Mostly academic politics (and some actual politics), slowly unraveling the mystery of an object with strange physical properties. Some action and romance is tossed in for good measure. Very dry and I'm not sure there's anyone I would actually recommend it to.

Glowing endorsement, right? Well, it was a VERY relaxing read for me and I enjoyed the science. Considering how idea dense I normally take my fiction, this single idea - extrapolated from a handful of "maybes" grounded in current (as of mid '80s) theoretical physics - managed to grab my interest and carry me along for the length of a novel. Mostly good writing. The "good" characters got fleshed out quite nicely - flaws and catastrophic mistakes and all - while the "bad" characters were cardboard cutouts.

Expanding my thoughts for a blog post.

This is the 4th Bosch novel written, the 6th Bosch novel I've ready and the 7th novel I've read by Michael Connelly. I keep reading this author because I started reading him in my last happy year of marriage. My mother in law sent me a bunch of Connelly novels and it's a way for me to keep that relationship alive.

I'm also figuring some of what makes Connelly great. Bosch is a character defined by pain - his personal pain, the pain he causes those who get close to him and the collective pain of Los Angeles that results in the murders he investigates.

The framing story for The Last Coyote involves therapy sessions Bosch is undergoing after assaulting his superior officer. It's clear to me that that's the glue that connects me to this story more so than the others I've read. I'm not violent, but I am currently in therapy. The larger setting for the novel is the aftermath of the big Los Angeles quake in the '90s. On this backdrop of destruction and involuntary leave Bosch starts an investigation of his mother's 1961 murder.

The plot offers plenty of political intrigue that paint dark shadows onto the landscape that Bosch has been and continues to navigate. Becoming a homicide detective,

Spoiler

killing a serial killer who preyed on prostitutes

, getting demoted to the Hollywood division that has originally investigated his mother's murder have all led Bosch toward this investigation. It's not clear what solving the case will mean for Bosch, but it's continued to hook me as a reader.

Connelly has a habit of

Spoiler

introducing victims and killers and central characters in earlier books

. It makes the sum of his stories a bit larger than the individual books. Having read some of the novels out of order, they still manage to be solid mysteries.

As the pieces were furiously shifting into place, there's a pair of scenes that highlight what I love about this author. Connelly meticulously describes the process of getting a fingerprint off of some paper. Bosch observes and names the chemicals the tech is using. The tech narrates what he's doing with phrases like, "here come the clouds." It's a tightly written dramatization of a pivotal clue coming into focus just as the the plot is. He follows that by opening the next chapter by describing the sunset in terms of the finger printing chemicals. He's mentioned sunsets earlier in the novel. It's beautiful and deep and a ton of character development all wrapped up in the procedural minutiae needed to make this type of crime novel believable.

Not everything in the book rises to that level of craft, but it shows up when it needs to and I'm hooked for the next dozen novels.

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.