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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bosch gets testy, 13 Dec 2002
It's only been in the past couple of weeks that veteran L.A. homicide detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch pushed his boss's face through the plate glass window of the latter's office. You see, Lt. Pounds - the consummate desk jockey - had interfered with one of Harry's interrogations, which resulted in the (probably guilty) suspect walking free. Now, Bosch is on involuntary stress leave with orders to see the department head doctor. To kill time between appointments, Harry unofficially re-opens an unsolved 30+ year-old murder case, that of his mother, a Hollywood hooker. Then there's his Hollywood Hills home, damaged by a recent earthquake and subsequently earmarked for demolition, to worry about. It makes for angst that would cause testiness even in the Pope. And, when Pounds is tortured and murdered and Lt. Brockman of Internal Affairs brings Bosch in for the third degree, our hero loses it:"In one explosive move, Bosch shoved the table toward Brockman, catching him completely by surprise. It slid under his arms and crashed into his chest. His chair tipped back against the wall behind him. He kept the pressure on his end and pinned Brockman against the wall... He saw the blotches of color on Brockman's face become more pronounced as he went without air. His eyes bugged." The fictional road to this book's conclusion is the well-travelled one through police and political chicanery, either of which I can read about in the daily newspaper if I feel the unlikely compulsion. Rather, since each of us perhaps occasionally feels that mad urge for self destruction, the fun of THE LAST COYOTE is watching Bosch be a bull in his own china shop and then clean up the shards. Even that would earn it only four stars, in my opinion, except that the completely unexpected plot twist in the last ten pages merits it the ultimate fifth. If you're still bothering to fly the nation's unfriendly skies, or you're just stuck in a long post office que, THE LAST COYOTE is the perfect distraction to numb the experience.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bosch's Mission Gets Personal !, 15 April 2006
"The Last Coyote" is Michael Connelly's fourth book, was first published in 1995 and features Harry Bosch as its central character. Something of Bosch's background has been covered in the previous three books. Bosch's mother was a prostitute who was murdered when he was twelve - he spent his teenage years in and out of youth halls. He enlisted in the army and served in Viet-Nam, before returning home and joining the police force. Once a member of the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division, Bosch currently works at the Hollywood Division's Homicide table. He's still a jazz-loving loner, seen by some as a maverick, with a taste for coffee, beer and cigarettes. There have been some changes in his life since the end of "The Concrete Blonde", though - his relationship with Sylvia Moore has finished and his house has been damaged in a recent earthquake. Despite the fact that it's been declared unfit for habitation, he's still unofficially living there.
As "The Last Coyote" opens, Bosch is in trouble with the department again. After his boss, the bureaucratic Harvey "98" Pounds, interfered with the questioning of a suspect, Bosch lost his temper and pushed Pounds head-first through an office window. As a result, he's been placed on involuntary stress leave and has to attend regular sessions with Dr Carmen Hinojos, a psychiatrist at Behaviorial Sciences Division. These sessions contribute to Bosch deciding to investigate the one case that really matters to him : his mother's murder. Although he's working on the case unofficially and has lost his badge - albeit temporarily - he still manages to pull the original case file. Opened in October 1961, it was investigated at the time by two detectives called Eno and McKittrick. Leaving aside the apparent lack of effort to solve the case, a few things seem odd to Harry. The mentions an interview with Johnny Fox - his mother's pimp, and therefore an obvious suspect. However, the file doesn't contain an interview summary. A passing reference to Arno Conklin also catches his eye. At the time, Conklin would have been one of the city's top prosecutors and subsequently became the city's DA. Although exactly what role he had is unclear, his involvement in the case seems curious. The only other person apparently interviewed was Meredith Roman - a 'colleague' and old friend of his mother's, who'd also worked for Johnny Fox. The starting point, Harry feels, is to track these people down - though cut off from the LAPD's resources, he has to be a little more creative than usual in how he achieves this. He starts by using a new contact at the LA Times, Keisha Russell, to gather some stories on Conklin and Fox. Based on what he's read, Harry adds Conklin's campaign manager, Gordon Mittel, to his list of suspects. For other police-related information, Harry isn't above 'borrowing' Harvey Pound's identity to acquire it. However, just because a case is over thirty years old doesn't mean the investigation will be safe - least of all when important people are involved.
As with Connelly's previous books, I found this to be a very enjoyable book - and it deals with the very case I had wondered about. It's probably better, though not strictly necessary, to read the books in order. The 'newcomer' won't feel left out, as this book covers enough of Bosch's past to tell the story without any gaps. However, reading the previous books and getting to know the 'full story' will add to the enjoyment of this instalment. The other books ("The Black Echo", "The Black Ice" and "The Concrete Blonde") are very enjoyable also - reading them will be anything other than a burden !
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent Bosch novel, 26 Oct 2005
'The Last Coyote' is the fourth in the consistently excellent Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. As many detective series before it, the Harry Bosch series now has its reflective novel. After 2/3 books it seems that authors often like to look deeper into the characters past and flesh them out for future adventures. This can fall flat, like Jonathon King's 'Shadow Men' but in the case of 'The Last Coyote' it works well.Bosch has been suspended after punching his ineffectual boss. During his forced leave of absence he decides to finally look back on the murder of his mother that has gone unsolved for 30 years. The book involves a lot of soul searching but also an adventure in the present. It is this action, caused by Bosch's medaling in the past, that drives the book on. The first third feels a bit labored but the novel picks up when people's noses begin to be put out of place. With the final third being an excellent read Connelly manages to save a struggling book from going down a mediocre route. Not the best in the series but a worthy addition. I would still advise first time readers of Connelly to read one of his first two novels to begin with.
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