Customer Reviews

The Overlook

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(89)
3 star:		(60)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The Overlook is classic Michael Connelly. Featuring Detective Harry Bosch, late of the LAPD's Homicide Special Squad, and his new partner Ignacio (Call me Iggy) Ferras it offers a mystery that contains all the excellent police procedural murder investigation elements that bears Connelly's signature coupled with an in depth look at the nasty little war that goes on between local and Federal government agencies when they are involved in the same case.

It seems that the murder victim in this case is tied to the disappearance of radioactive material suitable for making a dirty bomb, so of course the FBI and Department of Homeland Security come into the picture and proceed to play a nasty little game of hide and seek with a couple of witnesses thereby reeking havoc on Harry's investigation and thwarting him at every turn.

Harry, of course, is not to be deterred in this cat and mouse game and author Connelly succeeds in providing his readers with yet another story that is intricately plotted, filled with clever clues and misdirection and offers a read that is satisfying down to the very last page. 3 1/2 stars for this one

This felt like exactly what it was: An expanded serial. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just felt like it should be the first part of a larger set of stories regarding Bosch. Actually by the time I had finished the book, which takes place over twelve hours, I felt more like I was reading an episode of the television show '24' complete with the terrorist angle to seal the deal. For Bosch fans this is fine to pass a couple of hours until the next big case comes along, but like having a sundae and only getting a scoop of ice cream, it left me wanting more. On a side note, and one that's completely fun, Harry leaves his phone number for another character in the book,and you can actually call it and hear his message machine.

This book is satisfying on every level and deeply so; besides that, I haven't had as fun a read in a very long time. It is an outstanding work by an author who makes good prose and the creation of better characters seem effortless. In essence, a guy gets shot and Detective Bosch goes after the murderer--he goes after nothing else. Set aside about three hours and take the phone off the hook. And please, don't ruin the book for anyone else by giving away the ending.

Readers of Mr. Connelly are familiar with Connelly's protagonist Harry Bosch to a degree that by now we know the good detective, we know what he is about, we know what drives him and we have learned to trust his instincts. Indeed, Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch is among the most well-developed characters in literature of any genre. His creator has placed Bosch into so many different situations that I was curious as to whether he could continue to keep the character compelling--he can and does. Convincingly so.

The Overlook is driven by plot; it takes place inside a day. Detective Bosch is now at the height of his powers and is no longer given to doubts--he is about the truth, he knows how important it is and what is best about Connelly's writing, the truth is not ambiguous but absolute. It is illuminating to witness Bosch as a mentor with a new partner, a young and gifted detective who has yet to appreciate the clarity of Bosch's vision. In fact, I suspect that new readers will identify quite well with some of Detective Ferras' concerns. But the true depth of this work is in its portrayal of the fact that Bosch's grasp of essential truths is so strong that he cannot be intimidated or distracted by even the most serious of potential threats and consequences. Bosch acts instinctively and as shown in The Overlook, Bosch is at his best when he trusts himself.

Justice is served in a Connelly novel. Justice in general and justice to the reader who shelled out twenty bucks for a chance to journey with Detective Bosch. This was my favorite Bosch yet.

Highest Recommendation

THE OVERLOOK is the latest Harry Bosch novel released by Michael Connelly. This book, previously released in serial form, is about half as long as a regular Bosch novel. I'm a fan of Connelly and I've only read 5 or 6 of his books but have to admit I'm disappointed in this book. First, considering it's length, you are getting half the novel you usually get from Connelly. Knowing that, the content of the novel has to be judged even more critically, ie. quality, not quantity. In the Bosch books I've read, they've always been short on twists and turns. They've been more like straight forward procedurals that slowly grow on you as the novel moves on. In The Overlook, the novel doesn't have a chance to build up steam, it has to capture you right away. And I don't beleive it does.

