Customer Reviews

Trunk Music: A Harry Bosch Novel

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Trunk Music is the fifth novel in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch mystery series, and so far, I have been very impressed with the consistency of Connelly's writing.

After spending all of book number four, The Last Coyote, suspended from the LAPD homicide department, Bosch is once again on the force. He is called out when another officer finds a body in the trunk of a car. The victim is Tony Aliso, and independent film producer. As Bosch and his two partners, Jerry Edgar and Kiz Rider, start to investigate, they discover that he lived an opulent lifestyle that could not have been possible based on just his film business. In fact, they believe it looks like a Mafia hit (i.e. Trunk Music). But when they notify the LAPD's Organized Crime Unit, they seem uninterested in pursuing the case. Tony Aliso went back and forth between LA and Las Vegas, and Bosch and his partners go back and forth between the two cities trying to run down clues. They also run up against the FBI, who is doing a mob investigation of their own. As with most Bosch mysteries, Harry is able to see things that most investigators can't and he gets a handle on the case before anyone.

Connelly seems to have a love/hate relationship with LA, and he constantly describes the complex personality of this city. In Trunk Music, he shows similar feelings for Las Vegas, although more loathing than love. He writes "Bosch had never liked Las Vegas, though he came here on cases. It shared a kinship with Los Angeles; both were places desperate people ran to.....Beneath the veneer of glitz and money and energy and sex beat a dark heart. No matter how much they tried to dress her up with neon and family entertainment, she was still a [...]." We're not talking garden variety mystery writing here. This is good stuff.

The only thing I found hokey with Trunk Music is that Bosch and his partners would secretly work on a case they were officially removed from (with the consent of their bureau commander). But Bosch is a loose cannon anyway, and even if he didn't have the bureau commander's approval, he would have done it anyway. So don't let this minor issue keep you from reading another good Connelly.

I've read the first five Harry Bosch novels, and have come to regard them as one continuous narrative in the eventful life of an old friend. Trunk Music was one of the better installments, and displays Connelly's typical mastery of plot development and authentic characterization. I've never found anyone in this genre whose dialogue rings truer, reminding me of a print version of a Steven Bochco show. Trunk Music also re-energizes the formula by introducing some great new characters in fellow cops Kizmin Rider and Grace Billets, and bringing back old flame Eleanor Wish.

Connelly weaves ambitiously intricate mysteries, always with several possible outcomes suggested. At times he seems to overreach, and the ending here feels a little rushed and unsatisfying. It's not that he leaves loose ends; everything is explained in his chosen scenario, it just seems that something with greater ironic power might have been available in this case. However, as I began this review, the more of these I read, the less I require them to be stand-alone masterpieces, and the more I simply relish inhabiting Bosch's world for a while.

This was another strong effort from Connelly. Bosch, one of the most interesting and compelling crime stoppers in the genre, is a sort of Dirty Harry with an even darker side. Trunk Music has a strong plot with nice twists and plenty of surprises. As always, Connelly does a superb job at portraying that gray area between good guys and bad guys. Once again Bosch is being investigated by IAD, but the telling line of the novel is Bosch's: "Who polices the police who police the police?" Things wrap up a little too neatly at the end, but otherwise I highly recommend this book. I rank it a little behind some of Connelly's earlier novels, but it still stands out amongst today's best crime fiction.

This is the first Michael Connelly book I read (am currently reading the third). I was interested in reading one that just came out in paperback, but decided to read earlier books about the two lead characters first...good choice on my part. This is the earliest book I could find and was a good enough introduction to Harry Bosch, although I would've liked to have found earlier adventures of his.

It captured me from the beginning with the description of the crime scene and the Los Angeles area locale. The conflict between personalities and branches of law enforcement who should be working together to solve a crime is a constant theme woven throughout the book. And there is a fascination watching as a man's life is pieced together by the investigators.

But the real fascination is with the skillful guidance down the wrong path with the main character and the subsequent twists and surprises. There are clues, but I'm learning that Connelly is good also at tossing in irrelevant information in a way that makes it appear relevant for a time. There's no cheating. There's quite a bit that can be anticipated if the clues are caught.

The characters are stricty three dimensional, with no cardboard characters. Some you care for and some you don't. But they live and breathe.

This can be enjoyed either as an entertaining read, or as a puzzle, a game in which the author plays fairly, and yet very likely will manage to surprise you at least in some of the particulars. There's plenty of depth here if you choose to read from a deeper level.

Harry Bosch is back at work in the LAPD homicide squad after a period of suspension. (I wish I had read these books in the right order). The question is whether he can buckle down and play by the rules whilst cracking the mystery behind a hit-man style murder. A body is found in the boot (ooops, make that trunk) of a white Rolls Royce (well, it is a British car) overlooking the Hollywood Bowl.

After identifying the corpse, the plot moves between the plush Hollywood movie environment and the bright lights of Las Vegas and its strip joints. The pace is quick and the reader would have to be very sharp to work out "whodunit? There are more twists and turns than a game of snakes and ladders. Bosch meets a former girlfriend (as I said, it helps to read these books in the right order) who becomes a central character in the story. So now Bosch has got his girl, but the hard part which is to get his man, still lies ahead. Who is the man and what is the motive? Red herrings at every corner. As in a good spy story, not everyone is who he or she seems to be. "Goodies" or "Baddies" - be careful Harry. Not only is Bosch up against an organised crime syndicate, he has to stay one step ahead of the FBI who don't want him on the case and have their own diversionary tactics.

