Finished Lost Light by Michael Connelly last week. It is the ninth book in the Harry Bosch series. I haven’t read through a long series from front to back like this in awhile so it has been interesting.
There are some big changes in Lost Light from prior books in the series. This is shorter than earlier books and a fairly quick reda. This one is written in first person, so you are much more immersersed in how Bosch is thinking and feeling. It is set about nine months after Bosch abruptly retired from the LAPD. Since so much of what the Bosch character is about comes from “the badge” and the sense of purpose it gave, it will be interesting to see how Connelly continues to develop the character’s arc without it.
Like the previous books, Lost Light is set in the same time period as when Connelly wrote the book. In this case, in 2002-2003. A major story element is the Federal “war on terror” and the issues surrounding it that were becoming part of the national political debate. One of the things I have been thinking about is if the reading experience would have been different reading it when it was published instead on almost two decades later.
If you have watched or are watching the Harry Bosch series on Amazon, the character arcs in the books is very different than in the TV series. The TV series is set present day versus almost 20 years ago in the books. This book brings back Bosch’s ex-wife, Eleanor Wish, who also has a very different arc in the books than the arc in the TV series. This relationship is central to how Connelly develops the Bosch character.
“You can fall in love and make love many times but there is only one bullet with your name etched on the side. And if you are lucky enough to be shot with that bullet then the wound never heals.”
Harry Bosch from Lost Light by Michael Connelly
There are an interesting mix of covers that have been used across editions. I included the original cover in the featured image for this post. While it is graphically simpler, I think it fits the book more than some of the later covers. Connelly pressed a CD of jazz classics entitled Dark Sacred Night: The Music of Harry Bosch to give to fans at book signings. It’s the music that Connelly listened to when he was writing Bosch novels and the ones Harry often slides into the CD player. It was never distributed, but the song list is available on Connelly’s site.