What I’m Reading

The Drop, by Michael Connelly: The new Harry Bosch novel was worth the wait. Harry is as embroiled as ever in “high jingo”, as he calls police politics, when the son of his long-time nemesis, Irvin Irving, is found dead outside the Chateau Marmont, an apparent suicide. Also on Harry’s plate is a cold case from the Open-Unsolved Unit, which leads him and partner David Chu on the trail of a prolific serial killer.

Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart: Set in the near-future—one might say the too-near future—in Manhattan, Shteyngart weaves an incredible tale in a world where social media rule, people rarely speak to each other, and love is nearly impossible to express. Like his previous novels, Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, it is funny, moving and beautifully written.

The Amateurs, by Marcus Sakey: There’s a reason Sakey has been called the reigning prince of crime fiction. He is incredibly talented, disturbingly young and even good looking, which is why I secretly hate him. His prose is riveting, sometimes startling, and his characters finely drawn. This story of four friends who undertake a robbery for all the wrong reasons, only to wind up way over their heads in dark waters, is a great read, Also worth checking out is Scar Tissue, his recent collection of seven “stories of love and wounds.”

The Reversal, by Michael Connelly: I had read The Lincoln Lawyer and The Fifth Witness but somehow missed this middle entry in the Mickey Haller series. It pairs Haller with his half brother Harry Bosch, in the story of the retrial of a man who spent 24 years in prison for abducting and murdering a 12-year-old girl, but who has been given a new trial when DNA evidence appears to exonerate him. Only Haller isn’t defending the man; he’s on the other side as a special prosecutor, with Bosch as his investigator. A compelling read, but not quite as good as the other two. Maybe because I read it on my Kobo, where you can’t tell when you’re getting to the end of a book, but I found the ending flat by Connelly’s high standards.

The Affair, by Lee Child: Another fine entry in the Jack Reacher series, this one takes place during Reacher’s final days in the U.S. Army--his last case as an MP and investigator. In a sense it’s a prequel to the very first Reacher novel, Killing Floor, ending just a few months and a few miles from the time and setting of that book.

Suicide Run, by Michael Connelly: Now that I’ve joined the 21st century and bought a Kobo, I downloaded this Michael Connelly collection of three Harry Bosch stories. The stories take place at different points in Bosch’s career, from the earlier days when he partnered with Jerry Edgar to his more recent pairing with Ignacio Ferrara. The middle story, Cielo Azul, brings in Terry McCaleb, the FBI profiler who is featured in Blood Work and A Darkness More than Light. I enjoyed all of them, especially One-Dollar Poker, but best of all was the four-chapter preview of the new Bosch novel, The Drop. Can’t wait till it comes out November 28.

Oh Canada, Oh Quebec, by Mordecai Richler: And now for something completely different, Richler’s rollicking take on Quebec’s language laws and other political foibles, all part of my research for my fourth Jonah Geller novel, Miss Montreal.