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Echo Park - Michael Connelly

Let's back track a bit. The first Connelly I read was THE CONCRETE BLOND. In the arc of the Harry Bosch character it ranks pretty high. I went back for THE BLACK ECHO and THE BLACK ICE, and then I read one of the best books of my life.

THE LAST COYOTE is the great book of this series. A huge book. I still have distinct memories of reading it. In terms of quality only THE POET achieves the kind of greatness that THE LAST COYOTE does. I can think of few one-two punches in crime fiction like THE CONCRETE BLOND and THE LAST COYOTE. And with the non-series THE POET following COYOTE, these three books make quite the trifecta.

That is not to say that the rest of Connelly's output is mediocre. Far from it. Only that because he has written at such a high level for so long I have occasionally taken him for granted. Tsk, tsk for sure. Let me say that when I recommend authors to friends, family, random stalkers.... Michael's name is the first to come out of my mouth. Ok, sometimes Dennis Lehane sneaks out there, but fully 80% of the time Micheal is at the top.

So ECHO PARK.

For comparative purposes this is his best Bosch, his best book since ANGELS FLIGHT. In the last few Bosch books, Connelly has really pushed Harry's struggle with his inner demons to the fore. And while this has made for some really wonderful writing, this is not the Bosch/Connelly I know. I can understand Connelly's interest in exploring this angle as way to keep the character fresh, but I resist change.

The book follows Harry Bosch as he endeavors to close a case that has long haunted him. The crime is seemingly solved in the opening chapters, but this is far from the end. ECHO PARK is to my mind a return to form for Connelly and the Bosch character. Gone, for the most part, are the internal demons that have bedeviled Bosch. Absolutely, he is still conflicted, but these elements are approached much more subtly. At this point we know Harry so well that we don't need to be told that the moral gray areas where he primarily exists wear on him heavily.

Straight forward and damn the consequences is how Harry acts because long experience has taught him that it gets him the best results. Don't we all wish we could act this way? Minus the body count.....

Bosch has never had a partner in the strictest sense. The character's of Kiz Rider and Jerry Edgar have filled this role in several books, but neither is truly his partner. Bosch is too much of a lone wolf..... or coyote. No, his really partner is the guiled and gutted Los Angeles. No one rivals Connelly for his sheer descriptive power, he is the James Lee Burke of L.A. Lovely stuff that draws and repeals the reader to this land of illusions.

Echo Park really took me back to the early years of Connelly's writing. It acts as a wonderful bit of nostalgia and proves that Connelly can write this stuff in his sleep. Tough and haunting stuff.
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