Trunk Music: Harry Bosch Series, Book 5

Item was in good condition and arrived on time.

Nothing but good things to say. Every book of his I open, I finish. Love the character. Love the story. Love the author.

I'm relatively new to this character, am not yet finished reading this particular "episode" in Harry Bosch's life, and am "of a certain age", in that some of Harry's characteristics remind me of the Joe Friday character of "Dragnet" fame. Nonetheless, I like what I have seen so far in this series. What follows is my overall feel for Harry Bosch the character, and the Harry Bosch series as a whole. Harry is a product of his past, which is nicely woven in with the present action and plot to explain his behavior in any given scenario. Harry has a thick shell for some legitimate reasons, but is sensitive and vulnerable inside, with all the warts and redeeming factors that make his character come to life in a realistic way. His experience in the field and passion for "getting it right" for the victims' sake, explains the narrow moral road Harry navigates, the road that lies somewhere between absolute integrity and "crossing the line". His risk-taking behavior in relation to his work and his belief that "the end can usually justify the means" makes us root for him when he's down and seemingly out, an especially important facet of the Trunk Music plot line. Harry also experiences mature kinds of love, despite his fear of acting so vulnerable with another human. His age and time on the job shows, but he still loves his work and the people he helps, as well as the satisfaction that "getting his man" brings by the end of the each fast-paced tale. I enjoy "whodunit" procedural novels such as this one written in a primarily first-person narrative style, as this gives insight into the characters' thinking, and thus some of the reasons behind their reaction to their jobs, life thus far, and in Harry's case, police politics, the bane of his existence. I also appreciate the story being told against the backdrop of the political landscape inside Harry's department, demonstrating how both "good and bad apples" can and do exist at all levels of his "blue world". What makes the greys of the life we all live resonate in each of Connelly's characters is the nice mixture of both positive and negative behaviors each character brings to the story. The plot twists are not too difficult to follow and offer nice surprises as the story reaches it's climax then winds down in the last 20-30 pages of each book. And I truly appreciate the fact that the author takes great pains to insure the reader knows the meaning behind the book's title, which in this case was especially helpful. Thus far, each of the series' books has flowed smoothly from one part of Harry's life to another, and that keeps drawing me back for more. Kudos to Michael Connelly for what I perceive to be well-reasearched, realistic-feeling, and well fleshed-out characters he has invested in for the long haul. I know I will keep coming back for more, because I have to admit that yes, "I'm just wild about Harry!".....

I started reading books with the mature Harry Bosch ready to retire,,but not so he found a new way to do good and help the good police overcome. I lived in Pasadena and worked in West LA at Wilshire near Good Sam Hospital then Wilshire at Normandie just in time for the riots when the all white policemen where found not guilty of beating Rodney King, a large Black man, when a video taken at the time showed a different story. I had to drive through part of the rioting to get home I was not botheredI love Harry Bosch and dislike his half-brother the Lincoln Lawyer. I was an LA attorney for 5-6 years after being a board-certified neonatologist at the medical school in Dallas. I was racially color-blind in my medical care in Northern California, North Carolina, The North Shore of Oahu and Dallas and Austin, Texas. I tried always to do what seemed right to me, but it was not always possible I did not act out as Harry Bosch does, but I had to deal with female prejudice which was different in the 1969-1990s than in the time of Renee Ballard who has benefited from her work with Bosch as he has although he has worked with Black women policewomen who have been very helpful to Harry and supportive. This book introduces important supporting characters who learn to appreciate and support Harry. We learn about his private life which is very unhealthy and has both happy and terrible times that Harry is too emotionally damaged to be able to handle The reader needs to read Concrete Blonde and Last Coyote before reading this book.

