One of the craziest, coolest books I've read in a long time. A dizzying mixture of science fiction and detective noir. Takeshi Kovachs is a detective in a future where saving your consciousness is as easy as removing a battery from your spine. Your body dies, no problem, unload it, and load it into a new sleeve (the future term for body). So murder is nearly impossible. Kovachs is hired to solve the murder of his employer who has already resleeved and insists he was murdered rather than committed suicide as the police contend. A book well worth your time.
Important Note: This is detective noir at its finest; which means sex and swearing. If either of those bother you, don't bother with this book.
There is something about a formula. It's comforting. Like a Sunday meal at your parents house. You know it won't be surprising, but it will be satisfying. That's Vince Flynn and his Mitch Rapp books. Mitch Rapp is America's killing machine; a 007 without the flashy gadgets. He knows who America's enemies are and he's in the world to kill them. Simple.
In this book we've gone back in time to see how Rapp came into being. He's in France and he's taking out one of America's biggest problem terrorists at the time - Libya. But there's a problem, they know he's coming. Rapp finds himself trapped, injured and alone, wondering who set him up and who he can trust.
The book is fun and fulfilling - like a Sunday meal at your parents house. It just isn't surprising. Rapp makes it through and the bad guys loose. Did I spoil desert?
I am a huge Harry Bosch fan. If he were real I'd donate to his campaign, even though he would be a terrible politician. Which is one of the reasons I really like him. He says what he means and often he doesn't say anything at all. In this book we continue following Bosch as he's now retired from the police force and is cleaning up an old case that is bothering him. Encouraged by another ex-cop who could never finish the case, Bosch goes in search of some answers, and as is often the case, he is warned off and threatened, which only makes him more curious. The case goes deeper and further back than he had anticipated. As he pursues the leads he comes back into contact with his ex wife who he still bleeds for, and an old FBI colleague who also wants to know the end of the case. Bosch gets to the bottom as always. This was one of my least favorite Bosch novels, but that is like saying it was one of my least favorite pieces of pizza. I still love it. I still want more. I still can't wait for the next one.
I love crime/detective noir. About a year ago I began reading Michael Connelly and I fell in love with this genre. In an attempt to understand Connelly's predecessors I stopped reading him and began reading other noir authors. Last week I finished my journey through noir and came back to Connelly. City of Bones is my second of three books by Connelly. Last week I read A Darkness Greater Than Night. Michael Connelly has created a modern noir detective in Harry Bosch in the shadow of Chandler and Hamnett.
In this novel Bosch hunts down the killer of a ten year old boy with a past of broken bones and failed dreams. The boy has been dead twenty years, but Bosch is determined to find his killer. Unfortunately it only leads him through more sadness, death and abuse. The City of Bones is Los Angelas and the world of Harry Bosch. I can't wait to read the next one.