Harry is awake, at home around midnight, when he recieves a call. He's a homicide detective now and there's been a murder. Harry calls his new partner Iggy to meet him there. Stanley Kent was murdered at the Overlook, a scenic spot in Hollywood that looks out over the city. Rachel Walling, an FBI agent that Bosch has a history with, also shows up at the scene. The FBI is also highly interested in Stanley Kent. Kent worked in the medical profession with cesium, a highly radioactive material used to treat cancer. Because of the cesium, the FBI believes there may be a possible terrorist angle to the case. Bosch goes to the Kent house and finds his wife, Alicia, naked and hog-tied in the bed.

We learn all that in the opening, and the middle part of the book is what disappointed me. First, since this book is so short, there isn't much room for plot twists and turns. In this book there isn't any. Connelly details the investigation in extreme detail, and unfortunately, none of the details are very interesting. Second, Connelly establishes that the primary conflict in the novel will be jurisdiction. Harry wants the case since it is a homicide. The FBI is more concerned about the national security angle. The novel follows Bosch going back and forth with Walling, backstabbing, playing politics, all in the name of jurisdiction. I'm sure law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction problems all the time, but as a plot device in a novel, it gets old. And it especially doesn't work as the central conflict that drives the novel.

Now, the novel has strong points as well. I've found many Connelly novels to focus on what seems to be boring details, only to have the details come back to matter later. That is true in THE OVERLOOK as well. Every seemingly tedious observaiton Bosch makes in the beginning plays a part in how the case is solved. Bosch fans will enjoy this novel, as I did, because of its brevity and because Bosch is his usual self. I didn't much care for Connelly's commentary on the motives of the FBI in the case, but that really doesn't play a part in the quality of the book. I recommend this to all Bosch fans, but I certainly wouldn't pay full price for a book this short.

I'm amazed and puzzled by the number of critical and tepid reviews this latest Harry Bosch novel has received here. Perhaps it isn't as good as the previous books in the series, but since I didn't know we were expected to keep score, I enjoyed it when I read it as it was serialized in the New Yawk Time Magazine and again when it appeared as a novelette. I suspect that the nay-sayers were merely not in the proper mood, because none of their critiques are very cogent.

Certainly there are many faults and weaknesses that one could cite in Michael Connelly's writing. He is occasionally prone to lapse into purple prose - "A Darkness More Than Night"? [i]Woah! Duuude! You talkin' dark, huh?[/i] And the first sentence of this novel is the modern equivalent of "'Twas a dark and stormy night!"

Furthermore, that whole maniac-serial-killer-plot vogue really peaked in the '80s, when every movie and every paperback was about a serial killer - as well as Serial Killer toothpaste and Serial Killer breakfast cereal. (It was a killer cereal!) So much so, that it must've seemed to those living in the civilized nations that every city in the USA had at least ten head of serial killers running around loose wreaking mayhem on Americans, and they were glad to be living in the relative safety of Bosnia. By the time Michael Connelly began writing about his serial killers, the whole device had become shopworn and hackneyed.

