Review: Well done short stories
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2011
This collection of three short stories shows Connelly's mastery of the short story genre. Taut writing, uncomplicated plots but with a twist, and interesting character insights--Connelly does it all.This first short story nicely blends a murder investigation with a poignant moment for Bosch years before when he was serving in Vietnam, and shows his compassionate side. It also beautifully evokes in just a few pages the anguish of a jazz musician in growing old and no longer being able to command his body to do what his still sharp mind wants.The second story deals with the stress on a marriage and careers of raising a developmentally challenged child, and presents a haunting image of a murder that the story suggests may happen more often than we would like to think.The third story explores Bosch's attempt to solve the murder of the first dead body that he encountered as a rookie, and presents interesting interaction with his former mentor and current partner.Each of the stories requires Bosch to come up with a unique "angle of investigation", which he so skillfully does. Not only are these stories clever, but they touch on a number of topics that are of widespread interest. I enjoyed reading them.