City of Bones
Series: Harry Bosch #8
Published: April 2002
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Book Description (from Good Reads): Detective Harry Bosch tears open a 20-year-old murder case - with an explosive ending that leave all Bosch fans hungrily awaiting the next installment.
When the bones of a twelve-year-old boy are found scattered in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch is drawn into a case that brings up the darkest memories from his own haunted past. The bones have been buried for years, but the cold case doesn't deter Bosch. Unearthing hidden stories, he finds the child's identity and reconstructs his fractured life, determined that he not be forgotten.
At the same time, a new love affair with a female cop begins to blossom for Bosch - until a stunningly blown mission leaves him in more trouble than ever before in his turbulent career. The investigation races to a shocking conclusion and leaves Bosch on the brink of an unimaginable decision.
Thoughts:
Apparently, I still do not learn. After finishing reading the first few chapters, more like half the book, I realize that there is a few more books that explore the life of the detective Bosch. But oh well it was still very understandable.
The story opens with the discovery of a new case and the exploration of a new relationship so it felt like it was not so necessary to read the previous ones.
The story is somewhat fast-paced, with the typical- there should not be a romantic relationship between Bosch and the newbie. A few power struggles between the police force who want to just close cases and look good and those who want to actually take time to look for the guilty even if it means not saving face in front of the community.
Not sure who is after Bosch and why he does not want to start the relationship, he implies that there are enemies in the dark after him and he wants to keep her safe so they must not advertise their relationship in their workplace. This hidden enemy might be dragged from a previous plotline or as part of the series as a whole. Not certain and because it is the 8th in a series I do not have enough time to read all of the previous ones in order to read this one so yes I decided to skip them.
It was an engaging investigation, as Bosch who is not exactly a team player is doing pretty much all the discoveries behind his partner's back. It does not seem to be on purpose exactly but they are definitely not the best of friends. In some aspects Bosch is an ideal detective, he cares about the truth, about investigating until the end of the leads, he is dedicated and acts on his gut instinct which like the good main character, are usually reliable.
The discoveries in the case even if they did manage to disclose the truth felt like there was something else as if a bigger play was on the way and had yet to be discovered. The ending did not feel like a proper ending, we had the "culprit" but it did not feel like a victory. It is unsure if the lack of sense of victory was not in the case itself but on Bosch and his decision. It was from my point of view totally unexpected.
Official advise: do not read this if you have not read the previous ones, it can be read alone like me but it might leave you wondering because some of the people's attitudes might be explained by actions or events that took place in previous books.
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