Read Between: 25th of February to 2nd of March
Edition Details:
Format : Paperback
Page Count: 411
Publisher: Orion Books / Hachette India
Harry Bosch #3
Series : Harry Bosch
First Sentence:
The house in Silverlake was dark, it’s windows as empty as a dead man’s eyes.
Four years ago Doll maker had terrorized The City of Los Angeles. Harry Bosch had finally caught up to him and had found that Doll maker was actually Norman Church. The confrontation between Norman and Harry Bosch had resulted in Norman being shot to dead by harry. Now four years later Norman’s wife is suing harry for wrongfully killing her husband. She is alleging that police department in order to hide their inefficiency had used Norman as a scapegoat. Harry is sure that Norman was Doll maker. But his faith gets a jolt when he receives a note saying that he had made a mistake and real Doll maker is still out and working. And what’s more shocking is that the post comes with an address where police eventually find a girl buried under a floor slab. Who has sent this post? Is it the real Doll maker or a copy cat? Did Harry Bosch committed a folly in confronting Norman? Will harry be indicted? If Doll maker is alive and he has decided to come out of sabbatical then who’ll go against him?
I must say that the novel kept me hooked. This is the first Harry Bosch that i have read and i’m definitely going to buy others in the series. The action keeps moving at a quick pace and keeps shifting from courtroom to the field where Harry is trying hard to uncover the identity of person who’s claiming to be real Doll maker. The story is full of twists and keeps the reader guessing about the identity of the killer. The book has courtroom drama and detective thriller going on side by side. These two things keep up the pace of the book and keep reader interested in the story.
Apart from the story which has nail biting suspense, what i liked about the book is the character of Harry Bosch. I have always loved novels better than the movies because here one can know what’s going inside the character’s head during a particular scene. I can know how a particular character perceives a world around him, his fears, his anxieties and thus i can feel more connected to the character than that of a movie. And since it’s a series so returning to a series is always like visiting an old friend. I’m always curious as how life of that character turned out. And, so as a character Harry Bosch has interested me. His thoughts when he sees the victim, his equation with his lover and the effect the job has on him make me want to read about him more. For example:
The anchor christened the killer the Dollmaker. After that, the killer was called that by everybody,even the cops.
But Bosch always hated that name. It said something about the victims as well as the killer. It depersonalized them, made it easier for the Dollmaker stories that were broadcast to be entertaining instead of horrifying.
Bosch smiled. He didn’t know how to act. A part of himself liked her. She was wrong about him, but somehow he liked her.Maybe it was her tenacity, because her anger-though misdirected-was so pure.
Maybe it was because she wasn’t afraid to talk to him outside of court. She was an upfront lawyer.
Bosch guessed this was what it was like when two boxers touched gloves before the bell.
There are many things in the book that give a glimpse of his character and it would be better if you read them in the book.
If you want a book that would keep you glued to your seat than this book surely fits the bill. I liked it and hopefully you’ll like it too. If you’ve read it then please share your views in the comment box.
Some quotes from the book:
Hope must have been the only thing she had left. Bosch knew that hope was the lifeblood of the heart. Without it there was nothing, only darkness.
She kissed him and held him. He felt at home with her. That was the best thing. That feeling. He had never had it before and he would forget it at times when he was away from her. But as soon as he was back with her it was there.
That’s justice,” she said, nodding at the statue. “She doesn’t hear you. She doesn’t see you. She can’t feel you and won’t speak to you. Justice, Detective Bosch, is just a concrete blonde.
To think about failure was to invite failure.
You can get the book from the following links:
Paperback | Kindle
