A Darkness More Than Night (Harry Bosch)

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God's work was never done. When a killer was out there using His name as part of the imprint of his crime there often meant there would be more crime. It was said in the bureau profiling offices that God's killers never stopped of their own volition. They had to be stopped." If not for the momentum this series has ignited in me, and the promise of a new reader in oncoming novels, I'd not have held on through the adequate ... but PREACHY... remainder of this novel.

Police procedurals, in particular, are about heroes. They are the literal descendants of classics like The Iliad, Beowulf and The Song of Roland. What makes police procedurals different is only that many of our 21st century heroes are deep in their middle age and thus worry about medical benefits and workmen's compensation. A darkness more than night - BoschThis, friends, is not a profile. I'm no expert, but I've seen many seasons of Criminal Minds, and therefore I am an expert, and a profile should be formed around the traits that a killer may likely possess to have committed The book begins with sheriff's deputy, Jaye Winston, bringing Terry a current murder case file that scares her deeply. It involves a gruesome murder with bizarre and dark artistic elements that makes her think a serial killer may be at work. Jaye asks Terry to look over the case file and let her know his thoughts because the police are getting nowhere on it. However, the trouble begins after Terry performs his analysis and the clues point him towards a certain police officer that he knows from a previous investigation before retiring – LAPD’s own Harry Bosch.Michael Connelly 's latest novel is the thriller his readers have been waiting for. Sleek and sharp and fast-paced, it also brings together, Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb, two of his most vividly depicted heroes, in a life-or-death conflict. A richly plotted and complex novel ... The resolution is brilliantly worked out ... and, as is usual with this author, there is a coda that brings more surprises. A rich and satisfying read, this, and one that throws light on the dark underbelly of human behaviour ( IRISH TIMES)

As McCaleb works on his profile he learns of the connection between Edward Gunn and Harry Bosch. He also discovers that the ritualistic murder scene resembles a painting by Hieronymous Bosch. McCaleb soon realizes that the profile points to Harry Bosch. How far would Harry go to see that Edward Gunn did not get away with murdering the prostitute? Connelly is on sure footing in A Darkness More Than Night, much more so than he was in his last novel, the stand-alone Void Moon . His stance is surer, perhaps because his storyline follows the classic conventions and because he observes the rituals with greater diligence. In a sense this book has 2 storylines both are about Harry Bosch, and you get to know more about him, his history as quite a few books together. And Harry remains a fascinating character.

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Another great book by Michael Connelly, this time getting together Terry McCaleb from Blood Work and Harry Bosch from several previous books. It was intriguing to see Bosch through McCaleb's eyes, and I thought his suspicion of Bosch was workable. I believe this book is much better because I've read Blood Work and the previous Bosch books. Otherwise the reader doesn't have a real sense of just how likely or unlikely the suspicion is or whether McCaleb is really as good as he thinks he is. If you don't read some of the previous books first, you will be missing a many of the nuances and undertones which are important to the enjoyment of the story. Heironymous (Harry) Bosch, the hero in this series, is named after a Renaissance painter who specialized in earthly sins, debauchery, fanciful and gruesome visions of hell, violent consequences from high above if not detailed looks at the tortures reserved for earthly residents. Score 1 for Connelly in choosing a very apropos name for our own tortured detective Harry Bosch. Profiling is hard. I say this as an expert. WRITING a compelling story about profiling is probably just as hard, because not only do you have to get into the killer's head and understand motivations that may be incomprehensible (not that this was, at ALL. Sheesh, so transparent.), but then you have to weave that into a compelling and suspenseful narrative with believable characters and plot and pacing and dialogue and everything. Bosch is up as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of David Storey. Storey is charged with murdering his lover and making it look like a suicide. According to Bosch, Storey confesses, but also says Bosch won't be able to prove it. So the book flip flops between Terry's investigation of Bosch, and Bosch's testimony in court.

As I’ve said before, I’m enjoying this series. This is book 7 in the Harry Bosch series. As I finish one, I go right on to the next one. I’m doing them all as audiobooks, which might mean something. This one is not typical Bosch because the main detective work is being done by McCaleb, not Bosch. We are in McCaleb’s mind through most of the story. It was good, but I prefer Bosch as the main investigator, not McCaleb. This book is also listed as book 2 in the Terry McCaleb series. This could be read as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading it after McCaleb’s first book “Blood Work.”

A good deal of the novel is composed of courtroom scenes, with witnesses being questioned and cross-examined, lawyers maneuvering to influence the jury, and so on. Courtroom drama is one of Connelly's favorite tropes, and I always enjoy it, but he goes a bit overboard in this book.....and it slows down the story. McCaleb uncovers how clearly, how uncannily, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch fits the killer's psychological profile. The similarities are indisputable. McCaleb has no choice but to tell sheriff's detective Jaye Winston. Lead Police Detective: Harry hasn't been on the witness stand for a while, so this is our first chance in several years to hear him explain in so many words what his job is and where it fits in the ranks. As of this novel, he is a Detective 3rd grade, which he explains is equivalent to Detective Sergeant, but that's a rank the LAPD does not use; one step up would be Detective Lieutenant. Also, he specifies that he is the lead detective of a three-detective team at Hollywood division's homicide squad, with some supervisory responsibilities over other officers. FYI: My cat makes a better profiler than Terry McDerpface. The guy is so unimportant, such a non-entity in his own book that even the Goodreads book description of some editions can't bother getting his name right. It lists his first name as "Terrence", but he's actually a "Terrell". I find this amusing. (As a GR Librarian, I did attempt to edit it but I'm not sure if it took, and honestly, don't care that much. Let him be Terrence or whatever if the GR gods will it.)