Lost Light takes that same theme and was slated as one of the Best Books of 2003 by the Los Angeles Times.

A Darkness More Than Night is about heroes. As any student of mythology can tell you, the hero's job is to fight and (if need be) die for the greater good of his community. This is not a job for the weak of heart. That's why the world has so many of us ordinary people and so few heroes. A highly interesting mix, where Bosch relinquishes the driver's seat in one of the novels co-attributed to his series. While he may not be front and centre, Bosch's person and history are certainly up for ananlysis and display. McCaleb has set up home on Santa Catalina Island, a mere 22 miles across the Pacific from Los Angeles. This makes him the outsider that the experts can go to when they can't find the answers they need. McCaleb follows the clues and discovers the crime trail he is following crosses the crime path of LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. "Years earlier McCaleb had worked with Bosch on a case, an investigation he still often thought about. Bosch had been abrasive and secretive at times, but still a good cop with excellent investigative skills, intuition and instincts. They had actually bonded in some way over the emotional turmoil the case had caused them both." Terry is called in to investigate a possible connection between Harry Bosch and the murder of Edward Gunn. Terry is called in by an old friend, Jaye Winston. She wants Terry's help in figuring out who could have murdered Gunn in a scene that calls upon a famous painting by an artist many readers will know from reading this series. At this point, I would have said this was some straight up obvious set-up, but we have to muddle through things with Terry as he realizes that maybe Bosch has turned a corner into being a murderer.Harry is assisting the prosecution in a high-profile Hollywood murder trial. A movie director, David Storey, is charged with murdering a young actress and trying to make it look like an accident. Harry was the lead detective and made the arrest. Storey boasted to Harry that he was God and couldn't be touched. FYI: My cat makes a better profiler than Terry McDerpface. The guy is so unimportant, such a non-entity in his own book that even the Goodreads book description of some editions can't bother getting his name right. It lists his first name as "Terrence", but he's actually a "Terrell". I find this amusing. (As a GR Librarian, I did attempt to edit it but I'm not sure if it took, and honestly, don't care that much. Let him be Terrence or whatever if the GR gods will it.)

McCaleb, for the first time in all his experiences as an investigator, has a murder suspect come to him to help clear his name. Had McCaleb truly missed something, or was this "the last manipulation of a desperate man?" These books are typically humorless, (and not all that quotable--not a lot of lyrical writing in it). But as if hearing from his critics, we see a guy named Rorschach (also a character in Alan Moore’s classic apocalyptic crime series, Watchmen. (That’s meant to make you smile, folks). McCaleb finds in the evidence some religious iconography, which leads him to name the case “Holy Shit,” which is a term cops use for such crimes in the LAPD. Ha ha? But hey, at least Connelly is trying! Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) . The storyline follows Terry McCaleb, with Harry Bosch popping in and out of the action. An ex-FBI profiler, Terry used to be as angry as Harry; but then he received a new heart and now his family life with Graciela and their daughter CiCi has softened his raw edges. This has served to make him more cautious, given him pause and a chance to reflect on life's mysteries. The ending of the novel is a surprise, but works with Connelly trying to balance the light and the dark as the theme of the book and the last part of the book is absolutely great. The most interesting personal turn comes at the end when Bosch discovers that he has a four year old daughter which his ex-wife never told him about. Read the book if you want to know what happened with the case. It’s worth a read!

Terry McCaleb is a former FBI profiler who - after a heart transplant - moved to Catalina Island with his wife, stepson, and baby girl. Terry now runs a charter fishing business and tries to avoid stress. I really thought that Terry's supposed insight into Bosch was weak as anything. Also I didn't like the whole thing really being about Bosch going into the judge and jury. The POV of Terry of Bosch had Bosch just being really close to going around the bend. And also these guys (Bosch and McCaleb) has to be freaking clairvoyant to be able to figure out how the criminal trial case was tied up into the murder of Gunn. There was way too many plot holes with the whole book.