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Harry Bosch #4
The Last Coyote
LAPD detective Harry Bosch is down on his luck - his house is condemned in the aftermath of the earthquake, his girlfriend has left him, and he has been suspended for attacking his superior officer. To occupy time he examines the old case files covering a murder which took place on October 28th 1961. The victim was Marjorie Phillips Lowe - his mother...The case forces Bosch to confront the demons of the past, and as he digs deeper into the case, he discovers a trail of cover-ups that lead to the high-ups in the Hollywood Hills...
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
5860 people are currently reading
14234 people want to read
About the author
Michael Connelly
381 books34.8k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,016 reviews
February 13, 2024
I don't know. These are getting better and better. I love Bosch as a character, with all his problems. I also love the writing and the way the author details the procedures of everyday policing without being boring. Finally, I like the cases and the way they are solved.
April 18, 2017
The fourth Harry Bosch novel finds the L.A.P.D. homicide detective depressed and in a world of trouble. In a fit of anger, he pushed his boss's head through a window and has been suspended from the force. His badge and gun are gone and he's forced to undergo counseling if he has any hope of getting his job back. To make matters worse, the woman he's been involved with recently has left him, and his house has been badly damaged in an earthquake. The building inspector has condemned the house.
Angry and depressed on several fronts, Harry is using some of his free time to try to make repairs to the house and save it from destruction. He also decides to investigate a very cold case--the murder years earlier of his own mother, who was working as a prostitute. Her death was the turning point of Harry's life. He knew his mother loved him but had never met his father. As a young boy, he was thus condemned to a life in an orphanage and a series of foster homes until he could finally escape into the Army.
Harry goes to the department archives and pulls the material relating to his mother's case. In and around his visits to the police psychologist who is assigned to work with him, he begins digging into the case and before long has stirred up a veritable hornets' nest.
This is another gripping story in the Bosch saga, one that goes a long way in explaining how Harry turned in to the man he has become. One would think that a thirty-year-old case would be too cold ever to clear, and it's fun to watch the inventive approaches that Bosch takes as he attempts to solve the crime.
If I have a complaint about this book and about the character, it is that Bosh sometimes seems to go deliberately out of his way to insult or anger people when there's no good reason to do so. Sometimes these are people who are actually trying to help him, but Harry treats them like crap, which is pretty much the same way he treats everyone. I understand that Connelly is trying to create a hard, dark character here--a loner with a chip on his shoulder who is reminiscent of the last coyote--but he may overdo it just a bit. Sometimes Harry reacts in a way that takes the reader, or at least this one, right out of the story, wondering why in the hell Harry would act that way when there was simply no cause to do so.
It's always fun to watch Bosch give some jerk exactly what he's got coming to him, but it's mystifying when he turns around and does it to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it. Still, this is a relatively small complaint and on the whole, I really enjoyed reading this book again.
Angry and depressed on several fronts, Harry is using some of his free time to try to make repairs to the house and save it from destruction. He also decides to investigate a very cold case--the murder years earlier of his own mother, who was working as a prostitute. Her death was the turning point of Harry's life. He knew his mother loved him but had never met his father. As a young boy, he was thus condemned to a life in an orphanage and a series of foster homes until he could finally escape into the Army.
Harry goes to the department archives and pulls the material relating to his mother's case. In and around his visits to the police psychologist who is assigned to work with him, he begins digging into the case and before long has stirred up a veritable hornets' nest.
This is another gripping story in the Bosch saga, one that goes a long way in explaining how Harry turned in to the man he has become. One would think that a thirty-year-old case would be too cold ever to clear, and it's fun to watch the inventive approaches that Bosch takes as he attempts to solve the crime.
If I have a complaint about this book and about the character, it is that Bosh sometimes seems to go deliberately out of his way to insult or anger people when there's no good reason to do so. Sometimes these are people who are actually trying to help him, but Harry treats them like crap, which is pretty much the same way he treats everyone. I understand that Connelly is trying to create a hard, dark character here--a loner with a chip on his shoulder who is reminiscent of the last coyote--but he may overdo it just a bit. Sometimes Harry reacts in a way that takes the reader, or at least this one, right out of the story, wondering why in the hell Harry would act that way when there was simply no cause to do so.
It's always fun to watch Bosch give some jerk exactly what he's got coming to him, but it's mystifying when he turns around and does it to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it. Still, this is a relatively small complaint and on the whole, I really enjoyed reading this book again.
December 21, 2021
Bird alone, flying high
Flying through a clouded sky
Sending mournful, soulful sounds
Soaring over troubled grounds,”
The Last Coyote is book 4 in the Bosch series and I have a huge pile to get through to be “current”, in the series, but I loved this book! And oddly, it’s one of my favorites this year.
This story is personal for Bosch and through his journey, it became emotional for me as well. He is on mandatory leave with LAPD (one of many, I suspect) and during this time he decides to reopen his own investigation into his mother’s murder, which took place 30 years ago. A pernicious task for anyone, but doubly so for a character that compartmentalizes his entire existence.
The book is full of ups, downs and twists, nothing new perse’ in a Bosch/Connery combo. However, Bosch is forced to pick at the scabs grown over his psyche to get to the truth and more importantly, to accept the truth that’s unveiled. The truth of what happened and his own truth: he matters. Bosch is a character I admire and have grown fond of.
There are some beautiful passages in this book, during a Bosch’s healing and acceptance.
Perhaps losing my father and dog recently, combined with the emotions of Christmas, have made me mushy and fluffy, but this book felt like an emotional roller coaster for me. At the 99% mark with 6 minutes left in the book I thought to myself, please don’t let the book end here. Luckily, it didn’t. While I did not guess the specific details of who done it, I had been feeling unease about several clues in the murder that set me off, bothered me the entire book, which in the end, did turn out to be important identifiers that lead to the conclusion of the story. Genius on Connoley’s part. And even at the end, there was a twist.
I’m reminded, again, that there is magic between the covers of books, some of which are unexpected. I thought it would be a heartwarming Christmas read with a hidden miracle that would make me weep and come back among the living (after many stoic months). But it was this murder mystery of a man fighting to heal that struck a chord for me. And I’m feeling grateful.
Thank you, Mr. Connely.
There is a basic rule of nature. No living thing sacrifices itself or hurts itself needlessly. It’s the will of survival and I fear the circumstances of your life may have blunted your own survival skills.”
Flying through a clouded sky
Sending mournful, soulful sounds
Soaring over troubled grounds,”
The Last Coyote is book 4 in the Bosch series and I have a huge pile to get through to be “current”, in the series, but I loved this book! And oddly, it’s one of my favorites this year.
This story is personal for Bosch and through his journey, it became emotional for me as well. He is on mandatory leave with LAPD (one of many, I suspect) and during this time he decides to reopen his own investigation into his mother’s murder, which took place 30 years ago. A pernicious task for anyone, but doubly so for a character that compartmentalizes his entire existence.
The book is full of ups, downs and twists, nothing new perse’ in a Bosch/Connery combo. However, Bosch is forced to pick at the scabs grown over his psyche to get to the truth and more importantly, to accept the truth that’s unveiled. The truth of what happened and his own truth: he matters. Bosch is a character I admire and have grown fond of.
There are some beautiful passages in this book, during a Bosch’s healing and acceptance.
Perhaps losing my father and dog recently, combined with the emotions of Christmas, have made me mushy and fluffy, but this book felt like an emotional roller coaster for me. At the 99% mark with 6 minutes left in the book I thought to myself, please don’t let the book end here. Luckily, it didn’t. While I did not guess the specific details of who done it, I had been feeling unease about several clues in the murder that set me off, bothered me the entire book, which in the end, did turn out to be important identifiers that lead to the conclusion of the story. Genius on Connoley’s part. And even at the end, there was a twist.
I’m reminded, again, that there is magic between the covers of books, some of which are unexpected. I thought it would be a heartwarming Christmas read with a hidden miracle that would make me weep and come back among the living (after many stoic months). But it was this murder mystery of a man fighting to heal that struck a chord for me. And I’m feeling grateful.
Thank you, Mr. Connely.
There is a basic rule of nature. No living thing sacrifices itself or hurts itself needlessly. It’s the will of survival and I fear the circumstances of your life may have blunted your own survival skills.”
March 13, 2024
Harry Bosch #4, Bosch Universe #4: Harry Bosch is seeing a talking therapy specialist, having been suspended for assaulting another officer. With time to kill, Harry finally finds himself investigating the murder of his prostitute mother and the possible LAPD and wider cover up! This is a rough one for Harry, but maybe even rougher for the police authorities that have to deal with the off-book off-duty detective's investigation. A pretty defining episode for Bosch as such a personal case, even though off the books, helps clarify the few friends and/or allies he really does have. An interesting and neatly packaged piece of detective fiction 8 out of 12, Four Star read,
2024 read
2024 read
March 19, 2025
A blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural!
LAPD's Harry Bosch is a troubled man with what the lay person would call lots of issues and some serious psychological baggage. His childhood as a county ward was unhappy and troubled, his wife has left him for good and his home is condemned to the wrecker's ball as a result of recent earthquake damage. When Bosch shoved his superior officer through a plate glass window in the precinct office as a result of his interference in an interrogation, he is summarily suspended, put onto stress leave and his return to active duty was stalled pending a positive report from mandatory psychiatric counselling with Dr Carmen Hinojos. Conversations with Hinojos on his personal life vision, "Everybody counts or nobody counts", together with a review of his family history, prod an angry Bosch into the realization that he (like the LAPD of some thirty years earlier) had swept his mother's murder under the carpet because she was just a prostitute - a life that didn't count for anything and one whose murder wasn't worth the time, effort and expenditure to solve. Against all the rules of his suspension from duty and all of Hinojos' best advice, Bosch pulls his mother's murder book and the scanty box of evidence from the police vaults and sets himself on a belated personal mission to solve his mother's murder and bring her killer to belated justice.
In a superb blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural, THE LAST COYOTE is told strictly from Bosch's point of view but Connelly masterfully flicks from one scene to another - the proverbial psychiatric couch of Dr Hinojos' office; the memories of his troubled youth as the son of a prostitute and a ward at McLaren Hall; Bosch's musings and self-recriminations as he gingerly walks the tautly strung high wire of his own nerves and personally evaluates his life, his actions and his conversations with Dr Hinojos; and, of course, the exciting discovery of his mother's murderer as the events of thirty years earlier impact on those still alive today.
