"The Reversal" Is a Great Crime Novel

I just finished a fantastic crime novel -- "The Reversal" by Michael Connelly. If you enjoy detective fiction or know someone who loves murder stories, get them this book. (Reading and keeping the mind active helps stave off dementia and makes life enjoyable.)

I am a huge Michael Connelly fan. Whenever I finish one of his books, I look forward to the next one. I used to live in LA and really miss the city. So I particularly love his dark descriptions of Los Angeles and its seamy underworld of sordid crimes, cops and criminal attorneys. I've grown very fond of his characters L.A.P.D. Detective Harry Bosch and defense attorney Mickey Haller, who Connelly developed in separate series of novels over the course of many years.

In "The Reversal", Connelly brings the two men together to nail a kidnapper and murderer. I'm not going to reveal the plot; it's best to read it for yourself. In most detective novels, the reader has to guess who committed the crime. That is not the point of this book. Rather, it's a story of how two prosecutors and a police detective work to find evidence to nail the bad guy. The unfolding of how Harry and Mickey work and think is really fascinating. Their characters' parallel lives with divorces, daughters and homes with sweeping views of Los Angeles (Mickey's looks West to the ocean. Harry's looks northeast (I think) over the Cahuenga pass and the Hollywood Freeway) pull you into the story and make you care.

Amazingly, the court room scenes of the murder trial are fast-paced and fascinating. And wondering what the bad guy will do next kept me reading past my normal bedtime.

Trust me. This is great escapist reading, grounded in a real city with characters you'll believe are real. That's what makes this book great.

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