Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
The Drop
by Michael Connelly, Little, Brown, 2011
Reviewed by Larry W. Riggs
This is the latest in the Harry Bosch
series, and, as always, former LA Times police reporter Connelly
has a good basic story and tells it well. Bosch, outstanding LAPD
homicide detective, son of a murdered prostitute, and half-brother
of Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller-star of another Connelly series--is
working on cold cases as retirement looms. DNA from a 1989
rape-murder can now be tested, and Bosch identifies the man who
left the DNA at the scene. The suspect has been convicted of
another rape, but he was only 8 years old at the time of the crime
Bosch is investigating. To make his life even more complicated,
Bosch is chosen to lead the investigation of a new case. The son of
his longtime enemy, Irvin Irving, who has gone from Assistant Chief
of the LAPD to LA City Councilman, and carried a grudge against the
department with him, has jumped, fallen, or been pushed from his
7th-floor room in a Beverly Hills hotel. All of Bosch's
strengths and weaknesses are on display here: his integrity
sometimes verges on gratuitous truculence, and his sensitivity
leads him into romantic involvement with an important figure in the
case. His history with Irving complicates his relations with the
department, a typical large organization rife with bad compromises,
politics, and corruption. Harry's fanatical devotion and Connelly's
smooth writing make this a compelling read.
- Larry Riggs is Professor of French at Butler University.