Reading the novels by Michael Connelly which involve Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch in order, A Darkness More Than Night came as a bit of a surprise.  It actually feels less like a Harry Bosch novel and more like a Terry McCaleb book.  Now, if you’re reading the Harry Bosch series, like me you might go “Who the hell is Terry McCaleb?”  Exactly.

Terry McCaleb first appears in Michael Connelly’s novel Blood Work, published three years before this one.  Okay, so now I’m going back and reading that.  There’s a background to his character in that book that is summed up in A Darkness More Than Night, so I wasn’t totally lost, but it was kind of disconcerting as I was reading this. It felt almost as if there were things I was missing.  I would recommend taking a look at Blood Work before this one if I had it to do all over again.

That said, A Darkness More Than Night is pretty good.  Told from McCaleb’s perspective, it has the retired detective being brought in on a case by his former partner.  She just wants him to take a look and see what he thinks.  McCaleb was a superb profiler in his day but has tried to put that life behind him and carve out a life with his wife and newborn baby in Catalina.  Reading through the evidence on the case, he is quickly drawn back into a life that was dangerous but where he felt comfortable.  At the same time, he’s a bit unnerved when the evidence he uncovers seems to point to an old acquaintance by the name of Harry Bosch.  Harry is about to testify as the key witness in a high-profile case similar to the Phil Spector case, and the possibility of him being a suspect in another murder could lead to that suspect going free.

A Darkness More Than Night was thrilling in a different way.  Although I didn’t feel I identified with McCaleb the way I should (despite plenty of insight into his personal life), the way he investigated the case was terrific.  It created a thrilling pace as I, the reader, just knew Harry couldn’t have done it and although I sort of expected the motive I was seeing at the beginning of the novel, I wasn’t sure how it would get there.  Nor did I know for certain that was the right motive for what was going on.  I would go back and forth on who was part of the conspiracy to frame Bosch (which I was certain was the case) as Connelly does a terrific job making it look like so many different people could be in on it.  I thoroughly enjoyed the pace and the way the case unfolded in the book.  It was a terrific thriller.

I’m wondering how Connelly might build on these two characters in the future and maybe have them interact more.  It will be interesting to see where it all goes.  That said, I’m going back and reading other Connelly books before I continue the series, just in case other characters pop up that I should know about.  I liked A Darkness More Than Night quite a bit, I just think I would have found it better had I read Blood Work first.  You won’t be totally lost if you don’t, but it helps.

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