Two Kinds of Truth (A Harry Bosch Novel, 20)

“Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand. --- Khalil Gibran”Demakis, Joseph. The Ultimate Book of Quotations (p. 34). Unknown. Kindle Edition.I shared that with you because I believe, in the present day, and as referenced by this latest in the harry Bosch series, the above quote of Khalil Gibran has a special pertinence.INTRO: Two Kinds of Truth, the 20th installment in the great Harry Bosch series, shares with us the inner workings of an investigator who finds truth to be a sacred principle. In one sentence, it is a must-read and can certainly be read as a stand-alone. But, as crisp and intriguing as is the writing and the character, why would anyone read only one book in the series? Read on to learn more...*** ARE THERE PROFANITIES USED? ***BLUSH FACTOR Although the language used is consistent with the characters depicted, this is probably a story in which, if reading to your 8-year-old daughter or 80-year-old grandmother, you will want to skip over some of the rough language. Don’t though, pass on this book if you want to read one of the best police procedurals published during 2017.POV Third person.DOES THIS WRITER SHOW OR TELL WHAT WE SEE/FEEL/HEAR? He shows us.DOES THE WRITER EVOKE THE FIVE SENSES? With uncommonly good skill, in my opinion.CLIFFHANGER? No.Q - How was this book obtained?A – Bought this, and the companion audible version on Amazon.Q - Are there a lot of typos/misspellings, grammatical errors or other editing failures?A – Very few.Q - Is this a fast, easy read or is it more of a leisure read?A – Fast-paced, but at 417 pages this is a leisure read.To give a feel for the editing, and the style and flow of this work, I am posting a brief excerpt below.Excerpt‘…he put in Frank Morgan’s Mood Indigo and soon he was hearing “Lullaby,” one of his favorite recordings. He then looked back through the stack of old reports for the transcript of the interview conducted thirty years earlier with Borders. It was the thickest report in the stack, weighing in at forty-six pages. He quickly leafed through it to find the moment when Borders was caught in the lie that ultimately led to his arrest and conviction. It was two-thirds through the thirty-minute conversation and during a segment where Bosch was asking the questions. It was also after Borders had signed a consent form acknowledging his Miranda rights and agreeing to talk to the detectives.HB: So you and Danielle didn’t have sex? You just dropped her at her place and took off?PB: That’s right.HB: Well, were you a gentleman? Did you walk her to her door?PB: No, it was like she jumped out and was gone before I could even be a gentleman.HB: You mean like she was mad at you?PB: Sort of. She didn’t like what I’d had to say.HB: Which was what?PB: That there wasn’t any chemistry. You know, nice try but it wasn’t right. I thought she understood and thought the same thing but then she jumped out of the car and was gone without so much as a good-bye. It was rude but I guess she was disappointed. She liked me better than I liked her. Nobody likes getting rejected.HB: And you said you had not picked her up at her place earlier?PB: Yeah, she took a cab and we met at the restaurant, because she was coming from the Westside and for me to go all the way over the hill to get her would be a slog, man. I liked the girl, or at least I thought I did, but not that much, you know what I mean?HB: Yeah, I get it.PB: I mean, I’m not running a taxi service. Some of these girls think you are their chauffeur or [unintelligible]. Not me.HB: Okay, so what you’re saying is that you didn’t pick her up and then you just dropped her at the curb and took off.PB: That’s it. Not even a good-night kiss.HB: And you were never in her apartment?PB: Nope.HB: Not even to her door?PB: Never. HB: What about after that night? You knew where she lived now. Did you ever come back?PB: No, man, I’m telling you. I wasn’t interested.HB: Well, then, we have a problem that we need to work out here.PB: What problem?HB: Why do you think we approached you today, Preston?PB: I don’t know. You said you needed my help. I thought maybe one of her friends told you Skyler and I had dated.HB: Actually, it was because we found your fingerprints on the front door of her apartment. The problem is, you just told me you’d never been to the door. PB: I don’t understand. How’d you get my fingerprints?HB: You know, that’s sort of funny. I tell you that your fingerprints were found at a murder scene and you ask how I got your fingerprints. I think most guys would’ve…’Connelly, Michael. Two Kinds of Truth (A Harry Bosch Novel) (pp. 53-55). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.Bottom Line:There are two series I never fail to purchase on Amazon, in Kindle and in Audible format. Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire and Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch.Five stars out of five.Comments regarding your opinion of this book or of my review, whether favorable or unfavorable, are always welcome. If you buy the book based on my review and become disappointed, especially, I do want to know that and I want to understand how I can improve as a book reviewer. Just please be polite.Thank you.

Your fever will pitch, stomach will knot, muscles will spasm, heart will palpitate, eyes will strain and your mind will compel you to drink in this novel at a rate far to rapid for normal consumption. It’s addicting. Enjoy.

Michael Connelly books are the best. They are addictive and I’m sorry this is the last one in the series. I hope there is more to come!

