{"id":2587,"date":"2019-12-01T11:34:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T18:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2019-12-01T11:34:28","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T18:34:28","slug":"its-about-the-procedure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=2587","title":{"rendered":"It’s about the procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is the seasonal stress starting to get to you? Find a cozy warm spot and get caught up in a good novel about something entirely different. Bob Moyer has a suggestion for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE NIGHT FIRE. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 405 pages. $29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 \u2026 down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything \u2026 He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him\u2026 The story is this man\u2019s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Raymond Chandler wrote that creed for the hard-boiled detective some years ago, and mystery writers have been trying to match that description ever since.  At the top of the list is Michael Connelly, who sent Harry Bosch down those streets 22 books ago.  True to the creed, he has been relentless in his search for truth, never tarnished, always lonely, always brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Harry, however, is getting on.  After a bitter pension fight, he retired from the LAPD. He then got fired from a non-paying job with another department.  Now he\u2019s got a bad knee, plus blood complications from a case long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Enter Renee Ballard, in her third book.  Cut from the same cloth as Harry, she\u2019s singular in her pursuit of the truth, unorthodox in her methods, and as difficult to work with as Harry.  She meets Harry because she was marooned on the late shift at the Hollywood station where he once worked, and where he constantly sneaks back.  They have become partners in crime-solving. She alters the creed a bit \u2014 \u201cdown these mean URL\u2019s a woman can go\u2026\u201d  She\u2019s adept at the \u201cnew\u201d policing.  Although she can hit the streets, Harry\u2019s the best with boots on the ground; she\u2019s good with fingers on the keys.  She\u2019s also the \u201cinside\u201d person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The case this time starts with a murder book from years ago, found in the belongings of Harry\u2019s former partner.  No note, no explanation, just a record of a murder in a bottom desk drawer.  In other words, two mysteries \u2014 the murder, and why his partner took an interest in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The two partners continue to work on their own cases, to great reward for the reader.  Connelly breaks the book into alternating sections \u2014 Ballard works the death of an immolated homeless person, while Bosch proves one person not guilty for his brother Mickey Halley, then tries to find out who is guilty.  That\u2019s five plots, plus one that pops up later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The joy of this series, however, is not the plotting, but the plodding.  No one does the procedure of a procedural like Connelly.  It\u2019s no short of amazing that he keeps us on the edge, waiting for that one detail that another cop missed, something that catches Ballard\u2019s eye, makes Harry stop and think.  Best of all, the author does it by setting up the system, then showing how the two B\u2019s get around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Between engaging plodding, and jam-packed plotting, Connelly has come up with another winner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the seasonal stress starting to get to you? Find a cozy warm spot and get caught up in a good novel about something entirely different. Bob Moyer has a suggestion for you.  Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE NIGHT FIRE. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 405 pages. $29.  \u2026 down these mean streets a man must go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1008],"tags":[627],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mysteries","category-police-procedural","tag-michael-connelly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2589,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}