It’s always interesting to read the first of a series of books. Why has this character become captivating? Why do the reading public want more of it? It’s difficult to know and indeed if one did know then the recipe for best sellers would be cracked. Rankin’s Rebus (28 books), Child’s Reacher(24) and Connelly’s Bosch (24) have hit the literary goldmine. A brand!

Once you reach a certain age finding an author who’s made it big and is unread is a surprise. Harry Bosch was my surprise. Initially I found Black Echo tedious.

“‘Patrol’s out. ME, SID notified. My people don’t know what they got, except a DB. Stiff’s about thirty feet into this pipe there. They don’t want to go all the way in, mess up a possible crime scene, you know?” pp5-6

Connelly is big on detail. He’s done research and flaunts it. This includes the tunnels of the Viet Cong and the USA’s response to that challenge. But. But. But. Buried within the homework is a genuine readable storyline with a plausible (flawed saint) character.

During a lockdown having a good corpus of readable books to go at is a plus. Harry Bosch might be the one for you.