Two Kinds of Cases
I haven’t gotten back to my audio books quite as quickly as I had hoped this year. As a result, I just finally got a chance to listen to Two Kinds of Truth, the twentieth Harry Bosch book from Michael Connelly. While I did enjoy it, I found it a bit more uneven than I normally expect.
Bosch is still working for the San Fernando police department in a consulting capacity, focusing on the cold cases the department has. However, it’s all hands on deck when a double homicide happens in a pharmacy in town. Bosch quickly determines that the motive might not be robbery but something to do with prescription drugs.
However, Bosch’s focus is spilt. One of the killers he put away almost three decades ago is trying to get his conviction overturned. He claims that new DNA evidence clears him, which would mean the key piece of evidence against him was planted. Since no one at the LAPD will have his back, Bosch knows he has to clear his reputation himself. But can he fight the DNA results?
Bosch having two cases in a book is hardly new. And, usually, there’s one I find more compelling than the other while still enjoying both of them. Here, there was a big difference for me. I felt like the modern case was too straightforward. The story was more to tie in to the opioid crisis as it was when the book came out in 2017 and Connelly didn’t quite know how to make it as twisty as he normally would. It’s not that it was bad, but it wasn’t compelling. Any time that was front and center, and it got plenty of page time, I was ready for the book to get back to the story I cared about.
Because what was going on with the old case was very interesting. It presents a bit of a locked room puzzle, and seeing how Bosch worked through what was happening was a lot of fun. It helped that this storyline brought in a couple of the Lincoln Lawyer characters.
Speaking of characters, we get to see a couple of supporting characters from earlier in the series again, which was great.
As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but think about how a book’s frame of a story makes all the difference. I’ve read books where we were certain someone had been falsely convicted of a crime and were working to overturn the injustice. In this case, we were certain Bosch had arrested the right person thirty years ago and wanted to make certain they stayed there. It’s all about how the author sets things up. And how much we trust the characters.
All the characters here were their usual interesting selves. Bosch did do some things in the middle of the book that I wish he’d stop doing, but I get why he was doing them. That’s a minor issue for me. As usual, I enjoyed catching up with those characters who popped up here.
Do keep in mind these are police procedurals, so the content is a little more than some of what I read. As long as you know this going in, you’ll be fine.
As I said, I read this via audio. Titus Welliver is now three books into narrating the series, and I’m getting used to his way of reading to us. I enjoyed his performance.
Overall, I did enjoy Two Kinds of Truth. Fans of Bosch will be glad they read it.
Check out the rest of the Harry Bosch novels.
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