I think it's safe to generalize that psychological thrillers only succeed when the characters are superbly drawn and I think it's also safe to say that Connelly has succeeded once again in bringing an irascible, self-absorbed and driven yet self-doubting Bosch to life for his faithful readers. We are happily witness to his growth and pain as he meets and falls for Jasmine, a lady whose troubled history competes with Bosch's own!
In a marked departure from his other works, Connelly has also treated us to a small slice of mysticism with the introduction of Bosch's dreams of a coyote - his animal totem appearing to him in a vision quest, as it were! It is Bosch's personal identification with the lost, wandering coyote that provides him with insight into his own personal travails as he seeks to re-establish purpose and meaning into a life that is drifting aimlessly!
And, of course, like all well crafted thrillers, the ending comes with a twist that will catch you totally flat-footed. Five stars and two thumbs up to a totally enjoyable read ... again!
Paul Weiss
LAPD's Harry Bosch is a troubled man with what the lay person would call lots of issues and some serious psychological baggage. His childhood as a county ward was unhappy and troubled, his wife has left him for good and his home is condemned to the wrecker's ball as a result of recent earthquake damage. When Bosch shoved his superior officer through a plate glass window in the precinct office as a result of his interference in an interrogation, he is summarily suspended, put onto stress leave and his return to active duty was stalled pending a positive report from mandatory psychiatric counselling with Dr Carmen Hinojos. Conversations with Hinojos on his personal life vision, "Everybody counts or nobody counts", together with a review of his family history, prod an angry Bosch into the realization that he (like the LAPD of some thirty years earlier) had swept his mother's murder under the carpet because she was just a prostitute - a life that didn't count for anything and one whose murder wasn't worth the time, effort and expenditure to solve. Against all the rules of his suspension from duty and all of Hinojos' best advice, Bosch pulls his mother's murder book and the scanty box of evidence from the police vaults and sets himself on a belated personal mission to solve his mother's murder and bring her killer to belated justice.
In a superb blend of psychological thriller, mystery and police procedural, THE LAST COYOTE is told strictly from Bosch's point of view but Connelly masterfully flicks from one scene to another - the proverbial psychiatric couch of Dr Hinojos' office; the memories of his troubled youth as the son of a prostitute and a ward at McLaren Hall; Bosch's musings and self-recriminations as he gingerly walks the tautly strung high wire of his own nerves and personally evaluates his life, his actions and his conversations with Dr Hinojos; and, of course, the exciting discovery of his mother's murderer as the events of thirty years earlier impact on those still alive today.
I think it's safe to generalize that psychological thrillers only succeed when the characters are superbly drawn and I think it's also safe to say that Connelly has succeeded once again in bringing an irascible, self-absorbed and driven yet self-doubting Bosch to life for his faithful readers. We are happily witness to his growth and pain as he meets and falls for Jasmine, a lady whose troubled history competes with Bosch's own!
In a marked departure from his other works, Connelly has also treated us to a small slice of mysticism with the introduction of Bosch's dreams of a coyote - his animal totem appearing to him in a vision quest, as it were! It is Bosch's personal identification with the lost, wandering coyote that provides him with insight into his own personal travails as he seeks to re-establish purpose and meaning into a life that is drifting aimlessly!
And, of course, like all well crafted thrillers, the ending comes with a twist that will catch you totally flat-footed. Five stars and two thumbs up to a totally enjoyable read ... again!
Paul Weiss
February 27, 2019
Those fans of the great Amazon series Bosch who are not yet readers of Connelly's books could pick a worse place to start reading than The Last Coyote, which contains much of the plot of the second season. (Even better, though, would be The Concrete Blonde--Harry Bosch #3--which contains much of the plot of the first.)
Suspended for shoving his supervisor through a glass office panel, Detective Bosch decides to spend his enforced leave time investigating the murder which drives his angry heart: the strangulation of his mother, an LA call girl killed more than thirty years before.
This is a first class entertainment, with all the action and twists and turns a mystery story fan could hope for, plus enough darkness and depth in the characters to give it weight.
T
November 22, 2016
Exceptional....
Best book of the series so far. Connelly is so much more than a great thriller writer, he's simply a great writer and Bosch is such a great character, you can't help but pull for him at every step throughout this amazing story.
Best crime thriller series out there. I honestly believe Connelly could write about anything. I'd put him up there with Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson in that regard (he's honestly that good!).
Best book of the series so far. Connelly is so much more than a great thriller writer, he's simply a great writer and Bosch is such a great character, you can't help but pull for him at every step throughout this amazing story.
Best crime thriller series out there. I honestly believe Connelly could write about anything. I'd put him up there with Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson in that regard (he's honestly that good!).
June 27, 2021
As research for a novel I'm going to write, I'm reading detective fiction and stealing everything of value. My story takes place in L.A. of the early '90s and burgling Michael Connelly turned out to be a bonanza. Not only has Connelly written 23 Harry Bosch novels--basis for the Amazon series Bosch, which in its sixth season, combines one or more books, updated to present day, per season--but the literary Harry Bosch, LAPD homicide detective, began in Los Angeles of the early '90s. Proceeding in chronological order with the books that sound appealing, next up is The Last Coyote.
Publish date: June 1, 1995
Story: Detective Harry Bosch has been placed on involuntary stress leave after an altercation in his lieutenant's office ends with his boss's head breaking a plate glass window. As a condition for his return to duty, Bosch begins attending therapy sessions with a police psychologist named Carmen Hinojos. Bosch is on his own again after his girlfriend left him at the conclusion of The Concrete Blonde. Bosch's house in the Hollywood Hills was so badly damaged in the Northridge quake that it's been condemned. Bosch has to dodge the city building inspector while hoping his lawyer can appeal the demolition order. Without his job to live for, Bosch has nothing.
Spurned by his therapist, Bosch tells her that his mission is to solve the October 28, 1961 homicide of his mother Marjorie Phillips Lowe, a prostitute who was strangled when Bosch was 12. With no more excuses not to, Bosch begins working on the cold case, starting at the LAPD storage facility. Bosch tracks one of the two Hollywood homicide detectives who worked his mother's case to Tampa Bay and discovers that a crusading D.A. and his political fixer pressured the LAPD to bury it. Bosch meets a painter named Jasmine Corian he seems to recognize his brand of solitude. They get on, but not well enough to keep Bosch from returning to L.A. to complete his crusade.
L.A. scenery: Bosch attends therapy sessions in Chinatown at the department's Behavioral Sciences Section, with views of Hill Street, the Hollywood Freeway overpass and City Hall Tower. His trophy house in the Hollywood Hills, paid for by his work as a technical consultant on a TV mini-series, has been so badly damaged in the Northridge quake that the front door has shifted from its frame. Though Bosch's investigation takes him to Tampa Bay and then a neighborhood outside Las Vegas--two locations cops go to retire, it seems--the climax takes place in the prominent Mt. Olympus neighborhood atop the Hollywood Hills.
My favorite bit of Los Angeles in the novel is when Bosch has to compel an indignant clerk at the City Hall Finance Department to give him the address a retired cop's pension check is being mailed to. Unable to appeal to her sympathy and not bothering to threaten her, he mentions that her lack of assistance might interest the City Hall columnist for the Los Angeles Times whose column is devoted to tales of the little guy fighting the system and whose targets, while having no fear of losing a government job, have been known to be passed over for advancement. This turns the tables immediately. The power of reading!
1990s nostalgia: Who remembers cigarettes? Before vaping or e-cigarettes, these tobacco products were rolled in thin paper with chemicals that delivered carcinogens along with psychoactive kicks. Cigarette smokers of Bosch's era were once allowed to light up pretty much anywhere--restaurants, airplanes, elevators, even doctor's offices--but by the late '80s began to be banned in most public areas, starting in California. This is quite burdensome to Bosch who is a chain smoker and helps him form tight bonds with other smokers, in this case, Jasmine Corian.
Opening paragraph: "Any thoughts you'd like to start with?"
"Thoughts on what?"
"Well, on anything. On the incident."
"On the incident? Yes, I have some thoughts."
She waited but he didn't continue. He had decided before he even got to Chinatown that this would be the way he would be. He'd make her have to pull every single word out of him.
Title in text: "I'm not sure ... I guess there's not too many left in the hills of the city--least where I live. So whenever I see one, I get this feeling that it might be the last one left out there. You know? The last coyote. And I guess that would bother me if it ever turned out to be true, if I never saw one again."
Select prose: Bosch got little sleep and was up before the sun. The last cigarette of the night had nearly been his last for all time. He had fallen asleep with it between his fingers, only to be jolted awake by the searing pain of the burn. He dressed the wound on two fingers and tried to return to sleep, but it wouldn't take him. His fingers throbbed and all he could think of was how many times he had investigated the deaths of hapless drunks who had fallen asleep and self-immolated. All he could think of was what Carmen Hinojos would have to say about such a stunt. How was that for a symptom of self-destruction?
Closing paragraph: He traced the slash on her face. They embraced again. Bosch knew they could talk later. For now he just held her and smelled her and looked over her shoulder to the brilliant blue of the bay. He thought of something the old man in the bed had told him. When you find the one that you think fits, then grab on for dear life. Bosch didn't know if she was the one, but for the moment he held on with everything he had left.
Thoughts: Yes, Harry Bosch is a cliché, the burnt out cop who drinks, smokes, lives for his job, butts heads with his superiors and can't sustain a romantic relationship. We've all seen this character before but Michael Connelly, who began his career as a crime beat reporter with the L.A. Times, knows Bosch's territory so well that it doesn't matter. I love the way Bosch starts in the gutter, amid disasters of his own making. We get the sense that Bosch is a good person and has a code in a city full of bad people without one, but he doesn't want to sit for a beer with you or come to your barbecue unless he needs something from you. That he'll solve his case is a given, but will he end up alone at the end? That's what keeps me reading.
Word count: 171,656 words
Publish date: June 1, 1995
Story: Detective Harry Bosch has been placed on involuntary stress leave after an altercation in his lieutenant's office ends with his boss's head breaking a plate glass window. As a condition for his return to duty, Bosch begins attending therapy sessions with a police psychologist named Carmen Hinojos. Bosch is on his own again after his girlfriend left him at the conclusion of The Concrete Blonde. Bosch's house in the Hollywood Hills was so badly damaged in the Northridge quake that it's been condemned. Bosch has to dodge the city building inspector while hoping his lawyer can appeal the demolition order. Without his job to live for, Bosch has nothing.
