Angels Flight

While I'm writing this, it's the 4th of May 2024. It still feels weird to live in a world without Paul Auster in it. When I went to bed on the 30th of April, he was still there. On the morning of the 1st of May, when I opened the New York Times app on my phone, a black-and-white picture of Paul Auster gave it away. I had known he was fighting cancer but I thought he had time... Time for more novels - after all, his novels have been present in my life for decades, most of my life. Auster's novels were never easy to read but they were worth the effort. Why am I prefacing a review of “[b:Angels Flight 32502 Angels Flight (Harry Bosch, #6; Harry Bosch Universe, #8) Michael Connelly https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440615586l/32502.SY75.jpg 2449470]” with that? First and foremost, I'm writing these reviews for myself. They add to my enjoyment of the novel discussed and they also serve as a reminder of them, and who I was when I read them. Of course, I'm also writing them for you, dear reader, and I love it when you like them (so, hit that button right now, what are you waiting for?) but that's a bonus.When looking for my next read, I first reached for a novel by Auster but I quickly realised, in my state of mind, I couldn't enjoy it. So I decided to continue my Harry Bosch binge-reading and that turned out to be an excellent idea because it put me into a reading frenzy!This time, Harry is called in to investigate the murder of a hotshot civil rights lawyer who was suing the LAPD for extreme police brutality against his client. Harry quickly discovers that the lawyer was right and his client completely innocent. Harry's own colleagues, though, among them his former partner and old friend, Frankie Sheehan, as well as his nemesis, John Chastain of the Internal Affairs Division (IAD), feature prominently among the cast of this absolute page turner.»[Bosch] “What? What am I doing?”[Chastain] “You're thinning us out. That way you have better control.”He waited for Bosch to reply but only got silence.“But eventually, if we're going to do this thing right, you are going to have to trust us.”After a pause, Bosch said, “I know that.”«Teamed up with Chastain and his entourage at first, later joined by Roy Lindell of the FBI (and the previous novel), Bosch is the same old “hard-boiled” detective he always was, but - also as always - with a spin. Bosch is still willing to learn and to adapt. He's alienated by computers at best but in contrast to many of his colleagues, he's not only willing to learn but he's not shy to ask for help:»Rider came around the desk and looked down at the printout.“It's a web page.”“Right. So how do we get to it and take a look?”“Let me get in there.”«(Kizmin Rider is a female colleague of Harry's.)Sadly, as good as the novel is in almost every aspect, the author's fledgling grasp of the then-emerging web technology is embarrassingly rendered. What Connelly writes about web pages, cookies, and other stuff is probably the worst technobabble I've ever read. Highly annoying if one knows better but good enough for everyone else.As usual, Connelly's other writing is smooth and wonderfully readable. The story itself is very engaging and represents a clear step-up from the previous novel, easily becoming one of the most suspenseful Bosch novels so far.Unfortunately, the ending came unexpectedly quickly: The story was fully wrapped-up but the way it ends is satisfying in its consequences, but it feels rushed with chances to redeem a major character lost, and a few threads not loose, but at least not neatly tied up as in every other Bosch novel so far. Nevertheless, I read till I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and - very uncharacteristically for me - I started reading again almost immediately after waking up without even checking in on my computer.A clear winner that garners 4.5 stars out of five from me, rounded up to five.P.S.: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6eG0lyAgR-/Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

May be the best book I've read! Lots of surprises, good mystery and good characters. I've started watching the “Bosch” TV series and the actor seems to have the role down pat! If you like a mystery with police procedures, lots of twists and surprises then you will like this! David

I really enjoyed the story and its conclusion.

That being said I listened to this as an audio book (as I have with a couple other in this series) and it was horrible. The reading did improve as the book wen ton, but durring the first half of the book the narration was jarring at best.

Il ragno, in originale “Angels Flight” è un romanzo dello scrittore statunitense Michael Connelly, edito nel 1999 e si tratta del sesto libro della serie avente come protagonista il detective Harry Bosch. Il libro può essere considerato un police procedural atipico, in quanto la figura di Bosch è assolutamente predominante e non viene messo in particolare risalto l'eventuale contributo alle indagini di altri poliziotti.

Il protagonista è abbastanza noto tra i suoi colleghi, ha un passato da veterano nel Vietnam e lavora come detective della omicidi alla polizia di Los Angeles. Il suo nome completo gli è stato dato dalla madre in onore dell'omonimo pittore del XV secolo. Bosch, veterano della guerra del Vietnam e detective della polizia di Los Angeles, era stato assegnato alla DRO, Divisione Rapine-Omicidi, però, dopo aver ucciso il principale sospettato nel caso dei delitti in serie detti del Bambolaio, era stato punito e spostato nella meno importante Divisione Omicidi di Hollywood, con Jerry Edgar come partner.

Il titolo del libro deriva dalla pagina iniziale di un sito web, che verrà esaminato durante le indagini, dove compare un ragno che, tessendo una ragnatela, da forma alla pagina stessa.

La trama vede il detective Harry Bosch che deve indagare sull'omicidio di uno degli avvocati più importanti e famosi della città di Los Angeles: Howard Elias. L'uomo è particolarmente noto per le sue cause contro il Dipartimento di Polizia che molte volte l'hanno portato ad essere odiato dagli stessi agenti, ma al contrario molto amato dalla comunità afroamericana che lo vede come un proprio paladino. Inizialmente si cerca il colpevole tra gli appartenenti al dipartimento, in particolare tra quelli della DRO, il Dipartimento Rapine-Omicidi. Un susseguirsi di vicende indurranno il detective Bosch e la squadra creata appositamente per la risoluzione del caso, a riportare a galla l'omicidio di una bambina: la figlia di uno dei più importanti e potenti venditori di automobili della città. Si ritroverà sorprendentemente a lottare e ad indagare contro crimini orribili come la pedofilia.

Il libro si legge velocemente ed è estremamente piacevole, la narrazione gioca tra colpi di scena e azioni al cardiopalma e come sempre la storia si muove tra doppi e tripli giochi; struggente e al tempo stesso avvincente come pochi. Si apprezza molto che non si parli di procedure e indagini dettagliate, ma tutto si basa sull'aspetto poliziesco e sulla psicologia dei personaggi, Bosch è un protagonista azzeccato e la storia cattura da subito.

Michael Connelly, ex cronista di nera del Los Angeles Times, conosce profondamente i suoi protagonisti e il campo dove si muovono ed è bravissimo a rendere al lettore quelle sensazioni di “thriller” che i soli grandi scrittori sanno fare. Harry Bosch poi, rimane uno dei personaggi in assoluto più riusciti nel panorama di questo tipo di narrativa.

Buona trama, con colpi di scena piacevoli e molte sorprese, che non annoierà mai il lettore. Consigliato.