Novella-Length The Overlook Fails to Live up to Connelly's Potential
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Author: Michael Connelly
Title: The Overlook Genre: mystery The latest from the pen of Michael Connelly finds Harry Bosch back in the saddle at LAPD's Homicide Special squad after a long hiatus. He'd better hit the ground running, rusty skills or not, since his first case is a doozy. It's not that a body's been found at one of LA's most photographed lover's lanes (just across the street from Madonna's old digs); it's not that the dead man is anyone famous (or infamous), just a middle-aged businessman doing well enough to be driving a brand-new Porsche. In fact, it's not who's dead or where it happened that's important; it's what's missing: the dead man's day job meant working with a lot of radioactive material. A lot. Oops... can you say, "A dirty bomb - your worst nightmare..."? The specter of terrorist attack means that all kinds of people are about to start walking up to Bosch and his rookie partner and telling them, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." Where once there was just a garden-variety local crime, suddenly there's the FBI; and where there's the FBI, Harry's back starts arching like one of those Halloween cats. Suffice it to say, as far as Harry's concerned this is LAPD's case and Harry Bosch is not about to let the "feebs" waltz in and take it away, even if one of them is the fetching Rachel Walling (with whom Harry used to do the horizontal bop). Boys will be boys, Bosch will be Bosch, and the Bureau will be the Bureau. Even while investigating what could conceivably turn out to be the most important homicide case in the history of the LAPD, Harry refuses to give "his" case to the detested Feds. Of course, that might be a good thing. He is Harry Bosch, detective extraordinaire after all... Though he originally published it as a sixteen-part serialized mystery in the New York Times Magazine, Michael Connelly avows that The Overlook has been substantially re-worked for publication in book format. However, like Patricia Cornwell's recent At Risk, which was also first published as in serial form, Connelly's latest simply fails to rise to his usual standard. Considering Connelly's prodigious talents, The Overlook is disappointing. Perhaps it's because the story line, which checks in at a very modest 225 pages (with more than the usual amount of whitespace to boot), is just too short for Connelly to fully develop the plot. Where normally the author of such fine novels as Blood Work and The Narrows takes his readers deep into the inner workings of the investigation and the psyche of his dark protagonist, the action of The Overlook is superficial and almost mechanical. Besides its comparatively weak plot, there's very little that's new out of Connelly or his protagonist, both of whom plow familiar ground. Bosch's fictional antics are almost rote in their simplicity, and most are simply replays of plot threads in previous novels. Jurisdictional squabbles with the Feds? Seen it before. The Peter Principle prominently displayed by the LAPD? So what else is new? Harry's uncomfortable reunion with an ex-lover? Can you say Eleanor Wish? Difficulty with a new partner? Think Walling,Wish, Edgar, Ryder... Confirmed fans of the Harry Bosch canon will, of course, snap up their copies ofThe Overlook. For those unfamiliar with Connelly's work, this is not the place to learn of his talent and depth. all content copyright © 2014 by scmrak
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