City of Bones [Mass Market Paperback]

The Harry Bosch series has a dual purpose: entertain us with crime and detection stories while portraying the depravity of our culture. In City of Bones, Michael Connelly expresses the kind of world-weary despair that causes many to lose faith in God . . . and humanity.

As the story opens, it's the end of the year . . . a sad time for depressed people and two taxpayers take the quick way out. A call to Laurel Canyon reveals a bone that proves to be human, which also leads to a horrifying case of abuse. In searching for the rest of the skeleton, Harry is repulsed by the coroner's fixation on fame and glitter. He is refreshed to meet a mid-thirties rookie cop, Julia Brasher, who likes his style.

The investigation is quickly compromised by someone wanting to curry favor with a television journalist, with dreadful consequences. Harry is, as usual, annoying the downtown people who care more about their image than justice. More mistakes occur, and more harm is done. Clearly, the lesson is that it's dangerous to turn the police loose on crime.

If I could re-title the book, I would call it "People are never what they seem." You'll get more than your share of surprises in the book which is best appreciated as a deep character study.

For those who like action, linear progress, and a taut plot, City of Bones will be frustrating: This book is more like the sort of "why do I bother?" soliloquy that most of us conduct in our heads from time to time.

The investigating mistakes that Harry makes can be seen clearly if you read carefully: He's clearly not in a lucid state of mind. Exploring the sources and consequences of that displaced perception is the core of this novel.

The noir parts of the story are well wrought. I especially liked the theme of peoples' bones being picked clean by the denizens of Hollywood. The reference to piranhas was quite effective.

"City of Bones" is Michael Connelly's thirteenth book, his eighth to feature Harry Bosch and was first published in 2002. Orphaned at the age of twelve when his mother was murdered, Bosch spent his teenage years in and out of orphanages. He enlisted in the army and served in Viet-Nam, before returning home to Los Angeles and joining the police force. Once a member of the LAPD's elite RHD (Robbery-Homicide Division), he was demoted in the Hollywood Division following an Internal Affairs investigation. Bosch has occasionally been seen by some as a maverick, but increasingly by others as a 'man with a mission' and an excellent homicide investigator. Harry is one of the senior detectives at Hollywood's homicide table, and is Squad One's team leader. Although he continues to work with Jerry Edgar, the team's third member - Kiz Rider - has yet to be replaced following her promotion to RHD.

"City of Bones" provides both a difficult case and a rough ride for Harry. A retired doctor makes a call to the department, saying that his dog had returned from a run in the Hollywood Hills carrying a human bone. A number of calls like this are made every year, which normally turn out to be bogus: however, this time, there is no mistake. Dr. Guyot, the caller, has correctly identified it as a child's humerus and has also identified a healed fracture on the bone. Using the dog to discover where the humerus had been buried, a subsequent, more detailed search recovers about sixty per-cent of the skeleton. This includes the skull, where the fatal blow was apparently struck. The remains are of a boy, possibly as young as ten, and show evidence of several years worth of chronic abuse. The best initial guess for the time of death, meanwhile, is between the mid-seventies and the mid-eighties - making the investigation a 'cold case', the hardest cases to close. The first step, obviously, is to identify the victim - a process that included looking at the list of missing persons who match the criteria for age and the time of disappearance. As harsh as it sounds, the injuries that made the boy's life so difficult may provide the key identifying him - and, possibly, the killer.

When Bosch first arrives at Dr. Guyot's house, a couple of uniformed cops are already there. The junior partner, Julia Brasher, is a rookie (or 'boot') who Bosch is immediately attracted to. Given that Bosch is at supervisor level, it's against regulations to allow anything other than a professional relationship between the pair. However, given a pretty face, who also seems rather taken with him, and a chance to bend the rules, there's generally only one thing Harry Bosch is capable of doing...and when Bosch bends the rules, it generally means trouble.

After "A Darkness More Than Night", when the action was divided between Harry and Terry McCaleb, this is a return to a 'straightforward' Bosch book - and is much better for having only one 'main' character. You won't feel too left out if you've never read any of the other Bosch books before. However, it's probably better if you've read at least a couple of them : there's a few passing references to some of the events of his previous adventures - the story behind his scar on his shoulder and his relationship with Teresa Corazon, for example. Recommended.

If there is a better police procedural crime novel, I've missed it. I approached this book with some misgivings, having been disappointed by "Chasing the Dime." But Henry (Hieronymous--I liked that little touch) Bosch is a first-class, believable detective, all the way. He's jaded to some degree but tries to maintain some touch with the populace. The us-them relationship police have with the press and the "looky loos," as civilians are called, is there, certainly, but outwardly subdued.

The plot feels right, enhanced by the fact that the writer didn't try to tie up all the loose ends, such as, the surprising matter of Julia Brasher and, not to give too much away, the fact that the killer is not at all a sure thing when we reach the final page. Not all killers confess into a tape recorder and psychoanalyze their own motives.

Bosch makes mistakes. He goes down dead-end trails after false clues. He is imperfect. In short, he is realistic. So are the other characters, including his partner, the technicians, Bosch's superiors in the department, the suspects, the incidental personae--the entire cast. They don't always do what we expect, but people in real life don't either. Too many books have characters who appear to be "on rails." We know exactly where they are going and how the plot is going to follow them.

I realize I haven't outlined the plot, but others have, and sometimes they give away too much. Suffice it to say that I'll read more of the Harry Bosch series and hope for books that are in this same class.