The bad boy of the LAPD, Hollywood Division, is back on the job in this fifth entry in the Harry Bosch series. We last met Harry in The Last Coyote. He had endured an earthquake that made his house uninhabitable - although he continued to live in it - and he was again under suspicion of having committed grave crimes. After his innocence was proved, he was forced to take leave to recover from stress-related issues. He's now completed that leave and returned to work full time.He's back at work and with a new and more sympathetic boss, Lieutenant Billets (known, of course, as "Bullets"), but he hasn't had any murder cases. Until now.It begins with the body of a man, a low level Hollywood film producer, found in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce on the hills above the Hollywood Bowl. He had been shot twice in the head at close range and the murder bore all the signs of a Mafia hit - "trunk music" in the local parlance. Harry and his team of Jerry Edgar and a new detective called Kiz begin working the case and determine that the victim had spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and was a gambler which gives some validation to the idea that his murder might have been related to organized crime.The organized crime angle is the one they pursue at first, which is a good excuse to send Harry to Las Vegas and give us a glimpse of that glitzy world. Harry follows up leads but begins to feel antsy about it all. He intuits that there is a piece missing from the puzzle, but he can't lay his hands on it.While in Vegas, he runs into an old girlfriend, Eleanor Wise, the former FBI agent that he had been involved with a few books back. She had gone to prison for crimes related to that case, but now she's out after serving three years, and she's making her way in the world by playing poker. She and Harry are still attracted to each other and basically pick up where they left off.But back to the case. Harry begins to see a tangle of corruption and collusion involving the police in Vegas and one of the top crime figures in the city, and it seems that his victim back in LA was somehow involved with these figures, but how? What exactly is the connection?And what about the not so grieving widow? The records of the gated community where she lives show that she was at home on the night that her husband was killed on his way home from Las Vegas, but can those records really be trusted? Her husband was cheating on her in Las Vegas and she seems to have known about it and she appears to be the one who would most benefit from the man's death.Or would that be the girlfriend, a very young woman who was a dancer at a strip club in Vegas and went by the name of Layla. Harry attempts to locate her but without any success.Then everything goes pear-shaped when it turns out that there is an FBI undercover operation investigating the same people who are of interest to Harry and the two get all tangled up together. Guess who comes out on the losing end?Back in Los Angeles, Harry finds he's now the one being investigated and he's been pulled off the case. But when did being removed from a case ever stop Harry from investigating? Solving murders is his calling. It's in his blood and once he's on the case, the only way to really remove him is with a bullet.This case turns out to be even more complicated than it at first appeared, but we can be sure that, after clearing out all the misdirections, Harry will get his man. Or woman.It struck me as I was reading that the character of Harry Bosch has evolved and grown. He seems more mature, more responsible in this adventure. Of course, he's never going to resolve his issues with the Internal Affairs Division - the "squints." They are always going to be looking over the shoulder of the bad boy of the LAPD, Hollywood Division.

Connelly has put Bosch back on the job after sidelining him with a leave imposed by the LAPD brass. And it’s obvious right from the get-go that Det. Bosch isn’t letting any grass grow under his feet, diving right in to a murder case that has the appearance of a Mafia hit. As things unfold, however, it seems to be a lot more complex, and for Harry, a lot more personal. (And maintaining his outside-the-box approach to crime solving also means his conflicts with the bureaucrats continue as well!)As he does so well, Connelly builds a carefully crafted plot line but then alters the reader’s expectations with clever twists and reversals. He is a master at character development, even of those in adjunct roles, and his command of these two elements elevate him to among the best crime thriller writers.Trunk Music moves at a good clip, keeping the reader engaged and entertained.

Hard to leave it down once you reading it

A very good read. Typical Bosch investigation.

Não lembro de ter lido um livro do Connelly que fosse ruim. Esse não é diferente.

The book explores the worst of humans, if we can even call them that. I was very much disturbed by the actions of certain characters at times. The author skilfully these inhuman aspects of so-called humans bare.Before I go any further, here is the preview of the book.The Book mainly follows two characters. Journalist Jack who is pulled into this world of serial killers when he takes closer look at the death of his twin brother, whose death has been ruled as suicide. From then, his hunt begins for the perpetrator and into the darker parts of the world. The majority of the book is narrated in first person POV.The second character is a Pedophile and thankfully the author sets his parts in third person POV. We get some view into his mind and actions and they are very disgusting. But he is just an effect and the cause is much more evil.We also have interesting characters like FBI agent Rachel who appears in Jack's POV.What I liked most is the twists and turns the story takes and each time when we feel there has been enough evil, the devil knocks. The story is fantastic in all its elements. We get a glimpse into the world of journalism. Law enforcement agencies like the FBI. And toll it takes on those who hunt the criminals. This multi layered story is not only entertaining but also leaves something behind on those who read.