"The Drop," by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly, The Drop, (New York: Hachette Book Group; 2011), 483 pages.

The Drop is another book in the Harry Bosch series written by Michael Connelly. Bosch is an uncompromising Los Angeles Police Department detective of retirement age, who stays on the job because he must;. Solving murders is what he does, and he does it well. Bosch is a character with a single-minded pursuit of justice on behalf of the murder victim. He is determined and single-minded in pursuit of the murderer, often to the detriment of his family relationships, his work partner and his boss. His motto is everyone matters, or no-one matters.

Bosch is in familiar surroundings in The Drop, namely, the open unsolved or cold case unit, although with a twist. On the same day, Bosch is assigned two new cases, one open-unsolved, and another a new case. In the new case, Bosch and his work partner were chosen by the Commissioner for the new case, the murder of the son on an old Bosch nemesis now in politics. The plot involves Bosch and his partner working the case while negotiating the rocks and shoals of Los Angeles Police Department   and Los Angeles City Council politics. Bosch's second case is a cold case that became active due to a positive finding from a DNA test. A problem is revealed with the DNA test when it is positively matched to a person aged 8 years at the time of the murder. Bosch's relentless pursuit of the killer in light of this unusual DNA evidence reveals a startling and gruesome killer that had been operating in Los Angeles for more than 20 years.

Connelly displays all his writing talent in The Drop. He has a gift for the seemingly accurate and realistic portrayal of police procedure. He combines his eye for detail, knowledge of police procedure and gift for storytelling to write a fine book. This combination gives us an entertaining and fast-moving story consistent with Connelly's previous work of police mystery writing.