The Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly

***** Less original than the previous ones, but technically perfect

This third novel in the Bosch series is so far the one I liked the most. Although it is apparently more straightforward than the previous ones (which I usually do not like), the author played his cards very well.
Finally we find out about the event that represented the character’s genesis: the fact that he killed a disarmed man, thinking the latter was about to pull out a gun. The man in question was nothing more than a serial killer, but Bosch had acted without calling the backup and for this reason he had been demoted in his police job.
Four years later, while Bosch is under civil lawsuit for that killing, by the serial killer family, a new homicide comes up carrying the same signature, but it had occurred later.
Has Bosch killed the wrong man? Or is this an emulator?
The story takes place between court and case resolution. This is a pretty conventional serial killer case, where the killer is one of the characters in the story and needs to be identified. The author tries to take you in many wrong directions. It would all be easy (or almost) if there was no trial in the middle that distracts you and makes you change perspective.
This novel is not as original as the two previous ones but is technically perfect and, unlike the previous ones, also gives the reader the little satisfaction of having the elements to understand in advance who the killer is. That doesn’t mean the reader is bound to succeed, though.
In this context the private aspect of the protagonist’s story continues to develop, which remains central in the plot of the book and is likely to have dramatic implications. 
The reassuring ending seems like the prelude to a new storm.

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