Harry Bosch is, of course, Michael Connelly's most popular character, but in retrospect, the entire series is just [b]Michael Connelly writing the same novel over and over again![/b] They're all basically the same book because
1.) Harry Bosch has always just returned to duty after having been (wounded/suspended/prematurely retired/ held in abeyance while Michael Connelly's agents negotiated the movie rights).
2.) Before he can get rolling on the case, however, he is always confronted by his nemesis, (Captain/Deputy Chief/ former Chief) Irving Irving, who menaces Bosch with the threat, "You are going down this time, Detective! We are the Higher-Ups, and we, the evil Higher-Ups, are intent only on making things impossible for detectives!" The concept of the dastardly and meddlesome superiors in the chain of command - as well as the maverick cop - has likewise been done to death and became threadbare with the Dirty Harry movies.
3.) Unlike your grandmother, Bosch is still too stupid to use a simple search engine.
4.) In each novel, Bosch unexpectedly meets his old flame, beautiful (former/active) FBI agent (Eleanor Wish/Rachel Walling), and they promptly end up in (her/his) bed. Alas, the romance never works out, and by the end of the novel they once again go their separate ways, leaving Bosch, the loner, alone again, naturally. (Sigh!)
5.) Confounded in his efforts to apprehend the suspect, Bosch consults a psychic profiler, who - as with real-life profilers - spouts so much psycho-babble and dime-store analysis (that the female was stabbed 143 times with genital mutilation is cited as evidence of "hostility toward women" - diagnosis: it's because the killer couldn't get a date to the prom), but this episode seldom offers any service in finding the real killer.
6.) On page (323 to 405) of each novel, the case takes an unexpected (90'/180') turn when it is revealed that the (pervert/slime-ball) Bosch has been chasing is in fact NOT the killer. Instead, it's always an inside job, and the culprit turns out to be a character who has been appearing on the periphery of the story all along. It always turns out that the (reporter/wife/dirty cop/dirty FBI agent) done it!
7.) The threat from the sinister Higher-Ups is realized, and Bosch is taken off the case. Disobedient as always, Bosch puts his career in jeopardy and strikes out on his own, and in doing so gets even (Edgar's/Rider's) disapproval.
8.) In his perilous chase after the (reporter/wife/dirty cop/dirty FBI agent) murderer, Bosch must crawl through a tunnel or hole (something Freudian going on there) while the insider-villain is shooting at him, and this brings back traumatic memories of his similar experience while serving in Vietnam.
9.) Bosch wins the gun battle, but now there's one more unexpected twist to be revealed - another peripheral character, the (reporter/wife/dirty cop/dirty FBI agent) is in on it too, and Bosch has to take (him/her) down as well, although this is done without gunplay.
10.) All the Higher-Ups are ungrateful that Bosch has stopped the serial killer, and they yet wish to persecute him, but by some lucky detail, he is allowed to keep his job.

I suppose others could add to this list of similarities in all the novels, but follow that recipe, and you could write your own Harry Bosch thriller! It'd help, though, if you had the marvelous talent of Michael Connelly. None of the above should be taken as a dismissal or disparagement of these books, because not only have I read this novel/novella twice, I have reread every one of Michael Connelly's novels (the record being four times for "Angels Flight") - always at one sitting, not because the books are "impossible to put down," but why would anyone want to put one down? What writer offers more reading pleasure than Michael Connelly? Perhaps finer novels have been written, but there is no other writer who has shown such consistent merit. More than anyone else, he's the Great American Novelist.

Ignore the clichés and formula! Michael Connelly has a superb ear for dialogue - equal to that of Elmore Leonard. Whatever their creative plots, other writers (e.g., Patricia Cornwell) produce stilted dialogue that you could never imagine having been spoken. There are also clever turns such as in this novel where Harry Bosch says, "That's exactly what I wanted to hear." (The set-up having been placed two pages earlier.)

And in Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly has sculpted the perfect American hero - the one man who fights for everyman, who fights for the forgotten man. Need I tell you that the whodunit facet of these books is of no significance? What's important here is the existential dilemma - one man versus an unjust and uncaring universe. What paladin can rescue us from the evil and woe of our poor circumstances? It is certainly not our masters and chiefs who have for centuries kept the spoils for themselves and worsened our helpless situation, and nowhere is this more evident than in the epitome of the pits, Los Angeles - where millions of primates are confined to struggle in a battle royale. We're all looking for someone to set things right - this idealist who can get things done, no matter what his risk.

Americans (who get less vacation time than anyone) all hate their bosses. They hate the culture of conformity and hierarchy they have built but are powerless or too timid to rebel against. Therefore, they must resist vicariously through Harry Bosch, who can withstand the pressure and who has the courage to defy the bosses. He's a liberal and a libertarian, a rogue and a knight. Harry Bosch is not America's Sherlock Holmes, he's America's saint, America's redeemer - born not of virgin, but of whore. (Michael Connelly has divulged that the character is an amalgam of three separate, but equal, detectives he has known.) Internal affairs has crucified Harry Bosch over and over, but he always rises up from the dead to resume the battle against the forces of darkness.

