About the Author

A former police reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Connelly is the author of eleven acclaimed Harry Bosch thrillers and several other bestselling novels. He lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

Harry Bosch, still working for the Open Unsolved (cold cases) Unit, is brought into a new scenario. The killer in question claims to be responsible for a number of older cases, including one that centered on the disappearance of a woman whose body was never found. Bosch, still haunted by those circumstances, has been hounding another man he thinks is responsible. As he and partner Kiz Rider are pulled further into the prosecution of the alleged killer, Bosch learns that nothing is as it seems. Sidelined from the case after an incident, he teams up with FBI agent Rachel Walling (first introduced in The Poet) and continues to investigate. Connelly offers strong action writing and exciting plot twists, coupled with more development of Bosch's character and his internal conflicts. Another excellent and riveting entry in the longstanding series by one of mystery fiction's best writers. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.] Elizabeth B. Lindsay, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Bestseller Connelly's compelling 12th Harry Bosch novel (after 2005's The Closers) offers some new wrinkles on a familiar theme the aging detective haunted by the one who got away. In Bosch's case, the elusive quarry is the man who abducted a 22-year-old equestrian, Marie Gesto, in 1993. Having returned to active duty as a member of the LAPD Open-Unsolved Unit, Bosch repeatedly pulls the file to see if he can discover something new and give some small solace to the victim's parents. When a chance police stop of a suspicious vehicle nets serial killer Raynard Waits, who's carrying body parts in his van, Bosch assesses the murderer's claim that he was responsible for killing Gesto, too. The weary and cynical detective soon suspects that Waits is trying to barter information for a reduced sentence of life imprisonment. Political motivations connected with the upcoming DA election also cloud the investigation. Smooth prose and plausible characters even the secondary figures elevate this several notches above the standard cop vs. serial-killer thriller. Author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.