Orion Books, London 2011

Although Connelly had sent Bosch into  retirement, here he is again, reactivated for the Open-Unsolved Unit to solve long ago cases. And in his (and his author´s) characteristic stubbornnes he plods on, regardless of his young new partner Chu. With new DNA evidence he manages to link the then solved murder of a teenage girl back in 1989 to another man and in the end it turns out the suspect is a serial murderer of no less than 37 people. Like the paintings of the late Picasso, Connelly has to put on more and more layers of cruelty and ugliness to get the kick.

The second case is the supposed suicide of Councilman Irving´s son. Irving is an old arch-enemy of Bosch, like so many in the political and judicial system. Again he fights fiercelessly, not realizing he is played by the system. This story is a lot more convincing than the first one, but all in all, Connelly should grant his alter ego permanent retirement. Maybe himself, too?