Spurned by his therapist, Bosch tells her that his mission is to solve the October 28, 1961 homicide of his mother Marjorie Phillips Lowe, a prostitute who was strangled when Bosch was 12. With no more excuses not to, Bosch begins working on the cold case, starting at the LAPD storage facility. Bosch tracks one of the two Hollywood homicide detectives who worked his mother's case to Tampa Bay and discovers that a crusading D.A. and his political fixer pressured the LAPD to bury it. Bosch meets a painter named Jasmine Corian he seems to recognize his brand of solitude. They get on, but not well enough to keep Bosch from returning to L.A. to complete his crusade.
L.A. scenery: Bosch attends therapy sessions in Chinatown at the department's Behavioral Sciences Section, with views of Hill Street, the Hollywood Freeway overpass and City Hall Tower. His trophy house in the Hollywood Hills, paid for by his work as a technical consultant on a TV mini-series, has been so badly damaged in the Northridge quake that the front door has shifted from its frame. Though Bosch's investigation takes him to Tampa Bay and then a neighborhood outside Las Vegas--two locations cops go to retire, it seems--the climax takes place in the prominent Mt. Olympus neighborhood atop the Hollywood Hills.
My favorite bit of Los Angeles in the novel is when Bosch has to compel an indignant clerk at the City Hall Finance Department to give him the address a retired cop's pension check is being mailed to. Unable to appeal to her sympathy and not bothering to threaten her, he mentions that her lack of assistance might interest the City Hall columnist for the Los Angeles Times whose column is devoted to tales of the little guy fighting the system and whose targets, while having no fear of losing a government job, have been known to be passed over for advancement. This turns the tables immediately. The power of reading!
1990s nostalgia: Who remembers cigarettes? Before vaping or e-cigarettes, these tobacco products were rolled in thin paper with chemicals that delivered carcinogens along with psychoactive kicks. Cigarette smokers of Bosch's era were once allowed to light up pretty much anywhere--restaurants, airplanes, elevators, even doctor's offices--but by the late '80s began to be banned in most public areas, starting in California. This is quite burdensome to Bosch who is a chain smoker and helps him form tight bonds with other smokers, in this case, Jasmine Corian.
Opening paragraph: "Any thoughts you'd like to start with?"
"Thoughts on what?"
"Well, on anything. On the incident."
"On the incident? Yes, I have some thoughts."
She waited but he didn't continue. He had decided before he even got to Chinatown that this would be the way he would be. He'd make her have to pull every single word out of him.
Title in text: "I'm not sure ... I guess there's not too many left in the hills of the city--least where I live. So whenever I see one, I get this feeling that it might be the last one left out there. You know? The last coyote. And I guess that would bother me if it ever turned out to be true, if I never saw one again."
Select prose: Bosch got little sleep and was up before the sun. The last cigarette of the night had nearly been his last for all time. He had fallen asleep with it between his fingers, only to be jolted awake by the searing pain of the burn. He dressed the wound on two fingers and tried to return to sleep, but it wouldn't take him. His fingers throbbed and all he could think of was how many times he had investigated the deaths of hapless drunks who had fallen asleep and self-immolated. All he could think of was what Carmen Hinojos would have to say about such a stunt. How was that for a symptom of self-destruction?
Closing paragraph: He traced the slash on her face. They embraced again. Bosch knew they could talk later. For now he just held her and smelled her and looked over her shoulder to the brilliant blue of the bay. He thought of something the old man in the bed had told him. When you find the one that you think fits, then grab on for dear life. Bosch didn't know if she was the one, but for the moment he held on with everything he had left.
Thoughts: Yes, Harry Bosch is a cliché, the burnt out cop who drinks, smokes, lives for his job, butts heads with his superiors and can't sustain a romantic relationship. We've all seen this character before but Michael Connelly, who began his career as a crime beat reporter with the L.A. Times, knows Bosch's territory so well that it doesn't matter. I love the way Bosch starts in the gutter, amid disasters of his own making. We get the sense that Bosch is a good person and has a code in a city full of bad people without one, but he doesn't want to sit for a beer with you or come to your barbecue unless he needs something from you. That he'll solve his case is a given, but will he end up alone at the end? That's what keeps me reading.
Word count: 171,656 words
August 17, 2021
4/5 Estrellas
4ª entrega de la serie de novelas policiacas, cuyo protagonista es el atormentado, irascible, impetuoso y muchas veces cabronazo Harry Bosch. En esta entrega, los demonios internos que acosan a Harry, amenazan con dar al traste con lo que queda de su vida: su trabajo y sus relaciones de pareja, porque amigos, lo que se dice amigos, tiene pocos, a ver quien aguanta a un personaje con este carácter, aunque en el fondo el tipo sea una buena persona.
¿Porqué es Harry así? ¿Qué ha sucedido en su vida o en su infancia? En esta entrega se nos desvelarán muchas de las claves que han moldeado la personalidad de este complejo personaje y, de paso, asistiremos al desarrollo de una interesante investigación policial, con alguna sorpresita final que no he visto venir y, aunque sencilla en su planteamiento, con una gran credibilidad en el desarrollo de la práctica policial, en lo que Connelly es un maestro. No en vano, aunque este libro parece que no se publicó inmediatamente y estuvo en el cajón del autor bastantes años, marco un punto de inflexión, en cuanto a su decisión de dedicarse a la escritura como forma de vida y abandonar el periodismo.
Por cierto, ya hay teléfonos móviles!! Poco a poco nos acercamos al siglo XXI. Me apetece ver como se adaptan estas investigaciones a las nuevas tecnologías.
Recomendable, claro.
4ª entrega de la serie de novelas policiacas, cuyo protagonista es el atormentado, irascible, impetuoso y muchas veces cabronazo Harry Bosch. En esta entrega, los demonios internos que acosan a Harry, amenazan con dar al traste con lo que queda de su vida: su trabajo y sus relaciones de pareja, porque amigos, lo que se dice amigos, tiene pocos, a ver quien aguanta a un personaje con este carácter, aunque en el fondo el tipo sea una buena persona.
¿Porqué es Harry así? ¿Qué ha sucedido en su vida o en su infancia? En esta entrega se nos desvelarán muchas de las claves que han moldeado la personalidad de este complejo personaje y, de paso, asistiremos al desarrollo de una interesante investigación policial, con alguna sorpresita final que no he visto venir y, aunque sencilla en su planteamiento, con una gran credibilidad en el desarrollo de la práctica policial, en lo que Connelly es un maestro. No en vano, aunque este libro parece que no se publicó inmediatamente y estuvo en el cajón del autor bastantes años, marco un punto de inflexión, en cuanto a su decisión de dedicarse a la escritura como forma de vida y abandonar el periodismo.
Por cierto, ya hay teléfonos móviles!! Poco a poco nos acercamos al siglo XXI. Me apetece ver como se adaptan estas investigaciones a las nuevas tecnologías.
Recomendable, claro.
November 13, 2024
5★
“The reports were sloppily written, perfunctory, and filled with careless misspellings. In reading them, it was clear to Bosch that Eno and McKittrick did not invest much time in the case. A prostitute was dead. It was a risk that came with her job. They had other fish to fry.
. . .
. . .
The irony was not lost on him even after so many years. The boy had been taken from a presumably unfit mother and placed in an equally unfit system of child protection.”
LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch is asked by a therapist why he is so interested in the death of a prostitute. But first, why is he at a therapist? He’s an experienced detective, good at this work, a drinker, a chain-smoker, and an honest (mostly) man. So how did he end up in her office?
Life has thrown more at him than usual. The woman he’d considered marrying left him, sending the occasional cheery postcard from Europe, and then LA suffered its worst earthquake ever. He wants to save his damaged house, but it’s been condemned.
So it’s little wonder he snapped when provoked and caused a violent incident at work. Time for an enforced leave, some deep and meaningfuls with the service’s therapist, and take stock.
“She cleared her throat before speaking sternly.
‘You have a problem, Detective Bosch. And it goes far beyond the incident that resulted in your being placed on leave. That’s what these sessions are going to be all about. Do you understand? This incident is not unique. You have had problems before. What I am trying to do, what I have to do before I can sign off on your return to duty in any capacity, is get you to take a look at yourself.’”
Later she asks what’s so special about the case that it pushed him over the edge into violence.
“‘You mean why did I care about a prostitute? I didn’t. Not more than any other victim. But in homicide there is one rule that I have when it comes to the cases I get.’
‘What is that rule?’
‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’
‘Explain it.’
‘Just what I said. Everybody counts or nobody counts. That’s it. It means I bust my ass to make a case whether it’s a prostitute or the mayor’s wife. That’s my rule.’”
At last, after nearly thirty-five years, when he’s ‘on leave’, he determines to face whatever evidence he can gather and find his mother’s killer. She was somebody – she was everybody to young Harry – and nobody counted her. Everything was pushed aside, and forgotten.
This is such a personal story for Harry that it is impossible not to feel how important this is for him. It’s a plan and a goal. It becomes an obsession, and all I will say about it is that I was absolutely absorbed in how he tracked and dealt with the crooks and crooked cops.
Connelly writes more than a mystery – he writes a life, and Bosch’s life is full of interesting and complicated characters and connections and locations. I enjoy the descriptions.
A girl Harry sees in a bar, who is singing along with the band:
“She had what other cops called a getaway face. So beautiful it would always be a shield. No matter what she did or what was done to her, her face would be her ticket. It would open doors in front of her, close them behind her. It would let her get away.”
A woman who works in City Hall and has kept Harry waiting:
“ An obese woman with pale skin and black hair, sideburns and the slight hint of a mustache sat behind one of the desks.
. . .
She then pursed her lips, which served to change her mustache from a hint to an announcement, and took a hard pull on the straw of her soda container.”
An area on the edge of Las Vegas.
“The streets had been gridded and paved long ago but the boomtown of Las Vegas hadn’t quite caught up yet. It was coming, though. The city was spreading like a patch of weeds.”
