The Overlook by Michael Connelly
And yet another murder mystery…. This time written by in internationally recognized American author Michael Connelly. It is one of his continuing series featuring police detective Harry Bosch.
Harry has recently been promoted to a Homicide Special squad that only handles cases involving celebrities or other high profile victims or suspects. If the investigation gets too hot for the local cops, it gets shoved uptown to the Special Squad.
A body is found on the Mulholland overlook, next door to a property that used to be owned by Madonna. Obviously the killer isn’t shy of publicity, and the local cops hand over to Homicide Special immediately and happily. The victim was a medical physicist, and therein likes the problem. Just before he was killed, significant amounts of weapons grade radioactive material was stolen from a hospital. Immediately Homeland Security is notified and tries to take over the case.
The Homeland Security investigation is characterised by knee-jerk reactions and over-reactions that panic innocent civilians and officers of the law alike. Harry, on the other hand, stands back with his typical cynicism, ignores the dangerous materials and knows that if he solves the murder, the ‘terrorist’ will be caught. So while everyone else is breaking down doors and demanding files in the interest of national security, Harry looks at the victim, his wife and tries to find a motive for a murder.
Of course, Harry’s way is successful. Any mention of why will spoil the plot, and that’s not fair.
Did I like the book? Yes, considering. A few months ago I read Connelly’s previous book Echo Park and had a lot of misgivings about the character of Harry, and the whole contrived nature of the cold case. I came away from that book simply not caring to read anything else by this author. However, The Overlook is a pleasant surprise. The plot moves quickly, in fact the whole investigation takes only about 24 hours. The result is credible and I even feel the new permanent character in the series, Harry’s new partner, has a lot of room for growth within the series.
