Customer Reviews

The Drop (Harry Bosch)

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I started reading the latest Harry Bosch book last night. Finished it this morning, it's so enthralling.

The novel deals with two cases. Harry Boschs' nemesis Irvin Irving, ex-deputy police chief and city councillor, requests Harry Bosch to investigate the death of his son, George Irving, who apparently committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor suite of a Hollywood hotel.

The other case resulted from a cold case discovery of DNA in a blood smear on the neck of a rape-murder victim shown to originate from a sex offender who was just 8 years old at the time.

The title 'the Drop' could be referring to the apparent suicide. It could also refer to 'DROP', 'Deferred Retirement Option Plan', which is the reason why Harry Bosch had returned to the LAPD to the Open-Unsolved Unit. The novel opens with Harry Bosch being told he had a 4 year extension of his second and final contract, meaning that he'd be permanently retired in 39 months time (Michael Connelly has indicated that that will be the end of the Bosch series), so that leaves plenty of time for further novels in the series.

I can hardly wait...

This is another excellent book about Harry Bosch, my favorite LAPD homicide investigator. The title of the book may throw the reader off though.
The DROP in this book refers to the Deferred Retirement Option Program of the LAPD. Harry is still working in the Unsolved Cases unit and is at the mandatory retirement age and had put in for a DROP. Through it is not the focal point of the story, it does tie in to Harry's mindset throughout the book.

Harry and his partner Chu get assigned to a cold case of a woman who was murdered several years prior. The DNA evidence on the case points to Clayton, Pell a convicted sex-offender. This would be a slam dunk except that when the crime happened, Pell was only eight years old.

Before Harry can investigate further he is told from the people upstairs (his former partner Kiz Rider) that he must drop everything and devote his entire effort to investigating the apparent suicide of a councilman's son. This brings up an issue for Harry. Firstly, he does not like the councilman at all and is anxious to investigate the other case. He is told that the councilman's son is crucial because the councilman is responsible for department budget cuts and handling this case could help the LAPD get some of their funding back.

Of course Harry will do things his way and will find ways to bypass instructions and work on both cases at once. At times through the book Harry's actions will alienate those around him, especially his partner Chu and his new love interest (a social worker helping Clayton Pell). The book never gets boring and Harry's relentless and methodical pursuit to get to the truth is prevalent throughout. Even his daughter Madeline seems to pitch in for some good advice and could play a bigger role in future books to come.

I give the book four stars and would have rated it higher except that I felt a little uncomfortable with Harry pursuing a relationship with the social worker for Clayton Pell.

**SPOILER ALERT - there may be some minor spoilers here!!**

I've read an interview where Connelly said he was thinking about the end of Harry Bosch's series. Even though it makes me sad, being a huge Harry Bosch fan, I think it makes sense. It's about time. Harry is over 60, which is a lot to a Detective, as he himself says in this book.

Besides, he has now more than he ever have to live for - a daughter and a possible girlfriend.

When he retired years ago, it was not well thought, he acted by impulse and had nothing else, so he was kind of depressing/depressed... But now 39 months -or the full 5 years if he gets them- sounds like a good plan. A good time for him and for us to get used to the idea, to say goodbye.

Maddie is sounding more and more like Bosch's successor, and I found it very exciting. She's smart, stubborn, perceptive, a good shooter... Plus, she's got both nature and nurture to help! I can't wait to read her first book as a Detective.

I liked this book very much, and deliberately slowed down my reading pace so it could last longer... It's so hard to say goodbye to a Harry Bosch's book... Specially knowing we are going to have to wait at least a year for the next one!!

Without giving away too much of the plot, this book followed Detective Bosch on two cases, unrelated to each other. It seemed the second case for most of the book was just window dressing till about 80% of the way thru when it became interesting. It added a few characters, but it didn't seem to fit. The end of the book was concluded without many twists or surprises. Frankly the book fore shadowed the ending multiple times. So it was different then previous books in the serious. The book shows a softer side of Bosch given his daughter, this kinder more gentler Bosch changes the character. Moving away from the tough detective which is what made the other books in the serious more enjoyable. It was a good read, it wasn't as great as some of the other Michael Connelly novels, but worth a read.