This was written in 1995, just after the 1994 earthquake, so the details were current as written. It’s not “historical fiction” – it was contemporary. Harry carries “a portable”, which is his cell or mobile phone. No internet, but there is DNA testing.
This series is getting better with each book. I know that’s not news to anyone, but I still felt the need to add my two cents. On to the next one!
Reviews of the previous books:
(#1) My review of The Black Echo
(#2) My review of The Black Ice
(#3) My review of The Concrete Blonde
“The reports were sloppily written, perfunctory, and filled with careless misspellings. In reading them, it was clear to Bosch that Eno and McKittrick did not invest much time in the case. A prostitute was dead. It was a risk that came with her job. They had other fish to fry.
. . .
‘Hieronymus Bosch (Harry), son, age 11, Father unknown. Son remains in custody pending foster placement.’
. . .
The irony was not lost on him even after so many years. The boy had been taken from a presumably unfit mother and placed in an equally unfit system of child protection.”
LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch is asked by a therapist why he is so interested in the death of a prostitute. But first, why is he at a therapist? He’s an experienced detective, good at this work, a drinker, a chain-smoker, and an honest (mostly) man. So how did he end up in her office?
Life has thrown more at him than usual. The woman he’d considered marrying left him, sending the occasional cheery postcard from Europe, and then LA suffered its worst earthquake ever. He wants to save his damaged house, but it’s been condemned.
So it’s little wonder he snapped when provoked and caused a violent incident at work. Time for an enforced leave, some deep and meaningfuls with the service’s therapist, and take stock.
“She cleared her throat before speaking sternly.
‘You have a problem, Detective Bosch. And it goes far beyond the incident that resulted in your being placed on leave. That’s what these sessions are going to be all about. Do you understand? This incident is not unique. You have had problems before. What I am trying to do, what I have to do before I can sign off on your return to duty in any capacity, is get you to take a look at yourself.’”
Later she asks what’s so special about the case that it pushed him over the edge into violence.
“‘You mean why did I care about a prostitute? I didn’t. Not more than any other victim. But in homicide there is one rule that I have when it comes to the cases I get.’
‘What is that rule?’
‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’
‘Explain it.’
‘Just what I said. Everybody counts or nobody counts. That’s it. It means I bust my ass to make a case whether it’s a prostitute or the mayor’s wife. That’s my rule.’”
At last, after nearly thirty-five years, when he’s ‘on leave’, he determines to face whatever evidence he can gather and find his mother’s killer. She was somebody – she was everybody to young Harry – and nobody counted her. Everything was pushed aside, and forgotten.
This is such a personal story for Harry that it is impossible not to feel how important this is for him. It’s a plan and a goal. It becomes an obsession, and all I will say about it is that I was absolutely absorbed in how he tracked and dealt with the crooks and crooked cops.
Connelly writes more than a mystery – he writes a life, and Bosch’s life is full of interesting and complicated characters and connections and locations. I enjoy the descriptions.
A girl Harry sees in a bar, who is singing along with the band:
“She had what other cops called a getaway face. So beautiful it would always be a shield. No matter what she did or what was done to her, her face would be her ticket. It would open doors in front of her, close them behind her. It would let her get away.”
A woman who works in City Hall and has kept Harry waiting:
“ An obese woman with pale skin and black hair, sideburns and the slight hint of a mustache sat behind one of the desks.
. . .
She then pursed her lips, which served to change her mustache from a hint to an announcement, and took a hard pull on the straw of her soda container.”
An area on the edge of Las Vegas.
“The streets had been gridded and paved long ago but the boomtown of Las Vegas hadn’t quite caught up yet. It was coming, though. The city was spreading like a patch of weeds.”
This was written in 1995, just after the 1994 earthquake, so the details were current as written. It’s not “historical fiction” – it was contemporary. Harry carries “a portable”, which is his cell or mobile phone. No internet, but there is DNA testing.
This series is getting better with each book. I know that’s not news to anyone, but I still felt the need to add my two cents. On to the next one!
Reviews of the previous books:
(#1) My review of The Black Echo
(#2) My review of The Black Ice
(#3) My review of The Concrete Blonde
September 11, 2021
Bueno por donde empezar. El libro no tiene un ritmo trepidante de busqueda de asesinos y persecuciones ni demás, es más bien ascendente, con un inico lento parsimonioso, que a medida que nos vamos acercando al final va aumentando, pero tampoco en exceso, lo justo.
Me ha parecido muy buena la descripción los pasos de la investigacion que va a seguir de nuestro protagonista.
En este caso, está en un retiro forzoso por golpear a un superior, es decir, esta realizando un investigación por su cuenta y riesgo, de nada más y nada menos, que el caso de la muerte de su madre natural, una prostituta alla por la década de los 60`s.
El libro al principio me parecio lento, pero poco a poco te va sumergiendo en el caso de su madre, como va atando cabos minuciosamente y poco a poco, llegando a conclusiones de los principales culpables de la muerte de su madre.
Cuando parecía ya todo resuelto resulta que no!!
El final da unos cuantos giros que me han gustado.
calificación: 4.5/5
# 6. Un libro de tu lista TBR que tenías la intención de leer el año pasado pero no lo hiciste. Reto popsugar 2021. (Avanzado)
# 25. Un libro de detectives. Reto literario 2021.
Me ha parecido muy buena la descripción los pasos de la investigacion que va a seguir de nuestro protagonista.
En este caso, está en un retiro forzoso por golpear a un superior, es decir, esta realizando un investigación por su cuenta y riesgo, de nada más y nada menos, que el caso de la muerte de su madre natural, una prostituta alla por la década de los 60`s.
El libro al principio me parecio lento, pero poco a poco te va sumergiendo en el caso de su madre, como va atando cabos minuciosamente y poco a poco, llegando a conclusiones de los principales culpables de la muerte de su madre.
Cuando parecía ya todo resuelto resulta que no!!
El final da unos cuantos giros que me han gustado.
calificación: 4.5/5
# 6. Un libro de tu lista TBR que tenías la intención de leer el año pasado pero no lo hiciste. Reto popsugar 2021. (Avanzado)
# 25. Un libro de detectives. Reto literario 2021.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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October 11, 2025
5-Stars for Michael Connelly - Harry Bosch 04 - The Last Coyote - "I Really Liked It!".
Without hesitation, I can say that "The Last Coyote" is essential reading (or re-reading) if you really want to know about the characters of Harry Bosch the homicide detective, and Harry Bosch the person, and why the creation of the Bosch series is a masterpiece of writing by author Michael Connelly.
Originally read as a paperback c.2000 and now heard on audiobook as part of my Harry Bosch "re-listen" program. Once again, outstanding narration by the late Dick Hill.
Read as a paperback in c. April 2000 - 4-Stars - prior to my joining Goodreads in 2011. My 4-Stars rating was given after I joined GR and I remember enjoying all the Harry Bosch books after "#1 The Black Echo" was released in 1992.
Without hesitation, I can say that "The Last Coyote" is essential reading (or re-reading) if you really want to know about the characters of Harry Bosch the homicide detective, and Harry Bosch the person, and why the creation of the Bosch series is a masterpiece of writing by author Michael Connelly.
Originally read as a paperback c.2000 and now heard on audiobook as part of my Harry Bosch "re-listen" program. Once again, outstanding narration by the late Dick Hill.
Read as a paperback in c. April 2000 - 4-Stars - prior to my joining Goodreads in 2011. My 4-Stars rating was given after I joined GR and I remember enjoying all the Harry Bosch books after "#1 The Black Echo" was released in 1992.
July 23, 2025
Reading a Michael Connelly book is like shooting heroin, and I am a full-fledged addict.*
It's not a clean, sparkly high. It's more of an unsettling high, the kind that leaves one feeling spent and emotionally exhausted, but it's still a high nonetheless.
"The Last Coyote" is Connelly's fourth book in the series featuring his LAPD detective Heironymous "Harry" Bosch, and it is the best one in the series (thus far), in my humble opinion.
Strangely enough, there is not a lot of action in this one, unlike some of his previous ones. It's slow-moving, but not in a plodding, boring way. It's slow in the sense that it takes its time to build and work subtly on the reader's emotions. It is perhaps the most psychological and reflective of the Bosch books so far, and for the first time, readers get a glimpse at Bosch's motivations. We begin to see what makes him tick.
We've seen hints of it in the prior books. We know that Bosch has lots of baggage. He never knew his father, his mother was murdered when he was young, he spent many unhappy years in orphanages and foster homes, and he spent several traumatic years in Vietnam.
Becoming a homicide detective in Los Angeles just seemed like a natural progression. Still, he never quite fit in. For all intents and purpose, Bosch is a troublemaker and an asshole. He is always pissing off his superiors and fellow cops. Internal Affairs always seems to be on his case. He can't maintain a healthy relationship. His insomniac nights are spent alone drinking beer and listening to his extensive collection of jazz records. He's a mess.
At the start of "The Last Coyote", Bosch's life seems horrifically tumultuous. He is on temporary suspension for physically assaulting his boss. His girlfriend left him. And, almost as a metaphor for his life, his house in the Hollywood hills has been condemned and slated for demolition due to a recent earthquake. He still lives there, of course, seconds away from collapsing in on itself and rolling down the hill, precariously balanced between life and death.
He is forced to see a departmental shrink. He does not like her at first, but he can't help but soon realize that she is smart and knows what she is doing. When he tells her that he has, during his time off, been conducting his own private investigation into the unsolved murder of his mother, she does not exactly discourage him. She warns him, though, that he may not like what he finds and that, if he does solve the case, it may result in the loss of his "edge", that indefinable thing that makes him a great cop. Because Harry's personal philosophy is that "everybody counts", which is why he doesn't like it when the police get lazy and don't follow through, which is what happened to his mother. The officers back then figured, she was just a prostitute. But to Harry, she was his mother, and she counted.
His investigation into the 30-year-old murder case of a prostitute eventually does lead him to places he never would have suspected and, in some cases, uncomfortable truths about himself. This is the most brilliant part of the book. Ostensibly, the book is a murder mystery, but deep down it is the gradual uncovering of a man's soul into his own heart of darkness. Connelly's butter-smooth prose and spot-on examination of the human condition make this one of the best mysteries I have ever read, and it's certainly one of the best in the Bosch series.
*To be perfectly clear, this is strictly metaphorical.
