Today I want to share with all the literary #hivers in this community the reading of a book that I just finished and that belongs to the well-known writer of crime novels Michael Connelly.
Connelly, of whom I have read other books that I will tell you about later, such as The Last Coyote, belongs to that generation of writers made in the crime section of newspapers, in their classic paper format, when they still existed and today in frank paths of extinction replaced by digitization. Like everything that is paper, on the other hand.
Before dedicating himself to writing full-time, he was one of the main police reporters for The New York Times, which is already a good calling card.
And many other contemporary writers of this literary genre have been creating characters that have later become familiar with the public, "forcing" them to continue with them, until exhausted the literary vein and the fantasy of which they are capable, they have decided to put the word end to his wanderings.
There are innumerable cases, but I can remind you of Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic detective by Jeffery Deaver, the mythical commissioner Kurt Wallander by the Swedish Henning Mankell, the anatomopathologist Kay Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell, the commissioner Montalbano by the Italian Andrea Camilleri, Manuel Vázquez is Spanish. Montalbán with his unforgettable Pepe Carvalho and many others.
Today's character is called Harry Bosch and Connelly has dedicated no more and no less than 23 books to him. Such was the popularity of the character that Connelly had decided to end the series by making him leave the Los Angeles police force, but was later forced to reinstate him as an external adviser due to complaints from fan readers.
The peculiarity of this novel is that together with Harry Bosch (in reality his name is Hieronymus Bosch and the name was given to him by his mother who was a fervent admirer of the Dutch painter, but he changed it to Harry due to his extravagance) the popular and eccentric detective works alongside a colleague who has also appeared in other Connelly novels: Terry McCaleb, a retired FBI inspector after undergoing a heart transplant.
McCaleb has actually retired from the police force and has to undergo severe treatment in order to live: he must take 54 pills daily (27 in the morning and 27 in the afternoon as part of the treatment). He lives on an island and to get to the mainland he must take a ship. He has married the sister of the woman killed in the shooting in which a bullet damaged her heart and he had to resort to a transplant as a last resort. The heart is that of the murdered woman. They have a daughter named Cielo and have adopted Raymond, the young son of the murdered woman.
Only a former colleague, seeing the complexity of the case and remembering his innate ability to profile murder suspects when he worked at the FBI, manages to convince him to take a look at the booklet and give her opinion, or to draw a profile of the assassin. McCaleb, who dedicates himself, together with a partner, to renting charters for nautical fishing to pass the time and increase the disability pension he receives, allows himself to be absorbed by what - long ago - was his main reason for living: hunting the murderers through a precise profile.
The plot is unleashed by two different lifts. On the one hand, the death of Edward Gunn, a thief, drug addict and presumed murderer of two women with frequent entries into the police who is found dead in his apartment in an unusual position: with his feet and hands tied behind his body and connected to a noose. around the neck that tightens as the condemned man cannot keep his legs fully contracted backwards. A cruel and painful death by suffocation.
On the other hand, a popular film director who until then has managed to avoid jail is also being investigated for the death of two women. The accusation is also death by strangulation to maximize the pleasure of a sexual relationship.
While the process progresses and the prosecution and the defense use their arguments to try to convict and/or acquit David Storey -the film director- some elements related to Gunn's death gradually lead McCaleb to suspect that the accused of his death is detective Bosch himself, his own colleague: an owl found at the scene of the crime -a constant element in the works of the painter Bosch-, the position of the body and other elements close a circle that seems like a perfect trap .
At this point both decide to help each other, putting aside mutual mistrust and come to the conclusion that the main person responsible for the deaths is Rudy Tafero, who is Storey's bodyguard and in the past has worked with Bosch in the Los Angeles police.
Nevertheless , and despite the fact that the evidence condemns Tafero, Bosch cannot understand why he is trying to frame him for the murders.
He must investigate the past and his bad relationship with the police chief of the Pounds departmental unit -murdered in unknown circumstances- in order to understand the true reason for the hatred that Rudy Tafero nurtures against him.
