The third Bosch book takes readers back
to the often mentioned Doll Maker case in which Harry Bosch took down a killer
of prostitutes who took samples of their make-up as trophies. In THE CONCRETE
BLONDE, Bosch is accused of having killed the wrong man when a new murder is
uncovered which seems to have occurred after the alleged killer was taken out
by Bosch.
Rogue policing is nothing new to Bosch.
His cop mentality and iron first delivery of street justice has got him in
trouble time and time again yet his method and madness doesn’t change from
novel to novel. This is one of the things that makes Bosch so compelling and
down to earth. He’s just a guy who wants to rid the world of trash, one garbage
collection day at a time. Unfortunately, it felt like he didn’t get enough time
to do just that with author Michael Connelly taking a different route for the
third series instalment.
THE CONCRETE BLONDE felt more Grisham
than grit and lacked some of the Hollywood noir of the first couple of books
but Bosch is such a great character with enough of the dark him to maintain the
readers interest despite a heavy emphasis on courtroom proceedings rather than
the case of the blonde buried in a slab of concrete. It’s a good book but not
great. Personally, more focus on the investigation into Doll Maker and this new
victim and less courtroom thriller would’ve put this right up there with some
of the best crime fiction.
I’m reading the Bosch books as part of
my new year’s bookish resolutions and am having a great time. HERE are some of
the other reading resolutions I’ve set for 2014.
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