It's not a clean, sparkly high. It's more of an unsettling high, the kind that leaves one feeling spent and emotionally exhausted, but it's still a high nonetheless.
"The Last Coyote" is Connelly's fourth book in the series featuring his LAPD detective Heironymous "Harry" Bosch, and it is the best one in the series (thus far), in my humble opinion.
Strangely enough, there is not a lot of action in this one, unlike some of his previous ones. It's slow-moving, but not in a plodding, boring way. It's slow in the sense that it takes its time to build and work subtly on the reader's emotions. It is perhaps the most psychological and reflective of the Bosch books so far, and for the first time, readers get a glimpse at Bosch's motivations. We begin to see what makes him tick.
We've seen hints of it in the prior books. We know that Bosch has lots of baggage. He never knew his father, his mother was murdered when he was young, he spent many unhappy years in orphanages and foster homes, and he spent several traumatic years in Vietnam.
Becoming a homicide detective in Los Angeles just seemed like a natural progression. Still, he never quite fit in. For all intents and purpose, Bosch is a troublemaker and an asshole. He is always pissing off his superiors and fellow cops. Internal Affairs always seems to be on his case. He can't maintain a healthy relationship. His insomniac nights are spent alone drinking beer and listening to his extensive collection of jazz records. He's a mess.
At the start of "The Last Coyote", Bosch's life seems horrifically tumultuous. He is on temporary suspension for physically assaulting his boss. His girlfriend left him. And, almost as a metaphor for his life, his house in the Hollywood hills has been condemned and slated for demolition due to a recent earthquake. He still lives there, of course, seconds away from collapsing in on itself and rolling down the hill, precariously balanced between life and death.
He is forced to see a departmental shrink. He does not like her at first, but he can't help but soon realize that she is smart and knows what she is doing. When he tells her that he has, during his time off, been conducting his own private investigation into the unsolved murder of his mother, she does not exactly discourage him. She warns him, though, that he may not like what he finds and that, if he does solve the case, it may result in the loss of his "edge", that indefinable thing that makes him a great cop. Because Harry's personal philosophy is that "everybody counts", which is why he doesn't like it when the police get lazy and don't follow through, which is what happened to his mother. The officers back then figured, she was just a prostitute. But to Harry, she was his mother, and she counted.
His investigation into the 30-year-old murder case of a prostitute eventually does lead him to places he never would have suspected and, in some cases, uncomfortable truths about himself. This is the most brilliant part of the book. Ostensibly, the book is a murder mystery, but deep down it is the gradual uncovering of a man's soul into his own heart of darkness. Connelly's butter-smooth prose and spot-on examination of the human condition make this one of the best mysteries I have ever read, and it's certainly one of the best in the Bosch series.
*To be perfectly clear, this is strictly metaphorical.
November 2, 2017
When I started, I was not sure I would enjoy this book as much as the previous ones. I was wrong.
This is a far more intimate and poignant look into Harry Bosch, and the abused child inside him. His investigation into the murder of his mother, more than 30 years before, shows the Harry we know - insightful, creative, persistent, abrasive - and the Harry we know only a little from previous volumes.
Being torn from his mother who loved him dearly, placed into a borstal where the law of the jungle ruled, and then a series of exploitative or unsuitable foster parents, created a young man on the edge of crime or greatness. We learned something of his Viet Nam experiences in The Black Echo, and some bits of his past in The Black Ice and The Concrete Blonde, but in this book we journey much deeper into his soul.
There are the usual side-players, well-drawn mostly, with often hidden motives, and the love-interest "Jazz" wonderful and conflicted. I noted in this book, again, that Harry loves the smell of his loves as they embrace, the mystery and physicality, the deep primal connection - something he and I have in common, and with Connelly, too, I suspect.
Wonderful stuff. Poignant, painful, wonderful, and complex, and as usual, the whodunit not always as you might guess.
The more I read, the more I love Harry.
This is a far more intimate and poignant look into Harry Bosch, and the abused child inside him. His investigation into the murder of his mother, more than 30 years before, shows the Harry we know - insightful, creative, persistent, abrasive - and the Harry we know only a little from previous volumes.
Being torn from his mother who loved him dearly, placed into a borstal where the law of the jungle ruled, and then a series of exploitative or unsuitable foster parents, created a young man on the edge of crime or greatness. We learned something of his Viet Nam experiences in The Black Echo, and some bits of his past in The Black Ice and The Concrete Blonde, but in this book we journey much deeper into his soul.
There are the usual side-players, well-drawn mostly, with often hidden motives, and the love-interest "Jazz" wonderful and conflicted. I noted in this book, again, that Harry loves the smell of his loves as they embrace, the mystery and physicality, the deep primal connection - something he and I have in common, and with Connelly, too, I suspect.
Wonderful stuff. Poignant, painful, wonderful, and complex, and as usual, the whodunit not always as you might guess.
The more I read, the more I love Harry.
October 11, 2022
Michael Connelly has an intuition and sensitivity that is uncanny. Each time I picked up this book, he held me captivated. I especially enjoyed how he developed the relationship between Harry Bosch and his therapist. Here are my favorite quotes that illustrate Connelly's 'way with words':
"And he added what McKittrick had told him into a stew of what he already knew."
"It's like I'm walking around handcuffed to a chain of ghosts."
"He thought of something the old man in the bed had told him. When you find the one you think fits, then grab on for dear life."
"And he added what McKittrick had told him into a stew of what he already knew."
"It's like I'm walking around handcuffed to a chain of ghosts."
"He thought of something the old man in the bed had told him. When you find the one you think fits, then grab on for dear life."
August 15, 2023
[Read May 2019; Reviewed Mar 2023]
There it is.
It took 3 books before The Last Coyote. It took the LA police detective introduced in book #1, surly and just this side of anti-social, slowly evolving to the point where he is at least capable interacting with normal people. It took a public demotion in that first book and having to relive the reason for that demotion in book #3. It took the murder of a prostitute in this novel, his lieutenant blowing the bust, and Harry Bosch not taking it at all well, proving, evolved or not, Harry still doesn't suffer fools or incompetence gladly. It took a suspension, and mandatory visits to the department psychiatrist if he is to have any hope of being reinstated. But there it is, finally voiced, finally out in the open.
Everybody counts or nobody counts.
“That's it. It means I bust my ass to make a case whether it's a prostitute or the mayor's wife. That's my rule.”
And it will be the driving force behind Coyote. But there is also some deep cause-and-effect involved. Certainly liking and learning to trust the psychiatrist plays a part. And her advising him to find a way to fill the empty hours suspension has imposed on him. But most significantly is that his current situation began with the death of a prostitute. Harry’s mother had been a prostitute, murdered when he was 11 years old. And so, as the second chapter closes:
And then, in the last moment of clarity before sleep, he knew what the connecting ribbon that had run through his thoughts had been. And he knew what his mission was.
Marjorie Lowe, his mother, was killed in 1961. Presuming the present is the book’s copyright date of 1995, that’s over thirty years. A difficult, time-consuming task. But Harry has nothing but time and difficult has never stopped him before.
The more challenging task may well be the author’s. A major part of the success of The Black Echo was reflected in the title; the first victim having served with Harry in Vietnam brought echoes of his past unbidden into the present. Connelly’s second outing, The Black Ice, may be the weakest story of the first four as Harry has no personal connection of any significance to the case. It only had his frustrations with the LAPD hierarchy--and his personal life--to give the book any emotional resonance. The Concrete Blonde cannot get more personal. In his third novel not only does Harry have to relive his downfall--a loss of prestige and standing just short of termination--in a wrongful death civil trial, but the killings begin again, casting doubt in some as to whether he had killed the right man in the first place. Which leads you to think that The Last Coyote would be just as easy. The death of his mother. The murder of his mother. But those thirty years. Last week, okay. Plenty of drama, plenty of pain. But over the course of three decades Harry--to some extent--has had to learn to live with it. So where are the stakes?
They’re there. With Connelly, of course they’re there. That’s the brilliance of opening with a murdered hooker and a suspension. It allows for two natural and concurrent throughlines. The first is investigation, where with each interview, Harry is adding substance to a vague memory he has tried to retain since childhood. The other takes form in the consequences of his suspension: continued run-ins with the Department and the ever-present possibility of losing his job, which is the only thing that gives his life meaning. Without it, how does one realistically pursue “everybody counts or nobody counts?”
There is not a misstep in the novel. It’s Connelly’s best since his debut with Black Echo, and The Last Coyote may be better. It provides the perfect balance between the personal and the investigation, complete with an ingenious plot twist a little past halfway. It was all there right in front of both Harry and the reader, and no one saw it coming. And better still is Connelly’s final disclosure. It’s rare when a reveal other than the uncovering of the murderer can successfully punctuate a novel. Of course Connelly accomplishes that too.
At this point I’m not sure there is a literary accomplishment beyond Michael Connelly’s reach. The good news, at least for me, is that I have at least three dozen more novels in which to find out for certain.
There it is.
It took 3 books before The Last Coyote. It took the LA police detective introduced in book #1, surly and just this side of anti-social, slowly evolving to the point where he is at least capable interacting with normal people. It took a public demotion in that first book and having to relive the reason for that demotion in book #3. It took the murder of a prostitute in this novel, his lieutenant blowing the bust, and Harry Bosch not taking it at all well, proving, evolved or not, Harry still doesn't suffer fools or incompetence gladly. It took a suspension, and mandatory visits to the department psychiatrist if he is to have any hope of being reinstated. But there it is, finally voiced, finally out in the open.
Everybody counts or nobody counts.
“That's it. It means I bust my ass to make a case whether it's a prostitute or the mayor's wife. That's my rule.”
And it will be the driving force behind Coyote. But there is also some deep cause-and-effect involved. Certainly liking and learning to trust the psychiatrist plays a part. And her advising him to find a way to fill the empty hours suspension has imposed on him. But most significantly is that his current situation began with the death of a prostitute. Harry’s mother had been a prostitute, murdered when he was 11 years old. And so, as the second chapter closes:
And then, in the last moment of clarity before sleep, he knew what the connecting ribbon that had run through his thoughts had been. And he knew what his mission was.
Marjorie Lowe, his mother, was killed in 1961. Presuming the present is the book’s copyright date of 1995, that’s over thirty years. A difficult, time-consuming task. But Harry has nothing but time and difficult has never stopped him before.