And a final surprise when McCaleb, who from that moment on should no longer consider him his friend because he knows that some of those deaths -directly or indirectly- have been caused by Bosch himself who has acted like an avenging angel upon seeing the inefficiency of the justice through all those years. Something that McCaleb does not accept thinking that darkness has invaded the soul of his friend like the paintings of the famous Flemish painter.
A novel that catches from start to finish and where nothing is taken for granted. And the ending is also, in part, unpredictable.
Hoy quiero compartir con todos los #hivers literarios de esta comunidad la lectura de un libro que acabo de terminar y que pertenece al conocido escritor de novelas policiales Michael Connelly.
Connelly, de quien he leído otros libros que más adelante les comentaré como El Ultimo Coyote, pertenece a esa generación de escritores hechos en la sección de crónica de policial de los diarios, en su clásico formato de papel, cuando todavía existían y hoy en francas vías de extinción substituidos por la digitalización. Como todo lo que es papel, por otro lado.
Antes de dedicarse a escribir a tiempo pleno fue uno de los principales cronistas policiales del diario The New York Times, lo que ya es una buena tarjeta de presentación.
Y muchos otros escritores contemporáneos de este género literario han ido creando personajes que luego se han familiarizado con el público, “obligándolos” a continuar con los mismos, hasta que agotada la vena literaria y la fantasía de que son capaces, han decidido poner la palabra fin a sus andanzas.
Son innumerables los casos, pero les puedo recordar a Lincoln Rhyme el detective tetrapléjico de Jeffery Deaver, el mítico comisario Kurt Wallander del sueco Henning Mankell, la doctora anatomopatóloga Kay Scarpetta de Patricia Cornwell, el comisario Montalbano del italiano Andrea Camilleri, es español Manuel Vázquez Montalbán con su inolvidable Pepe Carvalho y tantos otros.
El personaje de hoy se llama Harry Bosch y Connelly le ha dedicado nada más y nada menos que 23 libros. Fue tanta la popularidad del personaje que Connelly había decidido terminar la serie haciéndolo abandonar el cuerpo de policia de Los Ángeles, pero luego se vio obligado a reincorporarlo como consejero externo debido a los reclamos de los fans lectores.
La particularidad de esta novela es que junto a Harry Bosch (en realidad se llama Hieronymus Bosch y el nombre le fue dado por su madre que era una ferviente admiradora del pintor holandés, pero él ante la extravagancia del mismo lo cambió por Harry) el popular y excéntrico detective trabaja junto a un colega que también ha participado en otras novelas de Connelly: Terry McCaleb un inspector del FBI retirado luego de haberse sometido a un trasplante de corazón.
McCaleb en realidad se ha retirado de la policia y tiene que seguir un severo tratamiento para poder vivir: debe tomar diariamente 54 pastillas (27 a la mañana y 27 a la tarde como parte del tratamiento). Vive en una isla y para llegar a tierra firme debe tomar una nave. Se ha casado con la hermana de la mujer asesinada en el tiroteo en el cual una bala le ha dañado el corazón y ha tenido que acudir como última medida al trasplante. El corazón es el de la mujer asesinada. Tienen una hija llamada Cielo y han adoptado a Raymond el pequeño hijo de la mujer asesinada.
Solo una ex-colega, visto la complejidad del caso y acordándose de sus innatas condiciones para trazar el perfil de los sospechosos de asesinatos cuando trabajaba en el FBI, logra convencerlo de dar una ojeada al fascículo y darle su opinion, o trazar un perfil del asesino. McCaleb que se dedica junto a un socio a alquilar chárteres para la pesca náutica para pasar el tiempo y aumentar la pensión por invalidez que percibe, se deja absorber por aquel que -tiempo atrás- era su principal razón de vivir: dar la caza a los asesinos a través de un preciso perfil.
La trama se va desencadenando por dos andariveles distintos. Por un lado la muerte de Edward Gunn, ladrón, drogado y presunto homicida de dos mujeres con frecuentes entradas en la policia que es encontrado muerto en su departamento en una posición inusual: con los pies y manos atados atrás del cuerpo y conectados a un lazo alrededor del cuello que se va apretando a medida que el condenado no puede mantener las piernas totalmente contraídas hacia atrás. Una muerte cruel y dolorosa por asfixia.
