Book review. - Michael Connolly's Bosch still hasn't lost it! Two Kinds Of Truth reviewed

Available here

I have to say my two favourite long running detectives are Ian Rankin's John Rebus and Michael Connolly's Harry Bosch. So, I got to thinking - what is it that makes us pick up these books again and again and immerse ourselves, for a short time, in their lives?  The only answer I could come up with is that both characters have aged with me; sometimes gracefully and sometimes not so gracefully. They represent the  genre from opposite sides of the pond.  But for me, what really sells them to me is their humanity.  They are real characters with weaknesses and strengths.  They're still sticking to their guns and fighting for the underdog, no matter what the establishment throws at them ... and this is true of the latest Harry Bosch book Two Kinds of Truth.

Two Kinds of Truth  kicks off with Harry in jail ... well, actually he's working cold cases from the old disused jail in San Fernando where he's been sidelined to from LAPD. When a pharmacist and his son are shot, gangland style and simultaneously an old case of Harry's is reopened, Harry is

plunged into a two pronged work schedule.  First he must find out what links the deaths of the pharmacists to a drug running enterprise that utilises the vulnerable.  Second, he must prove that contrary to new evidence, he did put away the correct murderer over twenty years previously. 

Connolly, with all the skill we've come to expect from this veteran writer, manages to show us an aging Harry (He's in his sixties), yet one who still has fire in his belly.  I love the way Harry and his brother Mickey's moral code is thrown up for scrutiny, yet leaves the reader to decide on degrees of rightness.  Harry's honesty and humanity sold the book for me.  It rang true... even after all these years, and I loved the welcome return of some characters from the past.  

It's fast paced, sensitive and reflects the sort of society we live in now whilst contemplating the changes that have occurred over the years.  Connolly always provides an observation of human nature and motivations which I find intriguing.  reading the book I was often prompted to wonder what I would do in a particular situation. 
All I can say to Michael Connolly is ... 

"Keep 'em coming!!!"