The Overlook - Michael Connelly

The Overlook
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown

Mystery/Police Procedural

LAPD detective Harry Bosch is working his first fresh case in years. After spending time in cold cases, he’s been reassigned to Homicide Special, which encompasses anything related to politics, celebrities, or looks like it will be a time drain. On this particular night, he arrives at an overlook above Mulholland Drive to find the body of man lying in the dirt. The man, Dr. Stanley Kent, according to all kinds of ID badges on his person and in his car, was shot twice in the back of the head, execution style.

Each ID badge is for a different hospital. A quick check on Dr. Kent reveals that he was a medical physicist. And, more importantly, he had access to radioactive materials at hospitals across southern California. Tracing his last movements reveals that thirty-two units of cesium are missing from a lab vault. Cesium could easily be used to make a dirty bomb. While the FBI and various other federal agencies duke it out, Bosch decides that finding the killer will lead him to the cesium.

This story was originally serialized in sixteen parts, but the author revised and expanded it for publication as a novel, completely removing any episodic quality. It’s a bit shorter than other Bosch novels, but it’s so tightly plotted and deftly paced that the pages almost turn themselves. Bosch is still a world-weary veteran of the L.A. streets, and it’s interesting to watch him get to know his new, younger partner during the course of the investigation. In short, THE OVERLOOK is classic Harry Bosch.

Rating: 9
June 2007
ISBN# 978-0-316-01895-1