The Closers - Michael Connelly

   2005; 447 pages.  Book 11 (out of 20) in the “Harry Bosch Novel” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Police Procedural; Hard-boiled Crime Fiction; Murder Thriller.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    After three years of retirement, Harry Bosch is back in the Los Angeles Police Department! The chief of police has personally extended the offer to join up again.

 

    Most of the LAPD that were there when Harry retired now welcome him back, but a couple are a bit frosty to him.  One in particular is downright hostile about it.

 

    He’s not getting his old job back.  Instead, he’s been assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit.  You and I would call it the “Cold Case Department”.  He and his partner, Detective Kizmin “Kiz” Rider, have already been given a case to reopen: an unsolved murder of a high school girl way back in 1988.  And, as one of LAPD's upper brass quips, “New hope for the dead.  Harry Bosch is on the case again.”

 

    The trouble is, Harry’s not sure whether that Captain was being sarcastic or not.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Closers combines two of my favorite crime genres: Police Procedurals and Cold Cases, and is the eleventh book in Michael Connelly’s 20-volume “Harry Bosch” series.  I’ve read a bunch of these books, starting way back before this blog existed.  I do recall the first one, The Concrete Blonde, and being blown away by it.  I’m not reading the series in order, and I don’t think I missing out on much.

 

    Harry’s “unretirement” is further complicated by him having to learn to work with a younger, female detective as an equal partner instead of an underling.  He also has to get caught up on the latest technological advances in things like DNA profiling, wiretaps (via something called ListenTech), and phone call tracing (via something called AutoTrack).  Harry grudgingly acquiesces to all that, but draws the line at using computers to write up reports.  He’ll stick with a good old typewriter, thank you.

 

    Harry, known in the past for his uncompromising brusqueness when dealing with authority figures, now also has to learn to be tactful.  Because this is a cold case, it means two other detectives originally worked the case and failed to come up with anything.  Harry now has to interview them and critique their performances, and hope he finds something they missed.  Good luck with trying to be diplomatic, Harry.

 

    I love this series because Michael Connelly is a master at crafting a complex, captivating mystery, filled with subtle clues, human drama, red herrings, plot twists, and well-developed characters.  There’s just enough thrills and spills to keep the pacing brisk, without the action becoming “over the top”.

 

    The ending is suitably exciting, and is keyed by Harry discovering a subtle clue in a photograph.  It’s a crucial bit of evidence, so tag along with Harry and Kiz as they methodically discover and apprehend the killer(s).  Trying to solve the case before they do will probably be a fruitless venture.  The final chapter gives one last surprising plot twist that will leave Harry and the reader with a heavy heart.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Jonesing (v.): having a fixation on (something).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 22,565 ratings and 1,694 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.19/5 based on 60,485 ratings and 2,470 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “You know who we have to thank for this, don’t you?” Bosch asked.

    She looked at him quizzically.

    “I give up.”

    “Mel Gibson.”

    “What are you talking about?”

    “When did Lethal Weapon come out?  Right around this time, right?”

    “I guess.  But what are you talking about?  Those movies are so far-fetched.”

    “That’s my point.  That’s the movie that started all of this holding the gun sideways and with two hands, one over the other.  We got blood on this gun because the shooter was a Lethal Weapon fan.”  (pg. 35)

 

    “So if I was a defense lawyer,” Pratt continued, “I would have Mackey cop to the burglary because the statute of limitations has long expired.  He would say the gun bit him when he tried it out so he got rid of the damn thing — long before any murder.  He’d say, “No sir I didn’t kill that little girl with it and you can’t prove I did.  You can’t prove I ever laid eyes on her.”

    Rider and Bosch nodded.

    “So you got nothing.”

    They nodded again.

    “Not bad for a day’s work.   What do you want to do about it?”  (pg. 141)

 

“I think you could probably talk a zebra out of his white stripes if you had to.”  (pg. 272)

    There was a lot less profanity in The Closers than I expected: just 7 instances in the first 10% of the book, although five of those were f-bombs.

 

    As is the norm, the author uses lots of acronyms that us civilian readers need to remember.  Among them here are ESB (Evidence Storage Building), PDU (Public Disorder Unit), RHD (Robbery & Homicide Division), and IAD (Internal Affairs Department).  I remembered most of them, but kept forgetting what SID stood for.

 

    I can’t think of anything else to quibble about.  The Closers was a great read for me, with an awesome glimpse into what it’s like to be a big city detective.  I count Michael Connelly as one of my favorite Police Procedural authors; his books never disappoint me.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  The Closers is set in the present, which means 2005, the year it was published.  It was fun to see some long-departed entities in the text, most notably the Yellow Pages and Borders Bookstore.  Those were the days!