The more challenging task may well be the author’s. A major part of the success of The Black Echo was reflected in the title; the first victim having served with Harry in Vietnam brought echoes of his past unbidden into the present. Connelly’s second outing, The Black Ice, may be the weakest story of the first four as Harry has no personal connection of any significance to the case. It only had his frustrations with the LAPD hierarchy--and his personal life--to give the book any emotional resonance. The Concrete Blonde cannot get more personal. In his third novel not only does Harry have to relive his downfall--a loss of prestige and standing just short of termination--in a wrongful death civil trial, but the killings begin again, casting doubt in some as to whether he had killed the right man in the first place. Which leads you to think that The Last Coyote would be just as easy. The death of his mother. The murder of his mother. But those thirty years. Last week, okay. Plenty of drama, plenty of pain. But over the course of three decades Harry--to some extent--has had to learn to live with it. So where are the stakes?
They’re there. With Connelly, of course they’re there. That’s the brilliance of opening with a murdered hooker and a suspension. It allows for two natural and concurrent throughlines. The first is investigation, where with each interview, Harry is adding substance to a vague memory he has tried to retain since childhood. The other takes form in the consequences of his suspension: continued run-ins with the Department and the ever-present possibility of losing his job, which is the only thing that gives his life meaning. Without it, how does one realistically pursue “everybody counts or nobody counts?”
There is not a misstep in the novel. It’s Connelly’s best since his debut with Black Echo, and The Last Coyote may be better. It provides the perfect balance between the personal and the investigation, complete with an ingenious plot twist a little past halfway. It was all there right in front of both Harry and the reader, and no one saw it coming. And better still is Connelly’s final disclosure. It’s rare when a reveal other than the uncovering of the murderer can successfully punctuate a novel. Of course Connelly accomplishes that too.
At this point I’m not sure there is a literary accomplishment beyond Michael Connelly’s reach. The good news, at least for me, is that I have at least three dozen more novels in which to find out for certain.
March 11, 2023
Bosch's suspended pending a psych eval. His house condemned after an earthquake. How does he use the time off? Hunting a killer of an unsolved crime from '61. As with all cases, he throws in day and night. This time with a purpose both professional and very personal proving "Everybody counts or nobody counts."
June 11, 2018
This is the fourth novel in the Harry Bosch series and despite it being over 500 pages I devoured this book in less than a day. I think why the story was able to hold my interest so much is because this book explores what really had an impact on Harry's life, the murder of his mother. At the beginning of the book, you find out that once again Harry has done something to tick off the higher ups and is on paid leave and forced to meet with a shrink. Facing some unexpected vacation time, he decides to go over the case files of his mother's unsolved murder.
Once again Michael Connelly really manages to deliver a solid mystery with a complex main character. While the previous books certainly had good character development, I really felt by the end of this one that I have a much better picture of Harry and why he is the way he is. I'm really excited to read the next book in the series because I don't know what lies ahead for the character and I don't think Harry really knows either. Definitely recommend if you liked the first three books in the series.
Once again Michael Connelly really manages to deliver a solid mystery with a complex main character. While the previous books certainly had good character development, I really felt by the end of this one that I have a much better picture of Harry and why he is the way he is. I'm really excited to read the next book in the series because I don't know what lies ahead for the character and I don't think Harry really knows either. Definitely recommend if you liked the first three books in the series.
April 26, 2024
From Sartre to Connelly: Last year, at a meeting, a colleague told me she had found my website and mentioned how diverse my reading was. I guess she was right. (Hi, Barbara!)
I came from an exhausting read and needed something to just plain enjoy, to read-wallow in, and to indulge in - and “The Last Coyote” was pretty much the perfect book for that.
Harry, on leave for attacking his superior, Pounds, makes it his mission to finally solve his mother’s murder. Most of the people from back then, the 60s, are dead and/or unwilling to talk. The rest are still among the high-and-mighty and Bosch doesn’t play nice with the latter kind of person.
Harry also attends mandatory counselling sessions with a therapist. I really liked this part of the narration on many levels: In 1997, getting professional help and allowing others to help was still not entirely normalised. Maybe not quite stigmatised anymore, people, especially men, wouldn’t (in general) talk about such topics openly.
Not only is this therapy positively depicted here, but the old stigma is addressed in constructive ways. It also gives us more of Bosch’s personal background, which I immensely enjoyed because Bosch is a complex character.
»“These stories, Harry,” she finally said, “these stories that you tell are heartbreaking in their own way. It makes me see the boy who became the man. It makes me see the depth of the hole left by your mother’s death. You know, you would have a lot to blame her for and no one would blame you for doing it.”«
He’s gloriously imperfect and broken but instead of simply going into denial which is Harry’s first instinctive reaction, he opens up. He makes the decision to work on himself and it showed.
I really liked the psychologist as well: A very down-to-earth person who takes Harry very seriously and who is very transparent for him as well.
»You’re not understanding what I’m saying. I don’t want any guilty person to get away, especially with murder. But what I am talking about here is you. You are my only concern here.«
During his investigation, Harry meets a woman, of course, in whom he finds both a lover and his match…
»“Something tells me it’s a good story.”
“What’s that?”
“Whatever it is you’re doing. If you ever feel like telling it, the number’s in the paper. But you already know that.”
Bosch nodded. He was speechless. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him.«
I grinned broadly over their interactions as I liked pretty much everything about those two.
»“You want to come home with me, Bosch?”
Now he hesitated. Not because there was any deliberation in his answer. But he wanted her to have the chance to withdraw it in case she had spoken too quickly. After a moment of silence from her he smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I would like that.”«
Of course, Bosch is Bosch and, thus, not everything is as consensual as the previous quotation implies…
»IN THE MORNING Bosch awoke first. He took a shower and borrowed Jasmine’s toothbrush without asking.«
(YIKES!)
As always, this novel was wonderfully written: very smooth, readable, intelligent prose that is greatly structured in every possible way. I became so immersed in the story, I didn’t even get to think “just one more page!”. I just read on, ignoring everything else.
The mystery itself is thrilling and engaging but for me at least, it’s the characters who really make or break a story, not just the twists (which are there and done well!) or the suspense (definitely there!).
Everything in this novel “just works” extremely well. Within and without its genre, it stands tall and proud among its bookish siblings.
Five stars out of five.
»There was one story after the traffic report that caught his attention. An octopus on display at a city aquarium in San Pedro had apparently killed itself by pulling a water circulation tube out of its tank fitting with one of its tentacles. The tank emptied and the octopus died. Environmental groups were calling it suicide, a desperate protest by the octopus against its captivity. Only in L.A., Bosch thought as he turned the radio off. A place so desperate even the marine life was killing itself.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
I came from an exhausting read and needed something to just plain enjoy, to read-wallow in, and to indulge in - and “The Last Coyote” was pretty much the perfect book for that.
Harry, on leave for attacking his superior, Pounds, makes it his mission to finally solve his mother’s murder. Most of the people from back then, the 60s, are dead and/or unwilling to talk. The rest are still among the high-and-mighty and Bosch doesn’t play nice with the latter kind of person.
Harry also attends mandatory counselling sessions with a therapist. I really liked this part of the narration on many levels: In 1997, getting professional help and allowing others to help was still not entirely normalised. Maybe not quite stigmatised anymore, people, especially men, wouldn’t (in general) talk about such topics openly.
Not only is this therapy positively depicted here, but the old stigma is addressed in constructive ways. It also gives us more of Bosch’s personal background, which I immensely enjoyed because Bosch is a complex character.
»“These stories, Harry,” she finally said, “these stories that you tell are heartbreaking in their own way. It makes me see the boy who became the man. It makes me see the depth of the hole left by your mother’s death. You know, you would have a lot to blame her for and no one would blame you for doing it.”«
He’s gloriously imperfect and broken but instead of simply going into denial which is Harry’s first instinctive reaction, he opens up. He makes the decision to work on himself and it showed.
I really liked the psychologist as well: A very down-to-earth person who takes Harry very seriously and who is very transparent for him as well.
»You’re not understanding what I’m saying. I don’t want any guilty person to get away, especially with murder. But what I am talking about here is you. You are my only concern here.«
During his investigation, Harry meets a woman, of course, in whom he finds both a lover and his match…
»“Something tells me it’s a good story.”
“What’s that?”
“Whatever it is you’re doing. If you ever feel like telling it, the number’s in the paper. But you already know that.”
Bosch nodded. He was speechless. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him.«
I grinned broadly over their interactions as I liked pretty much everything about those two.
»“You want to come home with me, Bosch?”
Now he hesitated. Not because there was any deliberation in his answer. But he wanted her to have the chance to withdraw it in case she had spoken too quickly. After a moment of silence from her he smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I would like that.”«
Of course, Bosch is Bosch and, thus, not everything is as consensual as the previous quotation implies…
»IN THE MORNING Bosch awoke first. He took a shower and borrowed Jasmine’s toothbrush without asking.«
(YIKES!)
As always, this novel was wonderfully written: very smooth, readable, intelligent prose that is greatly structured in every possible way. I became so immersed in the story, I didn’t even get to think “just one more page!”. I just read on, ignoring everything else.
The mystery itself is thrilling and engaging but for me at least, it’s the characters who really make or break a story, not just the twists (which are there and done well!) or the suspense (definitely there!).
Everything in this novel “just works” extremely well. Within and without its genre, it stands tall and proud among its bookish siblings.
Five stars out of five.
»There was one story after the traffic report that caught his attention. An octopus on display at a city aquarium in San Pedro had apparently killed itself by pulling a water circulation tube out of its tank fitting with one of its tentacles. The tank emptied and the octopus died. Environmental groups were calling it suicide, a desperate protest by the octopus against its captivity. Only in L.A., Bosch thought as he turned the radio off. A place so desperate even the marine life was killing itself.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
March 13, 2023
I have always liked this series but hadn't read any of it in years so was excited to take it up again when my Mystery & Suspense group chose it as our monthly group read on LibraryThing. One thing that I remember from reading this series before is that just when you think this is simple...the killer is..."Nope...guess again and from then on plan on looking for all the tricks that Michael Connelly throws into the plot. In the first two novels in the series, we find Harry under investigation by Internal Affairs and in one, actually on suspension; in the third he was the defendant in a civil action prompted by his shooting and killing a suspected serial killer. When this one, book #4 opens we learn, gradually, that he has once again been suspended following a confrontation with Lieutenant Pounds, his divisional commander, which resulted in the senior officer being thrown through a window. As a consequence of that incident Bosch is required to attend psychiatric evaluations with a therapist used by the police force who will contribute towards the decision over Harry's future. Since our Harry has ample free time, he decides to investigate a murder that took place more than thirty years ago...the murder of Marjorie Philips Lowe, his mother. Harry is a man driven by hidden demons, but if you look closely, you will find a core of sensitivity. The plot here is sinuous but credible. Harry's friend, Irwin must be some kind of superhero as it seems to be the only one who can survive Harry Bosch...but what a fun adventure it is for we the readers to be invited to try.
