(5) = Best; (4) = Better; (3) = Good; (2) = Fair; (1) = OK
These abstracts serve as reminders to myself; they serve to "jog" my memory on what a book was all about. That's all. This is not a literary critique, not a social commentary, and certainly nothing profound to warrant further discussion.
(5) = means that I really enjoyed this book; (1) = means I finished reading it but wonder if my time could have been better spent elsewhere.
Its been a long time since my last Michael Connelly book, but Harry Bosch is back! After three years of retirement he couldn’t resist the call to join the elite Open/Unsolved Unit of the LA Police. Harry learns that his old partner, Kiz Rider, was influential in getting him back into the action.
Becky Verloren, an inter-racial black and white teenager was at first identified as a suicide. It was later changed as a homicide. More than 10 years has transpired. The case was never solved. Bosch is an experienced interviewer; he interviews all the original key suspects and people related to the investigation. Becky’s mother has enshrined the teenagers bedroom and it remains as it was on the day the girl disappeared. Bosch is a persistent bull dog investigator and disrupts the routine lives of police bureaucrats and higher ups. In the process he’s made enemies in the past, so there is tension between him and at times whole departments. This is the enviroment we find Bosch as he tries to figure out what happened and who the killer might be. (4).
Our heroine is Jane Whitefield. She hides people; helps them disappear. Just like what the Feds do when giving people new identities. Only her clients need to get away from the Feds, the police and other authorities at times. Jane is outstanding in what she does. To watch her at work and to follow her reasoning process on why she does what she does is a real treat. Perry is just great!
The plot: About 50 years ago a number of the Mafioso families decided to hire Bernie Lupus to manage their monies. Bernie has photographic memory and he is able to file away all the financial accounts for each Mafia family in his head. Nothing is ever in writing. He not only knows where the monies go but he has all their account numbers memorized and knows the pseudonyms of each account name.
The families protect him as they were in the killing business. If one of the families kill him they’d lose not only their monies hidden in his memory, but they would bring down on themselves the simultaneous vengeance of all the other families. So Bernie was well protected by body guards wherever he went.
Bernie is kept secure on an estate in Florida. He has a live in housekeeper named Rita – an 18 year old girl whose mother is in jail as a drug pusher. Rita and Bernie become good friends. She’s his only company. One day Bernie goes on a trip and a nasty encounter with a bunch of thugs ensue at the house. The thugs tore the place apart and asked Rita a zillion questions. (They want to know where Bernie hid the monies and what notes he might have). Rita knows nothing. They had scared her. When they saw her packing to leave. They told her Delfina wanted to talk to her. Delfina was a small Mafia Don who was not in the original agreement with Bernie. She manages to avoid Delfina and runs away.
Rita’s social worker (Celia Fulham) told Rita to look up Jane if she ever needed help. So Rita shows up at Jane’s home. When Jane learns about Delfina she decides to help Rita. The poor girl does not know how dangerous Delfina was.
Almost simultaneously that same day Bernie is killed by an unknown assailant in Detroit. Its imperative that Rita disappear when Jane learns of Bernie’s killing.
The heads of the families have a major Commission to talk about the implications of Bernie’s demise and who it is who might have killed him. Sure enough - they ask - where is Rita? What does she know? And who might have absconded with her?
“The deceptively simple task of hiding the girl propels Jane into the center of horrible events and pairs her with Bernie the Elephant. Yes. He did not die! But everyone and the press thinks he has.
In order to undo an evil that has grown for half a century, Bernie and Jane engineer the biggest theft of all time - stealing billions from hidden Mafia accounts and face the unprecedented problem of what to do with all that money. They do all this while hitmen from the families look for them. (5)
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