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A review by lesserjoke
Echo Park by Michael Connelly
3.0
Bosch's latest encounter with a serial killer is a bit rote, and a twist midway through -- that the criminal is innocent of one particular murder, which a corrupt attorney got him to confess to as part of a secret deal -- is disappointing for its implications. Before this point, the detective is distressed by the idea that he's been focused on the wrong suspect for a decade due to circumstantial evidence blinding him to other possibilities, and that he apparently never followed up on a certain clue that could have led him to the true culprit back when he first caught the case. But then it turns out that the incriminating logbook was forged, and Harry's initial hunch was right all along. It's a development that justifies the character's earlier obsession, and is far less interesting than a plot that would actually hold him accountable for his mistakes.
This is also the sort of story that singles out individual wicked members of law enforcement without commenting on problems in the profession as a whole, which author Michael Connelly is sometimes better about. I'm not thrilled that the hero yet again subtly influences events so that a bad guy gets shot to death rather than taken into custody and calls it justice, either. That's copaganda too, in its own way.
Otherwise the novel is solid enough, and I continue to find the protagonist an engaging perspective as he resists pressures to sacrifice his integrity for the sake of his career in the LAPD. But this is not one of his finer hours overall.
[Content warning for necrophilia, rape, and gore.]
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This is also the sort of story that singles out individual wicked members of law enforcement without commenting on problems in the profession as a whole, which author Michael Connelly is sometimes better about. I'm not thrilled that the hero yet again subtly influences events so that a bad guy gets shot to death rather than taken into custody and calls it justice, either. That's copaganda too, in its own way.
Otherwise the novel is solid enough, and I continue to find the protagonist an engaging perspective as he resists pressures to sacrifice his integrity for the sake of his career in the LAPD. But this is not one of his finer hours overall.
[Content warning for necrophilia, rape, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog