Book Review: Trunk Music by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters; overall entertaining mystery

Cons: Pacing and a couple of predictable twists; audio book narrator

The Bottom Line:

Bosch is back to work

In entertaining story

That fans will enjoy

Producer in the Trunk

While I enjoyed my time with one of Michael Connelly’s other characters a couple of months back, I was glad to get back to Harry Bosch with Trunk Music.  Harry is a great character, and I was glad to slip back into his world.

As this book opens, Bosch is finally back working homicides after 18 months in the wilderness of forced time off and then working robbery.  He’s still working out of Hollywood and the leaders of a three person team.  His team is the first one called in when a body is found in the trunk of a car.  The car had been abandoned in a vacant lot next to the Hollywood Bowl, which is currently hosting a concert, making working the scene tricky.

The scene looks like a mob hit, yet organized crime doesn’t appear to want to take the case.  Bosch isn’t complaining too much since he is anxious to get back to solving murders, his true passion.  The victim is a producer of low budget borderline pornographic films and appears to have connections in Las Vegas.  Is that what got him killed?

As always, this book starts strongly, and following Bosch around as he solves the case is plenty of fun.  I did feel the pacing of this book was a little off, and I did figure out a twist or two before Bosch did.  But overall, these are minor issues.

The characters are wonderful.  There are a few returning characters, and it is nice to catch up with them again.  Bosch is a very fascinating main character, and I like getting to know him better.  He never backs down from anyone, adding some conflict to the story, but it’s easy to root for him.  Plus a face from his past shows up again here, which I enjoyed.  He has a new lieutenant in this book, and I absolutely love her.  I hope she’s around for several books at least.  And the characters we meet here are fully developed as well, making for strong suspects.

Dick Hill is still doing the audio books for this series.  He’s getting better, but there are times he still gets in the way of the story.  Honestly, we don’t need him to yawn when the characters are tired.  He throws in a few other things like that which are annoying.  And there’s one character he completely ruins with the way he brings the character to life.  Fortunately, it’s a minor character with only a couple of scenes here, but it is bad.  Overall, his performance works, but I will be glad when the series moves on to another reader.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Harry Bosch continues to grow as the series progresses.  While Trunk Music wasn’t the best mystery so far, it is still a very strong book.

No matter where you jump in, you'll be hooked and want to read more Harry Bosch novels.

This review is part of this week's Friday's Forgotten Books.