The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

Harry Bosch Book 19

Book Blurb:

Harry Bosch is California’s newest private investigator. He doesn’t advertise, he doesn’t have an office, and he’s picky about who he works for, but it doesn’t matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves.

Soon one of Southern California’s biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir. Using all of his cold-case skills, Bosch pieces together a 65-year-old mystery and finds out that the case is not as simple – or as cold – as he thought.

My Review:

Harry Bosch is working as a volunteer reserve officer (working free) to keep himself in the system somewhere investigating a cold case for the San Fernando PD. He’s also moonlighting as a PI. In that capacity, he was hired by a billionaire to find an heir he may have produced when he was a college student and still very much under the thumb of family. Now he is very ill and believes he doesn’t have much time and, of course, his company would prefer no heirs be found.

The cold case may be just as tough, that of a serial rapist. Fortunately, with his hand still legimately capable of research within the department—some according to the book—some a serious no-no, he has resources and the time he can tap that will get him info not readily available at the time.

Both cases run concurrently and are simultaneously immersive.

I love the way the author manages to bring in a little backstory to explain the history of the persons in the foreground. The support characters are always lively and well developed, but it’s that voice of Bosch that provides that rich storytelling experience we’ve come to expect in a Connelly crime thriller.

This installment also includes Bosch’s half-brother Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller spin-off made even more popular as a series on Netflix. It’s fun to dip into the legal side of his case and the necessary police procedures it will take to get the case to court.

I also appreciate his references to the freeway system allowing cross-town travel at snail speeds and the history of the different neighborhoods. It makes the city come alive in the imagination.

The double plot is done very well providing lots of twists and turns and both manage to converge successfully to conclusion.

I always think, “Alright, that has to be his best.” Then I read another and think the same. This one is engaging, provides tension and suspense with both stories having you root for a satisfying outcome. I don’t know how he manages it, but it always does.

Enjoying a couple of his other series as well, also listening to both Renée Ballard and The Lincoln Lawyer.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

 

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Fiction, Police Procedurals
Publisher: Hachette Audio
ASIN: B01K3EKBXS
Listening Length: 10 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Titus Welliver
Publication Date: November 1, 2016
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Wrong Side of Goodbye [Amazon]

 

 

The Author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include Desert Star (2022), The Dark Hours (2021), The Law Of Innocence (2020), Fair Warning (2020), and The Night Fire (2019). Michael is the executive producer of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee. He is the executive producer of The Lincoln Lawyer, streaming on Netflix, starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, “Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story’ and ‘Tales Of the American.’ He spends his time in California and Florida.

The Narrator:  Titus B. Welliver is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in Lost, Silas Adams in Deadwood, Jimmy O’Phelan in Sons of Anarchy, and the title role in the television series Bosch. Wikipedia Born: March 12, 1962, New Haven, CT.

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