July 7, 2015
Another excellent and very readable book from the Harry Bosch series. In this one our badly behaved Harry has behaved worse than usual and is temporarily suspended from duty. To fill in time he begins to research the cold case of his own mother's death. I enjoyed the book because I really enjoy Harry as a character and as usual Michael Connelly's writing style kept me totally involved from beginning to end. My only criticism would be that I struggled to keep up with the long, involved explanations at the end about who did what and why. Otherwise an excellent book as usual and I am glad I still have heaps more to read about Harry:)
December 20, 2021
I have been in awe of Michael Connelly’s imagination and storytelling. Over the years I have read most of the Bosch Series. I decided to go back and read the ones I missed. This is book four of the series and the first one I missed. Most of the book seemed familiar when I realized parts of it were covered in the T. V. Series produced by Amazon. In this book Bosch is investigating the cold case of the murder of his mother.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is thirteen hours and twenty-six minutes. Dick Hill does a great job narrating the book. I sure miss Dick Hill narration, but I am sure he is enjoying his retirement.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is thirteen hours and twenty-six minutes. Dick Hill does a great job narrating the book. I sure miss Dick Hill narration, but I am sure he is enjoying his retirement.
June 3, 2018
Whew! I think I need stress leave after reading this book. This was crazy tense, and INTENSE, and the whole time I was waiting for the shoe to drop and everything to go sideways.
So, after Harry gets pissed off at his supervisor, Lt. Pounds, for messing up an interview, Harry put Pounds' face through his office window. As you do. That got him put on Involuntary Stress Leave, which I think it could be argued, is probably not unwarranted. He has to talk to the department's therapist, who will determine whether he's fit to return to duty or not.
Meanwhile, bored and feeling like his life is out of control and his mission to be a good cop is being wasted, along with a liberal dollop of guilt at having been on the force for 20 years and never having looked into the murder that's closest to him, he starts investigating his mother's death. BUT, being on ISL, he doesn't have a badge, he doesn't have a gun, and his investigation is unsanctioned, unofficial, and unwise. ESPECIALLY how he goes about it.
This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I've wanted Harry to figure out what happened to his mother since the first book, when we learn that she was murdered. Her murder changed the course of Harry's life, and who he is now can be attributed to that event in a large way. It's not ENTIRELY due to that, but to say that it had no effect is naive. So I wanted him to have closure and for the person (or persons) who caused it to happen to come to justice.
Harry is unconventional, and the way that he goes about this investigation was something that I knew was going to spell trouble for sure. I got more and more uncomfortable every time he played the card, and while it was funny and sort of "fuck the law!" the first couple times... pretty soon I wanted him to grow up and stop playing with fire because he would eventually get burned.
Of course, when the blaze came, it was out of control, as they tend to be... which is something he also should have foreseen.
One of the weirdest aspects of this story for me was Irving. He was so out of character in this book that I really wonder what is going on. There has to be something there because in the first book, Irving was actively out to get Bosch in any way he could, and then the next two, he's eased up but would still be considered very much a BY THE BOOK kind of guy, who does not abide unconventional or loner cops who could make the department look bad. But in this book, he sticks his neck out repeatedly for Harry, and I wonder why. I guess it could have to do with his mother's murder and maybe a feeling that he'd want to do the same if it was him... but it makes me suspicious, because he's so NOT that type, otherwise.
The investigation takes some turns, and of course these books never turn out the way that you're sure that they will. That's one of the things that I love about them. I love the fact that Harry is a true detective. He follows the evidence, does the work, and goes where it leads. He doesn't jump to a conclusion and then make it fit. Even when all of the pieces could be neatly lined up to form a picture... he has to make sure that it's the RIGHT picture. No matter the cost.
The last two books were intensely personal to Harry, and while I do like that, it's a bit overwhelming and I hope that he enjoys his Florida break with Jazz and doesn't take all of her baggage onto his cart. I'm not sure how I feel about her. I can identify and empathize with what she's gone through, but I think she's not good for Harry in a way that a lit match is not good for a forest. Maybe it's needed to burn away some of the debris and come back stronger... but it's a nightmare of a process. I don't know if I want her to be in his life for long.
One last thing, I really liked Dr. Hinojo, and I liked the way that she was able to earn Harry's trust and get him to open up a bit. I really enjoyed her no-nonsense manner and how she could get Harry to see himself through a different lens. Even though, in the end, I'm not sure it made a big difference, I think that her influence is the type that he will keep in the back of his mind, and hopefully she will be the one to truly help him find whatever it is he needs.
So, after Harry gets pissed off at his supervisor, Lt. Pounds, for messing up an interview, Harry put Pounds' face through his office window. As you do. That got him put on Involuntary Stress Leave, which I think it could be argued, is probably not unwarranted. He has to talk to the department's therapist, who will determine whether he's fit to return to duty or not.
Meanwhile, bored and feeling like his life is out of control and his mission to be a good cop is being wasted, along with a liberal dollop of guilt at having been on the force for 20 years and never having looked into the murder that's closest to him, he starts investigating his mother's death. BUT, being on ISL, he doesn't have a badge, he doesn't have a gun, and his investigation is unsanctioned, unofficial, and unwise. ESPECIALLY how he goes about it.
This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I've wanted Harry to figure out what happened to his mother since the first book, when we learn that she was murdered. Her murder changed the course of Harry's life, and who he is now can be attributed to that event in a large way. It's not ENTIRELY due to that, but to say that it had no effect is naive. So I wanted him to have closure and for the person (or persons) who caused it to happen to come to justice.
Harry is unconventional, and the way that he goes about this investigation was something that I knew was going to spell trouble for sure. I got more and more uncomfortable every time he played the card, and while it was funny and sort of "fuck the law!" the first couple times... pretty soon I wanted him to grow up and stop playing with fire because he would eventually get burned.
Of course, when the blaze came, it was out of control, as they tend to be... which is something he also should have foreseen.
One of the weirdest aspects of this story for me was Irving. He was so out of character in this book that I really wonder what is going on. There has to be something there because in the first book, Irving was actively out to get Bosch in any way he could, and then the next two, he's eased up but would still be considered very much a BY THE BOOK kind of guy, who does not abide unconventional or loner cops who could make the department look bad. But in this book, he sticks his neck out repeatedly for Harry, and I wonder why. I guess it could have to do with his mother's murder and maybe a feeling that he'd want to do the same if it was him... but it makes me suspicious, because he's so NOT that type, otherwise.
The investigation takes some turns, and of course these books never turn out the way that you're sure that they will. That's one of the things that I love about them. I love the fact that Harry is a true detective. He follows the evidence, does the work, and goes where it leads. He doesn't jump to a conclusion and then make it fit. Even when all of the pieces could be neatly lined up to form a picture... he has to make sure that it's the RIGHT picture. No matter the cost.
The last two books were intensely personal to Harry, and while I do like that, it's a bit overwhelming and I hope that he enjoys his Florida break with Jazz and doesn't take all of her baggage onto his cart. I'm not sure how I feel about her. I can identify and empathize with what she's gone through, but I think she's not good for Harry in a way that a lit match is not good for a forest. Maybe it's needed to burn away some of the debris and come back stronger... but it's a nightmare of a process. I don't know if I want her to be in his life for long.
One last thing, I really liked Dr. Hinojo, and I liked the way that she was able to earn Harry's trust and get him to open up a bit. I really enjoyed her no-nonsense manner and how she could get Harry to see himself through a different lens. Even though, in the end, I'm not sure it made a big difference, I think that her influence is the type that he will keep in the back of his mind, and hopefully she will be the one to truly help him find whatever it is he needs.
June 4, 2018
Harry Bosch in on involuntary leave from the force; his return pending a psychiatric evaluation. The source of his exile a violent encounter with his superior officer, Lt Pounds, which resulted in Bosch putting his head through a glass wall. Now having to deal with stress, detachment, and rage issues, he finds himself having to convince Carmen Hinojos of his wellbeing and mind state in order to be reinstated to the force.
But that’s only one half of the story. The other, being what Bosch occupies his time with.
Being a cop, he lives the life. The job is everything, each murder matters, each case almost personal regardless of the occupation of the deceased or their lifestyle. In this instance it’s the 1961 murder of a prostitute that holds his interest – the murder of his mother.
THE LAST COYOTE takes Bosch down a dark and deeply confrontational path towards a truth he does anything but shy away from – even as the bodies pile up, his pursuit for closure of his mother’s murder doesn’t waiver.
Author Michael Connelly does a great job at linking this cold case with current day suspects as the impact of Bosch’s investigation is felt across Hollywood (from the newspapers to his fellow officers, to his mothers’ best friend at her time of death).
The theme is standard police procedural yet Bosch’s character development goes beyond the norm as the reader is treated to the inner workings of Bosch – his drive, determination, love life, and sense of self preservation/destruction, all tied up in the pursuit of justice.
I found it hard to put THE LAST COYOTE down as the overarching murder mystery is just addictive. There are also a few twists that really shocked me in one of those rare reader moments; a testament to Connelly’s continued craft.
This review first published on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
But that’s only one half of the story. The other, being what Bosch occupies his time with.
Being a cop, he lives the life. The job is everything, each murder matters, each case almost personal regardless of the occupation of the deceased or their lifestyle. In this instance it’s the 1961 murder of a prostitute that holds his interest – the murder of his mother.
THE LAST COYOTE takes Bosch down a dark and deeply confrontational path towards a truth he does anything but shy away from – even as the bodies pile up, his pursuit for closure of his mother’s murder doesn’t waiver.
