City of Bones by Michael ConnellyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jacket Blurb: Detective Harry Bosch tears open a 20-year-old murder case - with an explosive ending that leave all Bosch fans hungrily awaiting the next installment.
When the bones of a twelve-year-old boy are found scattered in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch is drawn into a case that brings up the darkest memories from his own haunted past. The bones have been buried for years, but the cold case doesn't deter Bosch. Unearthing hidden stories, he finds the child's identity and reconstructs his fractured life, determined that he not be forgotten.
At the same time, a new love affair with a female cop begins to blossom for Bosch - until a stunningly blown mission leaves him in more trouble than ever before in his turbulent career. The investigation races to a shocking conclusion and leaves Bosch on the brink of an unimaginable decision.
Read as an audiobook, with yet another change in the narrator.
A moderately well written "cold case" mystery - which was a nice change from the previous books - that left me feeling neither satisfied or unsatisfied when all was said and done.
My main contention with the book happened right at the beginning - when the crime scene investigators found a quarter from 1975 mixed in with the bones and Bosch, Edgar and etal all surmise the murder must have happened then because that's when the coin was dated. I took a looksie at the change in my wallet: 2 pennies - 1986 and 2009, 1 dime - 1998, 1 quarter - 1973. Using a coin to date a murder? Inconclusive at best.
Okay, got that off my chest.
Other negative points, too many "We have the suspect!" cries, followed with, "No! No! They are the wrong suspect! It's not really them!" I counted four of these false leads, on a cold case, that seemed to suddenly drive everyone's attention and energy: the neighbor, the sister, the father, the friend, and actually, the neighbor came up twice. To say this became annoying was an understatement.
And in the interest of not giving away any spoilers, I really thought what happened with the most recent 'girlfriend' was stupid, given the history of Bosch and his women.
On the positive side, Harry was not the cranky ass as was portrayed in earlier books. Now he did seem to continuously cut his partner out of the loop, but on the other hand, I would suspect that both detectives don't necessarily need to hold hands the entire investigation. I would have liked to have seen Edgar step up his own part in the investigation, rather than always waiting for Bosch to tell him what to do.
So, I'm left feeling neither satisfied with the mystery nor unsatisfied. I had my issues with the book, but not enough to stop "reading", nor to stop reading the series. Recommended with a few reservations.
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