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4.0étoiles sur 5
Cassie Black takes on the Cuban mafia!, Nov. 7 2008
Cassie Black is a thief and an ex-con, currently on parole, working at a car dealership selling Porsches to the heavy wallet brigade in Los Angeles. To say more about Cassie is to chance spoiling the novel because Cassie's history and the background story is the driving force behind what she has become. Michael Connelly is stingy with the details as he masterfully holds the suspense at unbearably high levels and feeds the reader only enough bits and pieces of Cassie's background for her current behaviour to make sense. Suffice it to say, that she can't handle the straight life and needs one more score -a monster payday that will allow her to retire and disappear to parts unknown.
Her target is a high roller at The Cleopatra, a Las Vegas casino that has seen better days. The ninja style high-tech caper is wildly successful but Black is aghast when she realizes that her haul is easily ten times what she was expecting. "It is possible to steal too much!" Clearly she has stepped into the middle of a mob transaction and she knows that the Cuban mafia will pursue her to the very ends of the earth to recover their money and to kill her as an example to all who might presume to get in their way.
"Void Moon" is a fabulous diversion from Connelly's wildly successful Harry Bosch series and works magnificently as a stand-alone novel. Connelly's description of Black's outrageous theft right under the noses of the casino and hotel security safeguards is positively breathtaking. You'll never sleep well at night in a hotel again! Her characters are thrilling - Thelma Kibble, the corpulent, black parole officer with a heart made of a wonderful combination of soft, warm putty and ice, cold steel; Jack Karch, the ruthless, psychopathic investigator who's on the casino's payroll but will do anything to take the money for himself; Vincent Grimaldi, the self-centered casino director whose neck is in a very tight noose unless he recovers the stolen money; and, of course, Jodie Shaw, the beautiful little girl around whom Cassie's life and the entire plot ultimately revolves.
As usual, Connelly's dialogue positively sings with hi-fi clarity and realism! His characters leap off the page with depth and believability! And the plot sizzles from one page to the next through the entire length of the novel. I was grateful to reach the end of the novel so that I could actually take a breath. I think I was turning purple! Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
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2.0étoiles sur 5
A-Void, Oct. 10 2008
Unless you feel like you have to read every novel by Michael Connelly, this one you can skip.
Void Moon is a crime story that will teach you more than ever wanted to know about how to do a hot prowl (steal from someone who is sleeping in the room). Detailed sections explain how to take a lock apart so that it doesn't lock (but seems to be locked), crawl through the HVAC conduits, and install remote cameras to steal the combination to a safe. I know you've always wanted to know those things. As a bonus, you'll also learn how to do some simple sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Just to be sure you don't get bored, Mr. Connelly also teaches you about astrology (the "void moon" reference). Have you got all that?
All those details aside, Void Moon is a story about parolee Cassie Black who sells expensive sports cars for a living by playing up to "overnight geniuses" who have just signed with the studios for big bucks. She used to do hot prowls and misses the excitement. Suddenly, something shifts in her life, and she decides it's time to make a big score. The rest of the book describes her pursuit of that score and what results. Along the way, the plot deals heavily in synchronicity to reinforce the theme of "fate" in our lives.
Cassie Black is an appealing character is a story that has more unpleasant parts than pleasant ones. This story is perfect for those who like to be pessimistic by expecting bad things to happen. Her nemesis turns out to be an unusually unappealing psychopath. Here's where the story becomes drenched in unnecessary evil and gore. Yuck!
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4.0étoiles sur 5
To the place where the desert is the ocean..., Aoû 12 2008
"Void Moon" is Michael Connelly's ninth book, and was first published in 2000. It's only his third book not to feature Harry Bosch, giving a starring role to Cassie Black instead. However, Cassie is a little different to Connelly's other heroes - instead of a cop, a lawyer, a retired fed or a journalist operating on the 'right side' of the law, Cassie is an ex-con currently on parole.
When we meet her, Cassie is working in a car dealership on LA's Sunset Boulevard. Although she spent time in prison in Nevada, she managed to have her parole transferred to LA and knows she was lucky to get the job. She suspects it's because the boss - Ray Morales - hopes their relationship will move beyond the professional. Her parole is due to run for two years and, although she's on minimun supervision and she has a very likeable parole officer in Thelma Kibble, Cassie is starting to get a little twitchy.
Cassie's past is only given away gradually : exactly what she was convicted for, who Max was and what happened to him and why a five year old girl called Jodie Shaw is so important. Cassie has been keeping a close eye on the Shaw family, and it's their proposed move to Paris that (apparently) causes Cassie's twitchiness. She's maybe a little too honest with Thelma in a parole meeting, even (foolishly) asking about the possibility if seeing out her parole in France. When it's made clear that isn't going to happen, her decision is made : one last job, with a big enough dividend to disappear on. She's barely out of her meeting with Thelma before she's on the phone to her old contact DH Reilly. DH (as in Dog House) is actually the Leo Renfro's alias and is someone she had worked closely with in the past. He had also practically raised his step-brother, Max. Roughly two weeks after Cassie makes contact with Leo, he gets back in touch with her : he's managed a identify a job that matches her requirements. Unfortunately, it sees her return to a place she'd never have wanted to see again : Las Vegas. Her problems with Vegas aren't limited to personal, however - her new assignment throws up quite a few professional difficulties also.
A very enjoyable book, and - with both Cassie and Thelma Kibble - two very likeable characters. (In fact, both have been given very small cameos in subsequent Harry Bosch books). Cassie presents two mysteries, in a way - her current job and her past life...in particular, why the Shaw family is so important to her. Connelly has been one of the best mystery writers of recent years, and "Void Moon" is no disappointment - very much recommended.
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