On a recent book tour, Michael Connelly talked about his decision, very early on, that Harry Bosch would age more or less in real time as his series continued. It was a way for him to allow the books to reflect the world around him, he explained, even though he conceded that he didn't really think about how that would probably lead to some issues as Bosch - intentionally crafted as a Vietnam veteran - continued to be popular and work into the 2010's.Nevertheless, in so many ways, that choice to have Bosch age and the series unfold in real time is one of my favorite thing about Connelly's Bosch novels, and one of the things that most sets them apart from the other crime series going today. Thirty-ish books into the series, Bosch continues to evolve, slowly adjusting to technology, political and social trends, his role as a father, and his own relationship to the cities he watches over. But somehow, even after so many books, Two Kinds of Truth shows that Connelly can write just as well as ever, and that Bosch is still one of the most compelling, wonderful detective characters in fiction today.Connelly's choice to shift Bosch into a sort of elder statesman role, working at a small police department outside of Los Angeles, pays off beautifully in Truth, allowing him to both be the consultant for a department that's in way over its head, as well as letting him follow his pet cause of long abandoned cases ignored by the world around them. As he's done for a few books now, Connelly follows Bosch as he handles a variety of cases, ranging from the murder/robbery of a young pharmacist to the death row appeal of a killer that Bosch put away decades ago. And while a lesser author might go for the obvious strategy of letting all of these cases link together as some master plot, Connelly instead allows the cases to simply be separate facets of Bosch's life, showing us how police officers' lives aren't always neat and orderly and focused on just one case. (That's not to say the cases don't impact each other; indeed, the way the consequences of each slam into the other is part of the book's plot. It's just that Connelly avoids the easy tropes of the "overarching master plot".)But while Connelly's plotting remains satisfying (to say nothing of his ability to tap into modern anxieties, with a strong focus this time out on the opioid crisis and society's inability to reckon with the supply that's available and feeding addictions), the book is most enjoyable as a chance to catch up with Harry Bosch. Over the course of twenty-plus years, Bosch has changed in some ways, while never changing in the most important ones - even after all these years, he's a dogged investigator, a pragmatist to his core, an old-fashioned police detective. But he's getting older, and while he refuses to let go of his quest for justice in the world, Truth shows us a Bosch that's settling into the role of a mentor, trying to guide a generation of officers that will have to take up his mantle one day all too soon. It's more subtext than text in Truth, but there's little denying that Bosch is getting older, and that he's a man who's still so focused on his missions in life that he sometimes doesn't think about what's best for him as a person, so much as what's best for justice in the world. Is it true to Bosch the character, though? Undeniably, from the risks he takes to the certainty he shows to the refusal to let go of a woman he feels like he has to safe at all costs. But we as readers - and Connelly, as an author - are all too aware that Bosch is a man who's no longer the young man he once was. All of which sets up DARK SACRED NIGHT...but that's a book for another day.

Wow, what a great story, two exciting adventures running side by side. Book also features Mickey Haller & ends with the promise of another ‘old case’ to be investigated in the next book. I hate it when I finish a book but at least I know there will be another case to read about ?next year. Meanwhile I will have to find other books to read as I have ready every book by Michael Connelly.

As always Connelly delivers. I finished this book in 3 nights because it was impossible to put down and now feel that kind of emptiness and sadness that comes with finishing a great book (for me anyway). Love following Bosh and the people around him.. :-)

Another great yarn from the master. I’ve noticed that a lot of Mr. Connelly’s ebooks end surprisingly at about 95% with the remaining percentage taken up with a preview of his latest work, I thought that I had a good read ahead of me to tie up a couple of loose ends when bang it finished at 90% leaving in bed at midnight with nothing to read . This is very annoying. I suggest that the percentage should relate purely to the book with previews coming thereafter.

Very clever, as we would expect from MC. Two entirely separate tales, one current, very much set in the present day, one from thirty years ago made fresh by a bogus final appeal from Death's Row. Bosch excellent in his detective and analytical skills, bringing logic, a bit of courage and humility into the role. This also brings in other characters such as his half brother the lawyer Micky Haller and Lucia Soto his former mentoree at LAPD.I like the way that MC continues to age Bosch in 'real time', Bosch is now well into his 60s and the physical restrictions as he realises he is no longer the younger man he once was is cleverly and subtly woven in.

Two Kinds of Truth sees Harry Bosch tackling America's problem of opiate drug addiction, and fighting for his own reputation when an old case comes back to haunt him. Working for the San Fernando Police Department, Bosch gets involved in a case involving murder at a pharmacy, which leads him into a web of organised crime and the running of addicts to fuel the lucrative market in prescription drugs. It's a topical issue and provides a gripping and indeed action-packed segment of the book. Running alongside this, Bosch's reputation is called into question regarding possible tampering with evidence in the case of a convicted rapist and murderer. Calling on the services of Mickey Haller, Bosch takes the inquiry on, with predictably explosive revelations and results; leading to a court room finale that is equally gripping.Michael Connelly is simply untouchable when it comes to knowledge of the police and the courts and how he weaves this knowledge into his writing with clarity and pace. The character of Harry Bosch is so well-done, everything about him is believable .His backstory, workaholic tendences, no-nonsense approach to things and occasional moments of reflection and regret - make him one of the most rounded and enjoyable fictional characters to engage with on a regular basis. A series that shows no signs of flagging - tremendous.