Reading these out of order pretty much ensures that certain surprises will not be too surprising and, I hope, keeps me from getting too droolingly attached to the characters and unfolding plotlines. I like Michael Connelly’s books, but most of them are just a bit too pat for me. The main character, Harry Bosch, is a retired cop who likes solving cold case crimes. This leads to a lot of stonewalling by actual law enforcement and lawyers and the feds when he is digging for information with no actual badge behind his requests. He’s also got a complicated situation with his ex-wife and goes to some extralegal lengths to keep tabs on her. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if a characters is supposed to be unlikable or if I just don’t like them. I don’t like this character much though the tight plots and interesting story lines keep Connelly’s books interesting enough to keep one handy.