Book Review: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly
(Harry Bosch series)
(Los Angeles) Who has the time or
money to read books anymore? The sturdy hardcover, paper versions are $30/apiece, maybe you can save some cash by downloading it on your Kindle® but it still
takes time to finish 400-pages.
Here’s my quick proposition for the latest Michael
Connelly book: save the cash and check it out from the local public library, because this one you
won’t be able to put down!
Why review the 30th
novel of one of the most famous crime fiction novelists of our time? Because his books interweave prior characters, including his famous series
starting in 1992 involving a hardened, over-60 retired LAPD detective, Hieronymus “Harry”
Bosch. In the past few installments, I have to reveal that the author has
disappointed me a little, so I was skeptical.
I’m not throwing Michael Connelly under the bus, to
use a hackneyed phrase or “today’s terminology” as an old lawyer claims reluctantly in the
current book: “Two Kinds of Truth”
(Little Brown, 2017); however, after finishing this 20th installment
in the Harry Bosch series in about 48 hours, it felt right to sing his praises
and yell out to readers in the earshot of this blog, “Harry’s back!”
Two of Hollywood’s most
popular recent films, Last Jedi and Wrinkle in Time, took over an hour to
get to the launching point of the story’s action. That’s an awfully slow Part One, making for a long afternoon in both experiences. Connelly uses half the pages to finish Part One, but this time I was thankful for a thorough
introduction to the action involving two major story-lines: one is ripped
right from the headlines of TIME® magazine and the other is very personal to
Harry Bosch and hence the title of the book. Unable to compare the book to
those films, let me warn you that the next 30% of the
novel (Part Two) flies-by like a juiced up Yamaha® crotch-rocket through L.A.
traffic on the 101.
Part Three (18%) smartly closes
up the story and gets into the psychological side of Harry Bosch’s worldview,
appealing to police-procedural fans who take the time and spend the
money to follow this popular series. Harry’s point of view relates to what many
people think about criminal law, when they either ponder it or are brought-in
against their will to a system which unfortunately emulates the world around us. It also gives the reader a peek behind-the-front-desk, into the complicated, layered reality of police work.
“What’s this world about, Harry?” the police chief asks. Bosch explained what happened that week and also added that the truth was, it felt like to him he was walking in circles: “true justice was the brass ring just out of reach.” Echoing Raymond Chandler, Connelly reflects Harry's angst: Vietnam War veteran who closed homicide cases for 30-years on the mean streets of Los Angeles, forced into retirement by department politics, feeling empty when facing the enormity of the evil in the big city, or even the small suburb of San Fernando where he's landed. The author's power comes, however, in the masterfully consistent, genuine "character" of Harry Bosch played out once again in Two Kinds of Truth; it's why readers keep up their relationship with him by their loyalty:
“What’s this world about, Harry?” the police chief asks. Bosch explained what happened that week and also added that the truth was, it felt like to him he was walking in circles: “true justice was the brass ring just out of reach.” Echoing Raymond Chandler, Connelly reflects Harry's angst: Vietnam War veteran who closed homicide cases for 30-years on the mean streets of Los Angeles, forced into retirement by department politics, feeling empty when facing the enormity of the evil in the big city, or even the small suburb of San Fernando where he's landed. The author's power comes, however, in the masterfully consistent, genuine "character" of Harry Bosch played out once again in Two Kinds of Truth; it's why readers keep up their relationship with him by their loyalty:
"“To be a character” is to maintain a few qualities, nourish them to excess until they dominate and dictate all others. A character is delineated and thus generally delimited. To “have character” is to have reliable qualities, to hold tightly to them through the temptations to swerve and change. A person of character is neither bribed nor corrupted; he stands fast, is steadfast." From The Identities of Persons (1976) by philosopher Amelie Rorty. (quote not about Harry Bosch)
As an executive producer, Connelly
branched out into an AmazonPrime® TV-series called Bosch, starring Titus Welliver as the eponymous character; which in full-disclosure I have not
been able to watch. Nevertheless, based on the latest novel which I highly
recommend, I’ll be back in the hunt for his next fictional episode in 2018, featuring
a new character working with Harry, Detective Reneé Ballard, in Dark
Sacred Night. ##
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