Book review: The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Politics often seeps into police investigations, especially when a high-profile case has officials from the city to the state level jockeying for a piece of the action.
by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown
Politics often seeps into police investigations, especially when a high-profile case has officials from the city to the state level jockeying for a piece of the action.
LAPD detective Harry Bosch has seen enough of politics interfering with his investigations through the years. Now, as he supposedly enters the last year of his career, Bosch is even more tired of this intrusion that erupts constantly in The Burning Room, the excellent 17th novel in Michael Connelly's superb series.
This latest book excels as a look at how power, prestige and the media can override the best intentions. Connelly also weaves in a bit of the immigrant experience that helped shape - and continues to mould - the City of Angels.
But Bosch, as Connelly has shown in novel after novel, refuses to let his mission of uncovering the truth about a crime be altered by others. This time, Bosch and his new partner, Lucia "Lucy" Soto, are handed a case that has attracted attention for a decade.
Mariachi musician Orlando Merced was shot 10 years ago in the middle of a busy plaza, becoming the living symbol of urban violence and a campaign slogan for Armando Zeyas, who became a popular Los Angeles city councilman.
Now, however, the paralysed Merced has finally died, prompting the Open-Unsolved Unit - the official name for the cold case department - to reopen the case.