(Sorry for the exaggerated rave, but I just finished reading "Echo Park" for the third time, and I'm frenetic with enthusiasm.)

Dr. Stanley Kent is found on an overlook near Mulholland Drive with two bullet holes in the back of his head. Dr. Kent was a medical physicist with access to every hospital in the area. Harry Bosch is called to the scene by as part of LA's Homicide Special Squad where he meets up with his ex-lover, FBI Agent Rachel Walling who also happens to be on the scene. Highly radioactive cesium is missing from a gynecological-cancer laboratory and Dr. Kent is responsible for taking it. What was an execution-style killing has become a matter of national security.

Michael Connelly is one my top 5 favorite authors. I'd rather read an average Michael Connelly then many other author's best work. I enjoyed the story, but this wasn't one of Michael's Connelly's best efforts. The problem might have been expanding a magazine series into a full-length novel. I found the references to Echo Park in the beginning of the book. Not everyone reading THE OVERLOOK read ECHO PARK, or as in my case, I didn't remember the plot of that book. Connelly has a talent for keeping the suspense level high, and I wasn't disappointed on that front. There are some nice twists and turns to keep the reader interested and the story moving forward. I felt a little frustrated at the ending since we are left-hanging as to the state of Harry's health. We'll know as soon as the next Harry Bosch book is written which I hope will be soon.

At this point in time, I'm going to have to vote him the top writer that I've read, and I'm constantly reading books. I go through at least 1 book a week so I read a lot of different authors.

I know, I know, there've been complaints that this is just a resurrected book and he's doing it for the money or whatever, but so what, this book is much better than the last 3 I just read, and 10X value for the money.

Per my usual MO, without going into the plot, what makes this a good book? Answer: Good writing, good plot and characters that you can sink your teeth into. He has a knack of making the situation real and believable. For example, in describing a person, an amateur author would say "Tom is a good man, he is smart and suave."

A very poor writer would say "Tom had the chiseled good looks that 1/2 the women in Seattle would die for, and his aristocratic manners demanded attention from even the most arrogant of waiters."

Connolly doesn't do any of that. He puts his characters into situations where they react and from their reactions, you feel what they are like, and you slowly build up your impression of the character from multiple situations, just like in real life. For example, when you meet someone at a party, there is no giant narrative voice booming a description of this person in your head. You observe this person, how he/she interacts with you or other people, listen to what they say and that's how you form your opinion of this person, and that's how Connolly does it too. Now, that's great writing and something other writers should try and emulate.

Unlike what some people said, I love the plot, I think it's one of the better ones that Connolly has written, I won't say more otherwise I'll be giving it away.) I don't think it matters that it was originally a serial in a newspaper. However, it was a short book and I finished it easily in a day.

A soley plot driven book can only be read once. Once you know the plot you can't really read it again. But a character driven book can be re-read many times, since you can revisit how the character reacts to the different situations in the book. Like when reading Bosch, you can mentally high five yourself when Bosch figuratively flips the bird to the FBI or his boss. Connolly does such a good job of vilifying some characters that you want to see Bosch do it again and again. That's what makes a good book and good reading. Personally Bosch's actions make me cringe. I'm somewhat of a conformist and it makes my toes curl when Bosch once again decides to smart mouth his boss or someone else. Perhaps my non-conformist self is living vicariously though him, anyway......

To people who are already Connolly fans, I'm preaching to the choir. I'd say buy the book, you'll love it, even though it's short.

To people who have never read Connolly, you might not want to start with this one. Bosch comes with a lot of baggage and you might want to start with his first book to get the whole picture. But mark what I say, Connolly is a good writer and his books are not to be missed.