This is a good novel which should whet your appetite for further crime thrillers from the pen of Michael Connelly.

If I were Harry Bosch, I think I'd get a job as a bouncer or something...the poor guy, he's at it again and he's up against more internal affairs investigations. There's one time in here in which his new chief, Grace Bittell, looks at him and says, "Harry, why don't you grow up and stop these pissing games?". Bravo, Grace.
Now, don't get me wrong. Harry's still a great cop and he has a nose for finding out the details in snaring his criminals. Although in this one, he and his cohorts Kimz Rider and Jerry Edgar, blow it big time. But the new chief is a more intricate and understanding one than the previous Harvey Pounds.
Anyway, in this multi-focused book, Bosch is up against the murderer of a small-time Hollywood producer who is killed in the trunk of his Rolls Royce and it looks like a mob hit. Of course, Harry is not so sure about it, so off her goes to Las Vegas to do more research. He stumbles upon a likely suspect in Luke Goshen, who is more than what he appears to be. Lo and behold, Harry also stumbles upon his former love, Eleanor Wish, who has spent five years in prison for her part in a nasty crime committed in an earlier work. So add this to Harry's problem and you've got quite a bit of trouble brewing.
Connelly makes this work for him most of the time, although I tend to agree that the ending comes a little quicker than usual and even though we have an exciting climax in a little shopping mall, there's even one more little twist that Connelly tags on that's not really that exciting. However, there is a surprise for Harry at the end as far as his love life goes.
All in all, you really can't go wrong with Harry Bosch or Connelly. He's a great writer and you can't help but fall in with Bosch and his bullheadedness...he gets the job done!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A beat officer on routine patrol in a deserted park on Mulholland Drive discovers a body stuffed in the trunk of a parked Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. The crime scene reveals a very professional mobster style execution with two bullets to the back of the head. Subsequent investigation determines the victim is Tony Aliso, a low level but apparently quite wealthy Hollywood executive whose company produces straight to video B movies - little better than soft core skin flicks. In a style that is now very familiar to Michael Connelly's legion of rabid fans, a less than by-the-book investigation by LAPD homicide detective, Harry Bosch, and his new team Kiz Rider, a young black female officer and veteran Jerry Edgar, leads them through a viper's nest of Las Vegas and Chicago mobster connections, dirty cops, Internal Affairs hatchet jobs, FBI cover ups and departmental police bickering.

For the very first time since I began reading the Harry Bosch canon in order, a little niggling voice inside my head was trying to persuade me to not like "Trunk Music". "Connelly," I said to myself, ... "This is too much. You've gone to that dirty cop well once too often. You're pushing your luck and this is just going to be repetitious!" Wrong! While the theme might be a little shop worn, Connelly still managed to pull yet another rabbit out of his hat and produce a superb police procedural with twists, turns, red herrings, dead ends and the requisite entirely unpredictable solution as well as allowing Bosch's character to grow at such a pace as to become almost larger than life. His relationship with former FBI Agent and now convicted felon, Eleanor Wish, paints him in warmer, more human colours than we've ever seen before. And in marked contrast to the constant butting of heads with Harvey (98) Pounds, readers will smile at a developing professional relationship with his new boss, Lieutenant Grace Billets.

Highly recommended. Sssh ... listen! That sound you can hear is the patter of running feet as Harry Bosch fans flock to their nearest bookstore to pick up the next one on the Harry Bosch reading list, "Angel's Flight".

Paul Weiss

I'm not a big fan of the hard-boiled, Southern California cop/P.I. genre. Still, Michael Connelly has the ability to take that setting and produce a compelling series. I really enjoyed the earlier Bosch books. This book is good but I got the sense that Connelly is getting a little bit bored with Bosch.

Much of this book seems to be a rehash of elements of earlier books. It's back to Vegas - again. Harry's hauled into IAD - again. Harry's smoking obsessively - again. With a movie producer as the victim, I had the sense that Connelly was playing the Hollywood movie card that he'd held in reserve for a day when his writer's block prevented more orginal and compelling plots. On the positive side, I really like the additions to Harry's police comrades. It's nice that he finally has a supervisor with a brain. And I'm optimistic about Eleanor - lone wolf Bosch was due for a change.

Bottom-line: Even a weak link in this series is better than the best that many other authors produce. Still, not the best book for a first time reader of Connelly to consider. It's worth going back to the Black Echo and reading this series in order.

Bosch comes back to the job after a leave of absence lasting just over a year. His house that was destroyed in a quake is back, as is a flame from an earlier book. But I am not on rehashing plot lines.

This book is quite fun, I read it three days ago however and it is already starting to dissipate from my mind. So beyond entertainment used to divert ones attention or occupy a few hours, this is a light though enjoyable read. As always, Connelly is only a step or two away from creating something quite original with his work. As an author however, Connelly plays it safe and gives us the traditional tried and true plot line. What makes this book and series stick out from the rest is his unique banter and personal peccadilloes between his characters. I wish Connelly would read some of our contemporary literary luminaries stemming from Carvers influence and then turn around and reshape the mystery thriller in a similar fashion to Lawrence Block and his Scudder adventures.

Read this series in order to obtain the maximum enjoyment.

I liked Trunk Music, but I think this is the weakest entry into the series, so far. I haven't read Angel's Flight, yet. The Last Coyote was wonderful, and I was sorry to see it end. Trunk Music didn't seem to carry the momentum created by the previous books. Good...but not his best. The Last Coyote and The Concrete Blonde would top the list.