Mary’s Musings...THE DROP by Michael Connelly.

After the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, my son and I decided to go to the victory parade.  Little did I know this would involve more waiting than watching as getting there and back took up 4 hours and the parade 15 minutes.  The upside is I had, as I always do a book and not just any book I was reading THE DROP by Michael Connelly. 

Now I did not ask him to but my son took my picture because he could not believe that I had a book with me.  Seriously kid you know I don’t go anywhere without a book as every spare moment could be spent reading, duh!  So, while I am standing there waiting and waiting and waiting for the parade he snapped this photo.  Keep in mind there were a million of us in this crowd so the picture is not great but we had a great time together. 

 

If this had not been the World Series parade, I might not have stopped reading because as unbelievable as it may seem this book is the best in the series.  Michael Connelly is the master at mystery writing and Harry Bosch is such a complex and well developed character that you expect a great story and with THE DROP, this is a fact.  You seem to be going down the road and before you know it, the new direction is happening.

I found some quirky questions that Mr. Connelly had answered and I am a fan of the nonconventional stuff, thought these were fun, and Good To Know

Michael Connelly received a huge career boost in 1994 when then President Bill Clinton was photographed walking out of a Washington bookstore with a copy of The Concrete Blonde under his arm.  Connelly remarked to USA Today, "In the six years I've been writing books, that is the biggest thrill I've had."

Real events have always inspired Connelly's plots. His novel Blood Work was inspired by a friend who underwent transplant surgery and was coping with survivor's guilt, knowing someone had died in order for him to live. The book was later developed into a feature film starring Clint Eastwood, Angelica Huston, and Jeff Daniels.

One of Connelly's writing professors at the University of Florida was cult novelist Harry Crews.

Connelly named his most famous character after the 15th Century Dutch painter, Hieronymous Bosch. As he told Bookends UK in an interview, Bosch "created richly detailed landscapes of debauchery and violence and human defilement. There is a world gone mad' feel to many of his works, including one called Hell' -- of which a print hangs on the wall over the computer where I write."

"I wrote a mystery story as a class paper in high school. It was called The Perfect Murder. The protagonist's named was McEvoy, a name I later used for the protagonist in The Poet. Being a witness to a crime when I was 16 was what made me interested in crime novels and mystery stories."

"I wrote my first real murder story as a journalist for the Daytona Beach News Journal in 1980. It was about a body found in the woods. Later, the murder was linked to a serial killer who was later caught and executed for his crimes."

"Everything I want people to know about me is in my books."

I am proud to announce that Little, Brown and Company is giving away one copy of this book (review below).  To be eligible to win please leave a comment about “would you  help your nemesis?” Come back on Sunday – December 4th to see if you have won.  Please remember if you do not come back, you won't know if you won because I am going to need your address. 

As always I wish you happy reading, encourage you to celebrate your Little Victories, and come back to see what book I am reviewing and offering up for a giveaway.  Don’t forget to cast your positive votes for me on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  Your vote matters!

REVIEW from Mary Gramlich "The Reading Reviewer"

THE DROP by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch Series #17

11/11 - Little, Brown & Company – Hardcover, 400 pages

Is nothing uncomplicated when politics are involved?

Detective Harry Bosch has the opportunity to continue his work in the Open/Unsolved Unit with his extension to stay on approved.  Harry has been working the cold cases long enough to get have a rhythm down so that he gets the work done and still be home for dinner with his daughter.  Doing his best to be a good detective and great father is a tightrope but Harry is a man always up for a challenge, even with a teenage daughter.

On this particular cold case assignment day, he draws a case from twenty-two years ago with trace evidence that is a complete dead end.  The blood on the body is from an eight year-old boy, with no conceivable way to have committed this crime.  The questions becomes how did his blood get on her body, was he an additional victim, or a witness?  Just as Harry is ready to begin his hunt, another person stops him to ask for help.  His nemesis and former police office Irving Irvin wants Harry to investigate his son’s death quickly and quietly.  Harry stands for everyone including the son of his enemy, but he won’t be anyone’s political pawn.

What Irving really wants is as clear as mud but Harry has seen all this man’s tricks, or he thinks he does and knows better than to follow the road Irving is laying out for him.  With each bit of evidence or rock turned over the pieces are not coming back into place correctly as if someone else is putting the puzzle together and Harry is just watching as it happens.  There are so many unanswered questions about what is going on and no one is telling the full truth.

At the same time, Harry is trying to solve the cold case and bring justice to the poor woman who was brutally murdered.  The single case blows up with scenarios going in every direction where the prey may have become the predator.  When emotions, past transgressions, and even people are hidden in plain sight the final confrontation is going to be explosive.

Michael Connelly is incapable of writing a less than perfect book and The Drop is a complete grand slam that engages readers from page one.  You think you know what is going on; you follow the trail of evidence along with Harry and then take you somewhere you never could have expected and terrified once you get there.