"The Drop" is pretty standard Harry Bosch fare, which places it pretty far up the ladder in the genre.

Bosch is called to investigate the death of the son of his old nemesis Irvin Irving -- now a city councilman -- by Irving Senior himself, dragging Bosch away from his regular duties in the Open-Unsolved (cold case) Unit. Is the younger Irving's death a suicide? A homicide? An accident? That's what Harry's got to determine, and as he does so he opens a can of political worms that could endanger his career.

Nonetheless, when a critical lead develops in an old unsolved murder case, Bosch can't keep himself from trying to solve that case also.

This is pretty much a procedural with political overtones (the Irvin Irving connection), but in author Connelly's deft hands it's pretty thoroughly entertaining.

Is there anything really new here? Any new ground we haven't covered before? No, not really, other than his relationship with his daughter, who's now living with him. But that's fine, because reading a Harry Bosch novel is like visiting with an old friend. Very enjoyable.

Old detectives don't retire they just solve new cases.
Like fine wine, Harry Bosch gets better with age. He's pushing 60 now and still the best detective in the literary murder mystery trade. Michael Connelly continues to bless us with outstanding Bosch stories. In The Drop, Harry has asked for and received a retirement extension of 39 months. He is now working in the mentally taxing Open-Unsolved (Cold Case) Unit reviewing and trying to solve "Old" cold but not forgotten murder cases. This is Harry Bosch at his deductive best. After he is awarded a new and very complex cold case, his investigation is interrupted by a high profile death that he has been requested to investigate by his old nemesis councilman Irvin Irving. The councilman's son George, a well known political fixer and insider, has apparently committed suicide by jumping from the 7th floor of a famous Hollywood Hotel. Irving uses his political pull, "High Jingo", to get Bosch assigned to the case. The old enmities flare up between Bosch and Irving as political intrigue coupled with 25 year old mysteries confound Harry as he desperately tries to solve both complex mysteries at the same time. Keeping it all straight requires a detective extraordinaire from the `old" school, and that is Harry Bosch in spades.
This is Connelly at his very best as he intertwines yesterday and today into two taunt mysteries. Add in a little Bosch love life spice, along with Harry raising his 15 year old daughter and viola Connelly has another winner. Not a lot of physical action, I mean Harry is pushing 60, but a wealth of mental gymnastics and powerful sleuthing along the lines of Sherlock Holmes. This is a very good detective mystery as only Michael Connelly can write.
Character development is vintage Connelly: Outstanding. He keeps the old readers involved by dropping bits and pieces of Harry's past life, while engaging the new readers with explanations of just who this crusty old detective is. Additionally, Mr. Connelly appears to be saying we have Harry for another 3-5 years: To which I say bravo!
No gratuitous sex, language or violence: Michael Connelly's trademarks. Just great writing.
If its vintage Harry Bosch I gotta go with 5 stars. I know $30 is a little too step for a novel, so do like I do and get this book from your local library. Definitely worth the read. The big question is WHO comes after Harry? Now that is a pair of shoes that can never be filled!! Time to be dropping some hints Mr. Connelly???

I am definitely in the minority here. After reading all of Connelly's previous books, I'm disappointed in this latest in the Harry Bosch series. When Harry was a dark and brooding detective battling his personal demons, he was a much more interesting character. This new Harry is pretty much the same as all the other detective characters out there. If you want to get to know the real Harry Bosch, try reading one of his earlier books. Concrete Blonde was very good...an all-time favorite of mine. I didn't find the plot in this story compelling. It really didn't get going until three-quarters of the way toward the end. The writing was acceptable. The dialog and the surrounding characters, which are usually Connelly's strong points, were just average. Connelly has, in the past, managed to make the city of L.A. an important character in his stories but not so much this time around. A fairly good book, but not one of Connelly's best.

Harry Bosch is assigned to a cold case involving a 1989 rape that DNA evidence indicates that a child was involved. He must find if the evidence was compromised or learn what happened.

Just as he begins making headway with the case, he's ordered to investigate the untimely death of the son of Harry's former adversary, Irving Irving.