Author Michael Connelly does a great job at linking this cold case with current day suspects as the impact of Bosch’s investigation is felt across Hollywood (from the newspapers to his fellow officers, to his mothers’ best friend at her time of death).
The theme is standard police procedural yet Bosch’s character development goes beyond the norm as the reader is treated to the inner workings of Bosch – his drive, determination, love life, and sense of self preservation/destruction, all tied up in the pursuit of justice.
I found it hard to put THE LAST COYOTE down as the overarching murder mystery is just addictive. There are also a few twists that really shocked me in one of those rare reader moments; a testament to Connelly’s continued craft.
This review first published on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
October 12, 2025
В миналото на детектив Хари Бош зее огромна черна пропаст - убийството на майка му, когато той е бил едва 11 годишен.
Следствието по това престъпление е неглижирано и манипулирано от могъщи тогава мъже и убиецът ѝ остава на свобода.
Бош е в принудителен отпуск и решава да започне свое собствено разследване, колкото и закъсняло да е то. Не знае какво го очаква, но е длъжен да опита - майка му е била целия му свят и загубата ѝ го яде до ден днешен.
Следствието по това престъпление е неглижирано и манипулирано от могъщи тогава мъже и убиецът ѝ остава на свобода.
Бош е в принудителен отпуск и решава да започне свое собствено разследване, колкото и закъсняло да е то. Не знае какво го очаква, но е длъжен да опита - майка му е била целия му свят и загубата ѝ го яде до ден днешен.
June 22, 2025
I am so glad that I started reading the Harry Bosch books by Michael Connelly. These are some of the best books I’ve ever read.
December 5, 2022
At the opening of The Last Coyote (1995), entry #4 In the Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch detective series, Harry is suspended indefinitely, undergoing a required psych eval for having attacked his commanding officer. He was angry, and he initially is angry at the required "therapy"--psychobabble, he calls it--but then he takes a breath and wonders just what it might be that is in his past that he has never truly confronted. In 1961, when Harry was twelve, his mother, a prostitute, was brutally murdered, and the crime remains unsolved decades later. So Harry has a little time on his hands to finally look into the case.
I think of this as a kind of homage to Connelly's fellow LA crime writer James Ellroy, who gained a lot of fame for writing about Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia (1986), who was murdered and dumped in a vacant lot, her image forever etched in the public consciousness, the crime never solved. Ellroy revealed in his 1996 memoir, My Dark Places, that part of the reason for his interest in the case and for crime writing in general had to do with his mother’s unsolved murder, so in that book Ellroy investigates the crime with the help of a retired detective. In The Last Coyote, Harry, investigatimng the murder of his dead mother, also makes use of a retired detective who had worked on the case originally.
Concrete Blonde was Bosch #3, and it focused on a grisly serial killer case--the murder of several women. As I have noticed with other detective series, if you have a nasty serial killer volume, you often follow it with something less violent, maybe more introspective. This I found to be true of Matt Scudder in Lawrence Block’s NYC series, and others. So this one goes deeper into Harry’s psych, and is paced really well, following Harry’s investigation, and we agree with the moves he makes and the assumptions he makes about his moves, even when he is wrong (which is to say Connelly gets us to guess wrong, with Harry). Harry is sort of a rogue cop, a “last coyote,” (he dreams of lone coyotes--a little cheesy), so he does all sorts of reckless things along the way such as stealing his boss’s badge so he can get information, and so on.
I like the retired cop, I like the friend of his mom (and fellow ex-prostitute) Harry also interviews, and the corrupt cops and politicians (i.e., suspects) he meets along the way. I like a woman he meets in the process, a woman who is equally damaged, a painter, though this as written is a little cliched). This book in general isn't all that surprising, but I still think this is the best one of the four so far, (which I have said for each book so far). And I like the Ellroy/Dahlia angle (which is just a guess, actually).
I think of this as a kind of homage to Connelly's fellow LA crime writer James Ellroy, who gained a lot of fame for writing about Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia (1986), who was murdered and dumped in a vacant lot, her image forever etched in the public consciousness, the crime never solved. Ellroy revealed in his 1996 memoir, My Dark Places, that part of the reason for his interest in the case and for crime writing in general had to do with his mother’s unsolved murder, so in that book Ellroy investigates the crime with the help of a retired detective. In The Last Coyote, Harry, investigatimng the murder of his dead mother, also makes use of a retired detective who had worked on the case originally.
Concrete Blonde was Bosch #3, and it focused on a grisly serial killer case--the murder of several women. As I have noticed with other detective series, if you have a nasty serial killer volume, you often follow it with something less violent, maybe more introspective. This I found to be true of Matt Scudder in Lawrence Block’s NYC series, and others. So this one goes deeper into Harry’s psych, and is paced really well, following Harry’s investigation, and we agree with the moves he makes and the assumptions he makes about his moves, even when he is wrong (which is to say Connelly gets us to guess wrong, with Harry). Harry is sort of a rogue cop, a “last coyote,” (he dreams of lone coyotes--a little cheesy), so he does all sorts of reckless things along the way such as stealing his boss’s badge so he can get information, and so on.
I like the retired cop, I like the friend of his mom (and fellow ex-prostitute) Harry also interviews, and the corrupt cops and politicians (i.e., suspects) he meets along the way. I like a woman he meets in the process, a woman who is equally damaged, a painter, though this as written is a little cliched). This book in general isn't all that surprising, but I still think this is the best one of the four so far, (which I have said for each book so far). And I like the Ellroy/Dahlia angle (which is just a guess, actually).
September 25, 2017
This was really good. It was hard to stop reading. Bosch did many smart things that surprised me, things I did not expect.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Early in the book Harry said “I want (pause) I’m going to find her killer.” (My thoughts were yes you will. Not many people could say that but you can. You are so smart at solving crimes – I’ve seen him in action in three previous books.) It was hard for me to imagine how anyone could solve something so old. It was fascinating to watch what Bosch did to uncover clues and talk to people and figure out what happened 33 years ago.
I was impressed with how Harry got people to talk to him and to do things – like several different bureaucrats he needed information from. The dialogue was very good. Even the simple scene of Bosch renting a room at a hotel was interesting. I chuckled at the conversation with the landlord. One of the reasons these books are so good is that Bosch does the unexpected. In one scene I thought he would try to get someone’s fingerprints, but no. He asked pointed questions, left, and then had a note delivered. From afar he watched the reaction to the note and said “spooked you didn’t I you f***.” Something else unexpected was why Bosch was using a fake name and what happened as a result.
Two vicious men tortured and killed someone. Then they kidnapped Bosch. They hit him with a tire iron giving him a concussion and were going to kill him. My favorite and most memorable scene was what Bosch did to survive and get away (alone with no help). This is not a spoiler because we know he survives to be in the sequels.
STORY BRIEF:
The book begins with Bosch hitting his superior and put on involuntary stress leave. During this forced time off he decides to look into his mother’s death from 33 years ago. She was murdered. It was never solved. There was some kind of coverup and payoffs connected to powerful political people.
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
The narrator Dick Hill was very good.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 12 hrs and 54 mins. Swearing language: strong but not frequently used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: two, told not shown. Setting: 1994 mostly Los Angeles, California, plus Florida and Nevada. Book Copyright: 1995. Genre: crime mystery. Ending: I felt regret for murdered victims but was pleased with eventual justice. The good guys win.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Early in the book Harry said “I want (pause) I’m going to find her killer.” (My thoughts were yes you will. Not many people could say that but you can. You are so smart at solving crimes – I’ve seen him in action in three previous books.) It was hard for me to imagine how anyone could solve something so old. It was fascinating to watch what Bosch did to uncover clues and talk to people and figure out what happened 33 years ago.
I was impressed with how Harry got people to talk to him and to do things – like several different bureaucrats he needed information from. The dialogue was very good. Even the simple scene of Bosch renting a room at a hotel was interesting. I chuckled at the conversation with the landlord. One of the reasons these books are so good is that Bosch does the unexpected. In one scene I thought he would try to get someone’s fingerprints, but no. He asked pointed questions, left, and then had a note delivered. From afar he watched the reaction to the note and said “spooked you didn’t I you f***.” Something else unexpected was why Bosch was using a fake name and what happened as a result.
Two vicious men tortured and killed someone. Then they kidnapped Bosch. They hit him with a tire iron giving him a concussion and were going to kill him. My favorite and most memorable scene was what Bosch did to survive and get away (alone with no help). This is not a spoiler because we know he survives to be in the sequels.
STORY BRIEF:
The book begins with Bosch hitting his superior and put on involuntary stress leave. During this forced time off he decides to look into his mother’s death from 33 years ago. She was murdered. It was never solved. There was some kind of coverup and payoffs connected to powerful political people.
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
The narrator Dick Hill was very good.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 12 hrs and 54 mins. Swearing language: strong but not frequently used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: two, told not shown. Setting: 1994 mostly Los Angeles, California, plus Florida and Nevada. Book Copyright: 1995. Genre: crime mystery. Ending: I felt regret for murdered victims but was pleased with eventual justice. The good guys win.
April 13, 2018
Another great Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly ... Harry's got problems, and Harry is far from perfect ... exactly what we want
December 7, 2022
My first Harry Bosch novel. I enjoyed the story of him trying to find out who murdered his mother in 1961 when he was 11 years old. After being put on leave after striking his superior officer Pounds he secretly starts to investigate his mothers murder. He uncovers corruption at the highest levels. Lots of suspects.
The setting is LA after a major earthquake and shortly after the Rodney King beating. So the LA police do not want another scandal. After talking with his mothers old friend Meredith he goes down a rabbit hole confronting his mother’s shadowy past. He goes to Florida and Las Vegas interviewing police who originally investigated the case and uncovers a trail of corruption.
Harry also has been sent to Chinatown or cop speak for psychiatric treatment. He confides with his psychiatrist and eventually works out who really murdered his mother. An entertaining read.
The setting is LA after a major earthquake and shortly after the Rodney King beating. So the LA police do not want another scandal. After talking with his mothers old friend Meredith he goes down a rabbit hole confronting his mother’s shadowy past. He goes to Florida and Las Vegas interviewing police who originally investigated the case and uncovers a trail of corruption.
Harry also has been sent to Chinatown or cop speak for psychiatric treatment. He confides with his psychiatrist and eventually works out who really murdered his mother. An entertaining read.
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