Michael Connelly is simply the best in a field with very few hacks these days.I write in this genre, too, but I do not compare. In addition, I have been a federal agent, a criminal investigator, as well as a public defender investigator. This is a preface to remark on how accurate Connelly is (rarely so in fiction), and how close to the actual "feeling" of the real thing he comes with his characters. I know he was a crime reporter, but this guy knows people in the life who trust him, and who inform him from the most ragged center of those in the business. And last, this guy can write. It may be a genre, but this is also mainstream American Novel writing.

Philip Shelton

I kept this novel for a vacation-poolside read and am glad I did. What a smooth read. It is the kind of active, entrancing novel that maintains the reader's focus without putting up needless roadblocks. I guess I have read most of the Harry Bosch series and followed him through his trials with the authorities in police administration, other police agencies, and his personal relationships as he untangles complex murders. Like many of the contemporary thriller writers, Connelly has run into the problem of his Vietnam era hero reaching an age that stretches disbelief in some physical activity. Like Hillerman he has found a solution, perhaps even more elegant than Hillerman's mentoring of Chee by Leaphorn: Bosch retires, then returns as the cold case/ complex case specialist. In the previous novel, an old nemesis returned, in this instance a high profile murder, one with the potential to use up endless hours of standard detective work while producing little result - an apparent execution slaying - is revealed as something else. It seems to be a terrorist plot to develop a dirty bomb. But difficulties arise. Things do not quite mesh.

Those of us familiar with this series wait to see what the "overlooked" item is. Connelly likes his puns, and there is certainly one here. I guess it could be called the"don't count your chickens until they are hatched truth." What are the most common reasons for murder? Yup. Where should the detective always look for the murderer? Yup.It unfolds with the practiced skill of a master storyteller. Time and treasure well spent, glad I read it.

By the way, even though this is a continuing character in a series, it really is essentially a rebirth and makes a good place for a newly arrived reader to meet and appreciate Harry Bosch.

Michael Connelly's "The Overlook" brings back veteran homicide detective and confirmed cynic, Harry Bosch, who is now working out of Homicide Special. Harry's supervisor calls him at midnight and instructs him to drive out to the overlook above the Mulholland Dam in Los Angeles. There lies the body of forty-two year old Dr. Stanley Kent, a medical physicist who handles nuclear material used in the treatment of cancer.

Before long, the feds are in the picture, trying to take over. Among them is Harry's former lover, Special Agent Rachel Walling, of a shadowy FBI unit known as Tactical Intelligence. The federal authorities believe that the killers may be terrorists who stole cesium pellets that had been in Kent's possession. This radioactive substance would be deadly if it were placed in an improvised explosive device and detonated in a populated area.

Harry is in an awkward position. Although he was assigned to investigate Kent's homicide, Rachel and her partner are shutting him out. Bosch fears that he may end up a spectator rather than a participant in his case, and he is determined to do whatever it takes to solve the murder his way. Assisting Harry is his new partner, Ignacio Ferras, who is more than twenty years younger and a straight arrow. Ignacio is uneasy with the older man's freewheeling style, his irreverence, and his tendency to ignore orders when it suits him.

"The Overlook" was originally a sixteen-part serial that was published in the New York Times Magazine, and this relatively brief novel has a sketchy quality. Connelly's novels are usually more complex, with multi-layered plots, sharply delineated characters, and even a bit of philosophy thrown in. This is a standard police procedural that feels a bit formulaic, with its done-to-death themes of warring law enforcement agencies, bureaucratic ineptitude, and a possible terrorism angle.

However, Michael Connelly still scores with "The Overlook" because Harry Bosch is so intelligent and relentless in his pursuit of the truth. The veteran detective uses his superb powers of observation, his knowledge of human nature, and his decades of experience to see connections that everyone else has missed. Harry manages to turn the entire investigation on its ear, and once again he redeems himself just when it appears that he has burned all his bridges behind him. Harry is a keeper, one of the good guys, a pessimist who feels the pull of the darkness but, as he tells himself, "the important thing is to fight it." As long as Harry is out there doing what he does best, his fans will be following along with him.