The Last Coyote – Michael Connelly – Stunning Read
Table of Contents
Harry Bosch # 4
Rating: 4.5 on 5
Plot Summary – The Last Coyote
For this review, I go back many years! The Last Coyote was initially published in 1995, though I read it sometime in 2014 or so after I discovered the brilliance of Michael Connelly. I went about reading the whole Harry Bosch series at one go and having the benefit of hindsight, I read the series in order.
Well, it’s a novel that’s easily a 5 from a gripping story point of view, but then according to me a 5 sets the bar too high for the author, any subsequent work which may be better, can only be 5, but then that’s just me.
Set in 1994, Harry Bosch is already a hardened detective in LAPD and is put on involuntary stress leave due to his putting his boss’s face through the glass door (Oh! many times I have wished to do this!!). The police shrink he’s assigned to, thinks he should be mothballed for a long time before being put back on active duty, and Bosch strongly disagrees!
While on leave, he starts to look at his mother’s murder which is yet unsolved even after 30 odd years. This was at a time when technology in forensics was still at a nascent stage, and good old detective work was still analysis, instinct, and dogged perseverance. Following the trail often gone cold, Bosch unravels the spool of clues left untouched for decades and as he gets closer to the truth, more bodies pile up around him.
He initially contacts the original investigator of the case and after lengthy interactions, comes to the conclusion that there was some kind of a cover-up. Whether it was to protect the then LA District Attorney or an influential Politician, Bosch cannot be sure but there is something hinky about the whole thing. The fact that his mother was a prostitute and how that fact affected his having a steady childhood is a moving side story and adds a warm angle to the otherwise brutal world of Cops, murder, and politicking.
This is the story of a troubled Cop, who in unraveling his past, brings closure to his disturbed mental state as well and is a precursor to the senior statesman that Harry Bosch becomes in the later years. The tenaciousness and the sincerity of his investigative work, however, are omnipresent.
Conclusion – Book Review of The Last Coyote
If the above snippet whets your appetite, grab a copy, snuggle under a blanket with your favorite tipple inches away and binge read this novel over a weekend (risk domestic violence from your better halves, if you must)…’cause believe me, people, this is one nitro charged Bugatti Veyron on a Monaco race track.
Of late, I have read about protagonists of diverse shades – the nice family man, the lone ranger, the troubled assassin, a failed human being on the verge of personal disaster, and now Harry Bosch – focused, diligent but nevertheless a flawed individual in search of his personal Holy Grail and never quite getting there, but successfully solving the crimes that come his way….
I am stoked, and I’m sure you will be too if you read these books. I am reading them in no particular order, and not missing the thread of time continuity. They give you a chair-next-desk kind of perspective into the Police procedural and I loved every moment of it.
Excuse the lengthy read here, guess I am still riding the adrenaline high of the Veyron ride!
