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4��
“I thought I knew something about death then. I thought I knew about evil. But I didn’t know anything.��

Jack McEvoy is a reporter for Colorado’s ‘Rocky Mountain News�� He covers crimes, death, and what the police call CAPS, “Crimes Against Persons, Homicide, assault, rape, suicide.�� No wonder he thought he knew something about death.

He lost a sister when she fell through the ice at a lake, and now his twin brother has been found, apparently suicided in his car, parked at the lake where their sister drowned. Sean is �� was �� a homicide cop, and the latest victim has bothered him enough that it’s assumed he’s finally reached his limit.

Because Jack has reason to doubt his brother killed himself, he starts asking more detailed questions of the man who found Sean and of the cops. As an experienced investigative reporter, he knows where to look, and when he finds one similarity too many with another apparent suicide, he follows up.

It begins to look big �� bigger than he expected. He travels across the country to the Law Enforcement Agency in Washington D.C. Meanwhile, his editor back in Denver is pressuring him for more details, more story, preferably yesterday.

“I paced around the room for a while and I have to admit I was thinking about the possibilities, too. I was thinking about the profile this story could give me. It could definitely get me out of Denver if I wanted it to. Maybe to one of the big three. L.A., New York, Washington. To Chicago or Miami, at the least. Then beyond that, I even began to think about a publishing deal. True crime was a major market.

I shook it off, embarrassed. It’s lucky no one else knows what our most secret thoughts are. We’d all be seen for the cunning, self-aggrandizing fools we are.��

He has trouble being believed, but eventually he wears down the FBI, and the story gets more complicated with more characters. There’s an ex-wife/ex-husband couple working on the same FBI team, so of course, Jack is attracted to her and can’t stand him.

This is written in the first person for Jack, but there are intervening chapters written in the third person from the villain’s point of view �� the Poet, as they have dubbed him. He is a sleaze, and not someone whose head I liked being in at all.

I enjoyed Jack, although he’s no Bosch. I was never as invested in him the way I’ve come to feel I’m getting to know Harry. Don’t get me wrong �� it’s a good read. I added it to my Bosch list I’m reading because I saw it is a prequel to The Narrows, Bosch #10, which features characters from this book.

There are computer searches and some computer messaging, so things are becoming more digital and less hunting-for-a-payphone than previously.

On to The Narrows!

Below are my reviews of the earlier Harry Bosch books.
(#1) My review of The Black Echo

(#2) My review of The Black Ice

(#3) My review of The Concrete Blonde

(#4) My review of The Last Coyote

(#5) My review of Trunk Music

(#6) My review of Angels Flight

(#7) My review of A Darkness More Than Night

(#8) My review of City of Bones

(#9) My review of Lost Light