Harry Bosch left the LAPD again before they could fire him over a minor infraction. Since then he has successfully sued for being illegally forced into retirement. Once again Bosch has set up his shingle as a private investigator, but at the same time he is working as an unpaid part-time detective in the town of San Fernando outside of Los Angeles.
In his private investigator role, he is invited to meet an aging aviation billionaire, Whitney Vance, who has a proposition - find out if he has any surviving offspring who could become the heir to his huge fortune. At age 18 Vance had a relationship with a young Mexican girl called Vibiana Duarte, but soon after becoming pregnant she disappeared and Vance had never seen her again.
Bosch quickly finds a lead that Vibiana had a son who was adopted out shortly after birth. This lead fades when Bosch finds that the son perished when he was shot down in a helicopter in Vietnam. As soon as he starts to find more leads Bosch realises that he is being followed by powerful parties who don't want any surviving relatives to be found. When his search takes a more dramatic and serious direction he turns for help and legal protection to his half-brother, Mickey Haller.
At the same time, Bosch gets tied up almost full time with a major case for the small police force of San Fernando - a serial rapist who gains entry by cutting through the screen door of victims' houses. The hunt for the "Screen Cutter" heats up when more victims are identified and a criminal profile suggests that it is only a matter of time before the rapist also becomes a killer.
Connelly showed his skills in weaving Bosch's investigatory skills between two totally different cases. It was certainly a change not to see him constantly doing battle with his police superiors. There is not much background about his personal life as his daughter Maddy is at college and only has a cameo role.
Over the last year, I have been revisiting and enjoying several of Michael Connelly's earlier books. IMHO this one stands out as one of the best he has written and maintains his top place in US crime fiction and showcased Connelly's skills in keeping this long-running series alive. We will certainly see a lot more of Harry Bosch in the future.
I was able to review this book now as it was published in Australia on 24 October 2016 and won't be released in the US until 1 November 2016. It certainly deserves to be in the bestsellers list leading up to the festive season.
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