Readers of Michael Connolly have come to admire Harry Bosch and it's a pleasrue to learn more about him in this book. He's dealing with his future retirement which he hopes to delay for four or five years. At the same time, he has an excellent reltaionship with his fifteen-year-old daughter, Maddie, who he's raising by himself and shows a strong desire to follow her father into a career in law enforcement.

It's easy to feel sympathy for Harry's plight as he shows his distaste for being taken away from the cold case of a killer who might still be active. Instead, he's ordered to work on a case that is important to the command staff at the police department.

Harry is like a Knight of the Round Table trying to be a savior to the kingdom of Los Angeles. He feels a nobleness in his work and is one of the highest regarded investigators in the homicide division, putting many criminals behind bars. Now, nearing age sixty, he feels that his time is running short because of mandatory retirement and wants to achieve as much as possible before that time comes.

This novel isn't for everyone. There is evidence of sexual torture and child abductions that even make Harry gasp.

There are some surprises in the book which add to the entertainment value. "The Drop" is a wonderfully written novel with a character who has won the hearts and minds of the reader.

This story continues Michael Connelly's legacy as one of the leading suspense writers today. It wouldn't surprise me to see this book nominated for awards in the mystery field.

4 1/2 stars moving up to five.

Detective Harry Bosch is contemplating retirement - again. The Deferred Retirement Option Plan (The DROP) gives him another 39 months. He enjoys his work with LA's Open-Unsolved unit, working on cases that went cold up to 50 years ago. Currently he's trying to solve the 1989 murder of a young woman. But perhaps, he thinks, he's losing his edge. Besides, there's Maddie, his teenaged daughter, to think of, and wouldn't it be great to be able to spend more time with her? So Harry, who's a dedicated curmudgeon anyhow, is thoroughly put out when city Councilman Irving, a nemesis, insists that he handle the investigation of another drop, the apparent suicide of Irving's adult son George, who jumped/was pushed/fell from a 7th story balcony at a ritzy hotel.

Part of the fun of reading a Bosch novel is getting the insider's perspective on police investigations. The lingo: the late George Irving is a "splat", and the political shenanigans involving the councilman and the police muckety-mucks are "high jingo". But it's Harry's motto, "Everybody counts or nobody counts", that puts him to the test this go around, as he's forced to examine his own philosophy while trying to bring justice (read "fairness", to Harry) to the lowest of the low, sexual predators. As he becomes romantically involved with a social worker, Hannah, who has an incarcerated son of her own, what used to be easy decisions now hit home, and hard. He also must deal with the stinging backlash that results from his exceedingly peremptory treatment of his young partner, David Cho.

Will Harry retire? Will his relationship with Hannah survive? Will his daughter become a police officer? Ostensibly, the next few sequels will tell all.

Three stars because of the slowness with which this plot develops.

Michael Connelly used to be among my favorite writers in this genre. His earliest novels (Concrete Blonde, Trunk Music, etc.) really started me down the path of being a voracious consumer of mystery fiction. Unfortunately, he continues his downward trajectory with 'The Drop', and I think that's the last one I'll waste my time reading. He's apparently content to rest on his laurels, act as a lazy professor emeritus of the genre, and write gushing blurbs about other writers' books (which I don't trust).

This book brings the laziness to a new level. Connelly combines what appears to be 2 longer short stories into a single novel. In 'The Drop', 2 cases are assigned to Harry Bosch almost simultaneously, and he solves both of them in pretty short order. Of course, there's really no connection between them, so having them in the same book really doesn't work, except for 'padding' purposes.

What does work in the book is that the story lines for both cases are interesting and probably could have been developed into standalone novels by an author who was interested in doing a little work. The procedural stuff seems to be pretty solid, and the conclusions to both crimes are logical. What doesn't work?

- A great character, Harry Bosch, is wasted. Really no background is explained, nothing in his rich past in the series is mined to make the novel more interesting and to help the reader understand his motives.
- The dialogue is wooden. What used to be a strength for Connelly is no longer there.
- The 2 cases just didn't have synergy. There was no reason for them to be in the same book.
- The writing was pedestrian, with absolutely nothing to recommend it.

Anyone starting to read Connelly with this book ought to ask 'what's the big deal with this guy?'. Anyone wanting to start reading him should begin in the beginning and go back to his earliest novels.