This was my Valentine's Day reading. Terrel McCaleb is an ex-FBI agent recovering from a heart transplant. As the novel opens, it's revealed that the donor his heart was harvested from was a murder victim. He begins investigating and restarts the stalled investigation.

As usual, Connelly did an awesome job of providing all the pieces that he assembled in the end. Unfortunately he also seems to be retreading the same ground. Like Bosch, McCaleb is a hypnotist. Like Haller, McCaleb's got a driver. And Connelly's descriptions of computer use seem to be agonizing no matter what character he's writing for. That said, the way all of these elements fit into the story work so I can't fault them that much any more than I could complain that there happen to be murders in all of these crime novels.

There are plenty of crunchy relationships in this story. Central is the relationship between McCaleb and Graciella Rivers, the sister of the murder victim. She provides both a romantic interest and, as a nurse, a bit of practical knowledge helpful to the story. McCaleb's neighbor and driver seems to be the only friend McCaleb has allowed himself as he's withdrawn from the outside world. We're constantly reminded how much McCaleb resents even that connection. McCaleb has distinctly different levels of disdain for everyone else involved in the investigation, with a few exceptions, yet grudgingly respects the work they're trying to do.

Living in Los Angeles I liked the boat/fishing/Catalina details. It's kind of interesting that 1/2 of the dramatic tension revolved around whether ANYTHING McCaleb was doing would cause problems with his new heart. I'm glad McCaleb has a few more unsolved cases as I'd hate for him to be retired as a character completely.

Probably not most people's choice for reading alone on V-day, but it fit the niche I needed.