Por otro lado es también indagado por la muerte de dos mujeres un popular director de cine que hasta ese momento ha logrado eludir la cárcel. La acusación es también muerte por estrangulamiento para llevar al máximo el placer de una relacion sexual.
Mientras el proceso avanza y la fiscalía y la defensa esgrimen sus argumentos para tratar de hacer condenar y/o absolver a David Storey -el director de cine- algunos elementos relacionados con la muerte de Gunn van conduciendo de a poco a hacer sospechar a McCaleb que el acusado de su muerte sea el propio detective Bosch, su propio colega: un búho encontrado en la escena del delito -elemento constante en las obras del pintor Bosch-, la posición del cuerpo y otros elementos van cerrando un círculo que parece una trampa perfecta.
A este punto ambos deciden ayudarse mutuamente dejando de lado recíprocas desconfianzas y llegan a la conclusión que el principal responsable de las muertes es Rudy Tafero quien es guardaespaldas de Storey y en el pasado ha trabajado junto a Bosch en la policia de los Angeles.
Sin embargo, , y a pesar de que las pruebas lo condenan a Tafero, Bosch no logra entender por qué motivo trata de incriminarlo a él en los asesinatos.
Deberá indagar en el pasado y en su mala relacion con el jefe de policia de la unidad departamental Pounds -asesinado en circunstancias desconocidas- para llegar a comprender el verdadero motivo del odio que Rudy Tafero nutre contra él.
Y una sorpresa final cuando McCaleb que desde ese momento en adelante no debera más considerarlo su amigo porque sabe que algunas de esas muertes -directa o indirectamente- han sido provocadas por el mismo Bosch quien ha actuado como un ángel vengador al ver la ineficiencia de la justicia a través de todos esos años. Algo que McCaleb no acepta pensando que la oscuridad ha invadido el alma de su amigo como las pinturas del famoso pintor flamenco.
Una novela que atrapa del inicio al final y donde nada se da por descontado. Y el final también es, en parte, imprevisible.
Source images /Fuente de las imágenes:
Initial image / Imagen inicial: Home Page Michael Connelly.
Background initial image / Fondo imagen inicial: Pixabay.
The cover in Spanish corresponds to the screenshot of the electronic book of my property / La portada en español corresponde a la captura de pantalla del libro electrónico de mi propiedad.
Divider text / Separador de texto: Pixabay..
Traducido con / Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
From what I have read in tureseña this looks very interesting and you mamtiene trapped from beginning to end, as you affirm in your publication, after reading the amount of pills that took 27 in the morning and then the same amount in the afternoon-night, I have queado in schok I thought that my adre took many I see that no, the panoraba , living on an island, married to his ex sister-in-law, a heart transplant, a daughter of his own and raising his late wife, I think I got it right, that alone is enough to be a little out of the ordinary, lastly, the police novels where they seek to discover a murderer or the culprit of a crime well narrated put us to trot sitting down.
Por lo que he leido en tureseña esto pinta muy intereante y te mamtiene atrapado de principio a fin, como afirrmas en tú publicación, tras leer la caantidad de pastillas que tomaba 27 en la mañana y luego la misma cantidad en la tarde-noche , me he queado en schok creia que mi adre tomaba muchas ya veo que no, el panoraba , vivir en una isla, casado con su ex cuñada, un transplante de corazón, una hija propia y criando al du su difunta esposa, creo que lo entendi bien, ya solo con eso es para estar un poco fuera de lo normal, por ulttimo las novelasde policias donde se busca descubrir un asesino o al culpable de un crimen bien narradas nos ponen a trotar sentados.
Thank you for commenting and, above all, for reading the full review.
Indeed, the plot is that. The funny thing is that both characters in Connelly's literary fiction (especially Harry Bosch) "work" together, so to speak, in the same novel.
The plot is pretty well narrated for what is a thriller.
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