Detective Bosch has finally left the LAPD… Only to volunteer at a different police department in a tiny, cash-strapped town, where he investigates a serial rapist. Bosch also continues working as a private investigator, and in this book, he’s hired by an aging billionaire to find out if he has a living heir. The latter investigation feels like classic Bosch; the former feels more like an afterthought. On the whole, it’s a somewhat different-feeling Bosch book, but still entertaining.
One of the reasons this book feels different is that the recurring characters from earlier in the series, most of whom worked for the LAPD, are largely absent from this one. So you don’t have the usual camaraderie, nor the usual rivalry, politics, and backstabbing. Perhaps the biggest missing character is the city of LA itself, which always played a major role in Bosch books. The tiny town he’s in now just doesn’t have the same degree of depth and history.
That said, the change allows Bosch to explore somewhat new territory. He starts to form relationships with the other detectives at the new police station; we get another appearance from Bosch’s half-brother, Mickey Haller of the Lincoln Lawyer series; and the investigation of the billionaire’s heir has Bosch diving deep into history, including all the way back to the Vietnam War, which was a big part of his own life.
In the end, it’s a decent read, with the usual mysteries, detective work, twists, and action. Bosch keeps doing things his way, Connelly keeps writing books his way, and if you’re still reading this series after 19 books, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
