Skip to main content

Crimes and Misdemeanors

About Michael Connelly's classic novel, "The Last Coyote":

On paid leave, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch decides to open an investigation into his mother's murder, to pass the time. He misses his mother; this woman worked as a prostitute and wanted to win, for her son, a better life. (The name "Bosch" is invented, and it has to do with our hero's admiration for the paintings of *another* Bosch....the way the many creatures in the "Garden of Earthly Delights" bring to mind colorful characters from Southern California.)

Trying to determine who killed his mother, Bosch meets: a possibly-shady former cop, a damaged painter who may be suicidal, a talkative fellow in a nursing home, a tough, outspoken reporter. The case twists and turns, and Bosch almost continuously lies, in big and small ways, to get what he wants. He endangers his own life and the lives of others, and we're still just talking about the first half of the book.

Sally Rooney said in the NYT that it helps to fall in love with a protagonist, if you're working your way through a novel. It's so easy to love Bosch--flawed, idealistic, struggling, smart, compassionate. And his world is so different from other "crime fiction" worlds. Even an encounter with a bureaucrat, a discussion about chair placement, can become a mesmerizing power struggle. You get the sense, also, that the writer, Michael Connelly, is constantly collecting bizarre real-world stories to add to his work. I especially like when a guy tries to steal an airbag and ends up dead (the airbag drives a screwdriver through the thief's heart)--and, through an investigation of the theft, the LAPD discovers that the car-owner's DNA just happens to line up with a cold case, a murder, from another state.

(This is a score for the LAPD, because it means listing two murders "solved," without adding any unsolved new murders to the docket. The press likes this.)

Many thriller writers rely on gimmicks--shifting points of view, flashbacks, italicized passages--and Michael Connelly doesn't  need any of that. He uses meat-and-potatoes storytelling. One event after another, seen from Bosch's perspective. The writing seems effortless.

This isn't Dostoyevsky, but I loved "The Last Coyote." What a satisfying thriller.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

Joshie

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...
2 comments
Read more

Josh at Five

 Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...
Post a Comment
Read more