The character of Harry Bosch has done well for Michael Connelly.  The gritty, hard-nosed Los Angeles homicide detective has his own moral code to live by.  Love him or hate him, he gets results.

Which is why when a prominent civil rights lawyer is found murdered, Bosch is called in on the case although it’s technically out of his jurisdiction.  His three-person detective team is made up of two African American officers which are also a good source of publicity for the department.  The murdered man has long been a thorn in the department’s side and has a history of suing the department and officers.  He was about to argue a case that threatened to blow the department apart.

As Harry digs, he learns quite a bit about Howard Elias, the murdered attorney, as well as his own department.  In true Connelly fashion, all is not black and white.  Some of the “good” guys are not all they seem, while those we seem steered to dislike initially actually have some redeeming qualities.  Harry is just looking for the truth in all this, the truth about Elias’ murder as well as the truth in the case he was about to embark on.

One of the main things that’s good about Angels Flight is it accessibility.  I can easily see someone choosing to pick up the series here and not be lost, although I think knowing what else has gone on up until now is helpful, especially in regard to the relationships Harry has with certain people in the department as well as the character of Harry himself.  The other books in the series are definitely worth the read time.  Connelly does manage to give the reader enough information that they shouldn’t be completely lost, though.

The complicated tale in Angels Flight is quite good.  Connelly does a good job leading the reader in one direction, then taking on a different tack.  There are so many possibilities thrown at us that for a while the story seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.  Even once it seemed as if Connelly was steering us in the direction of the solution, I wasn’t sure that was the real solution.  Everything is quite murky until right near the end.

The tone of the book is quite dark.  Not only is he investigating those that are supposed to protect us as the City is simmering and is seemingly about to explode Rodney King-style, but Harry is also going through a personal crisis as well.  At times this seems to detract from the genuine mystery here, but it’s also showing how he sacrifices his personal life once again to get the job done.

I like how Connelly uses characters we’ve seen before.  It’s not just Harry’s team, but other officers including his superiors and Internal Affairs who are in on the action here. What was hard for me to digest was the casual way so much of the story is treated.  I can maybe swallow that Harry is immune to a lot of it now, having worked homicide for so long as well as his exposure to some horrific violence during his time in Viet Nam as a tunnel rat. It seems piled on here, although I don’t know that it’s unnecessary.  Perhaps he’s not quite as immune as we’ve been led to believe and this is what motivates his actions (or inactions) near the end when the truth comes out.

The pace is excellent.  Many times, when I read stories like this that seem to take place around the clock, I wonder how the principal characters seem to keep going.  Harry and others do seem to run on fumes quite a bit here, but it works for the story as they are running against an unknown deadline of sorts.

If you like gritty crime novels, the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly is for you.  Angels Flight in particular is an excellent entry in the series with enough twists and turns to keep a reader guessing.  The characters are realistic with a little good and bad in each of them.  I can’t wait to pick up the next in the series.

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