Blood Work (Mass Market Paperback)

by Michael Connelly (Author) "McCALEB SAW HER before she saw him..." (more)
Key Phrases: hard tango, cross earring, camera clock, Gloria Torres, Jaye Winston, Good Samaritan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Michael Connelly has been attracting fans by the droves with his hard-boiled, edgy thrillers. A former crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Connelly combines a poet's ear for language with a deep understanding of the criminal mind to create dark, dramatic stories that raise the thriller genre to a new level.

In Blood Work, Connelly introduces a new character, Terry McCaleb, who was a top man at the FBI until a heart ailment forced his early retirement. Now he lives a quiet life, nursing his new heart and restoring the boat on which he lives in Los Angeles Harbor. Although he isn't looking for any excitement, when Graciela Rivers asks him to investigate her sister Gloria's death, her story hooks him immediately: the new heart beating in McCaleb's chest is Gloria's.

As McCaleb investigates the evidence in the case, the suspected randomness of the crime gives way to an unsettling suspicion of a twisted intelligence behind the murder. Soon McCaleb finds himself on the trail of a killer more horrifying than anything he ever encountered before. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Connelly follows up Trunk Music with a tautly paced, seductively involving thriller about a murder that is less random than it seems. Ex-FBI agent Terry McCaleb is recuperating from a heart transplant when beautiful Graciela Rivers walks up to his San Pedro houseboat, tells him that the donor of his new heart, her sister Gloria, was murdered in a convenience-store robbery and asks him to find the killer. Although his doctor warns him against it, McCaleb can't resist the case (any more than he could resist the serial-murder cases that caused his heart attack in the first place). With no license and little cooperation from the police, McCaleb reviews the evidence and connects a second murder to Gloria's killer. But it's only when he discovers that souvenirs have been taken from the victims that McCaleb realizes he is dealing with a type of killer with which he is all too familiar. Even working with seemingly shopworn material, Connelly produces fresh twists and turns, and, as usual, packs his plot with believable, logical surprises. He adds a moral twist by establishing a frightening bond between the hunter and the hunted, intimately connecting his detective to the criminal's guilt. Fans of Connelly's Harry Bosch novels will feel right at home with this beautifully constructed, powerfully resonating thriller, and newcomers will see right away what all the fuss has been about. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446602620
• ISBN-13: 978-0446602624
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (190 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,956 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Connelly at his Best, February 8, 2001

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Terry McCaleb, ex-FBI profiler and serial killer point man in Los Angeles, is spending his days recuperating after a heart transplant by restoring the boat he lives on. Life consists of long daily walks, checking vital signs and taking anti-rejection medications. That is, until he looks up one day to see Graciela Rivers coming aboard with a request. She's read about his career and new heart in the paper and wants him to privately take on the murder case of her sister, Glory, who was shot in the head and killed during a convenience store robbery. At first, McCaleb says no, he's not in the business anymore, doesn't need the stress and has to take care of himself. But when she reveals that his new heart belonged to Glory, she was an organ donor, he rethinks his answer and decides to look into the case. As he starts to look at the LAPD paperwork and crime scene tape, one thing becomes very clear, things are not as they seem. The detectives working the case, missed some important clues and it appears that Glory wasn't just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but the actual target. And as McCaleb digs deeper, he knows his new heart will never rest easy, unless he solves the crime and finds the killer..... Michael Connelly has done it again. He's written a great mystery/thriller with enough twists, turns and false starts to keep you turning pages to the very end. This is a book that has it all...a great, fast paced, suspenseful plot, well drawn, original characters and riveting scenes that come alive on the page. This is a novel you'll definitely want to read in one sitting. So turn off the phone and lock the door, Blood Work is about to keep you up all night!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, April 6, 2001

By	Eimear Coffey (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was the first Michael Connolly book I read, and because of it I have since bought five others. The plot is engaging from the very start. Ex-FBI agent Terry McCaleb, whose speciality was profiling serial killers, has retired from the Bureau after a heart transplant and is living on his boat in LA harbour. Having turned his back on fighting crime, he has no intentions of helping Graciela Rivers, a woman whose sister has been murdered, until he finds out that the transplanted heart that saved his life belonged to her. With this knowledge, he feels obliged to investigate Gloria's death, against the express wishes of his doctor and knowing it could have serious consequences for his health.

All McCaleb has to go on is a video tape from a convenience store showing a masked man hold up the owner and then shoot the two witnesses. Add to this the hostility he receives from the two LAPD detectives assigned the case, and it seems like McCaleb isn't going to get far. However, it soon becomes clear that the crime is not as random as it seems, and McCaleb is on the trail of someone a lot more sinister than an opportunistic thief.

Connolly writes "Blood Work" with an unrelenting pace and a real flair for knowing exactly how to string the reader along. You'll be as hooked as one of the fish in the harbour!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best work by this wonderful writer!, May 28, 2000

By	Marco Aurelio (Fortaleza, Brazil) - See all my reviews

Michael Connelly is unique. His writing is similar to PatriciaCornwell's, but he's much, much better. When I read THE POET, some years ago, I said to myself: Such an very well-written book! But when I read BLOOD WORK, I found a book that it's so good as the other one. Things are always happening in a kaleidoscopical speed. Things just happen so fast! And the plot is also so cool!

In order not to spoil the plot, in a few words, BLOOD WORK tells the story of policeman who's going to retire because of a heart surgeon. In fact, he's in a leave because of his heart problem. But before he is able to do so, a case "calls" him and he finds himself involved in a story that you will love to read.

Michael Connelly's favorite books are ANGEL'S FLIGHT and THE LAST COYOTE. I don't have AF, and personally, THE LAST COYOTE is far behind THE POET and BLOOD WORK, my favorite ones. Anyway, I prefer the ones 'without' his famous detective Harry Bosch. If you like detective stories full of twists and action, you won't be disappointed with that one. The whole book is incredible and you never get tired of the reading. Try it and see exactly what I mean.

Marco Aurelio