A less tormented Harry Bosch?

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	• The Overlook (Harry Bosch) Michael Connelly Vision, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 189 reviews view larger image
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Amusing interlude

This is not Michael Connelly's best Harry Bosch novel, but it's also not his worst, by any stretch of the imagination. You can (sort of) tell that this story started out as something other than a book (it was a magazine serial) because of the length of the story. It's about a hundred pages shorter than Connelly's novels usually are. This just means that when things begin to unravel, and the plot begins to twist, it does so quickly.

Harry's called to investigate a murder. He's now working in Homicide again, out of downtown, and he has a new, green partner. The victim in this case is a doctor who has access to nuclear material that's used in cancer treatments. The doctor's been murdered and left at the Overlook in the Hollywood Hills, and Harry soon begins to question everything he's been told about the case, and everyone who's connected to it.

I liked this book, though it did seem a bit truncated and the ending developed rather quickly. I would recommend it, especially for someone going somewhere on a plane, something like that.

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No padding - a nice surprise

This is my first Harry Bosch book and it won't be my last. What a pleasure to read a novel that isn't 50% padding! When I was a kid, most thrillers/mysteries were about this length and they focused on plot and twists and turns. This is very similiar to the kind of novel that turned me onto reading as a child. While I have enjoyed many, many longer books I have found that over the past 10 years, authors seem to think that the bigger the book, the more important it will be perceived. They shouldn't be afraid to tell a trim story with a beginning, middle and very neatly tied up end. The only chapter I didn't get was the Viet Nam interlude. Wasn't that puzzling, out of nowhere?
I recommend this book for readers looking for a well-constructed, minimilist thriller with a really nice turn of plot in the 3rd act.

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A less tormented Harry Bosch?

This book does have the feel of being written for a non-Harry Bosch audience. There is very little of the iternalized reflective stream of consciousness that makes a Harry Bosch book unique. Originally done as a serialized quick read thriller for a mass market audience who presumably don't know Harry it is an odd vehicle in which to introduce a new partner for Harry s well as to haul Rachael Walling back as a cardboard cutout character who moves the plot along by explaining the Feds to this new audience.

That said, if you are not a Harry Bosch die hard fan, you will probably not notice the absense of Harry's deep rooted conflicts. Just enjoy this as a thriller for the current times. What I find interesting as one who has followed the Bosch canon for years is the question of "Why Now?" Harry Bosch is a tormented character that we have spent years getting to know; we love his cases and his existential pain. We know that "Everyone counts, or no one counts"; words that guide Harry's ever changing career.

I hope I am wrong when I sense that in this book, Connolly is testing the waters for a less LAPD centered story arc in favor of a broader Rachael Walling / Feds focus. I hope not, because in spite of some reviewers have said, this does work as a thriller, just not one cast in the mold of the Harry we know. It is this lack of the subtle, the unexpected, the very unique flavor of this character that we find disappointing. Connolley apparently knows this, because he has extensively rewritten the serialized version and added a chapter to make this piece more of a fit with the ongoing Bosch saga. I bought a copy, and I didn't regret it...it isn't a home run, but I got my Harry fix for the winter. I happen to have just finished Echo Park when I picked up The Overlook.

For anyone who hasn't met Harry before, check out Echo Park as a prequel and get a better sense of why Harry Bosch stands right along side George Smiley ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"),Matt Scudder ("When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes"), and my beloved Travis McGee ("The Lonely Silver Rain"). Harry Bosch knows that the truth does not always set you free; it sometimes imprisons you in a very lonely place. I sense that Harry has a destiny, and the author is preparing us for it.

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Still Bosch but..

Doesn't quite live up to previous plot moves or tempo, still fine for a transatlantic flight!

It doesn't jibe

The plot is dandy but the end of it are just words. I'm really disappointed as how they found the bad guy and just everything ended as a fairy tale. This doesn't mean that the book is bad or wrong-written but the end of it doesn't par the beginning. If you are planing a long flight you could read this one in a sitting.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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