The Closers (Harry Bosch)

by Michael Connelly

Other authorsLen Cariou (Reader)
2005

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

Hachette Audio (2005), Edition: Unabridged

Description

He walked away from the job three years ago. But Harry Bosch cannot resist the call to join the elite Open/Unsolved Unit. His mission: solve murders whose investigations were flawed, stalled, or abandoned to L.A.'s tides of crime. With some people openly rooting for his failure, Harry catches the case of a teenager dragged off to her death on Oat Mountain, and traces the DNA on the murder weapon to a small-time criminal. But something bigger and darker beckons, and Harry must battle to fit all the pieces together. Shaking cages and rattling ghosts, he will push the rules to the limit--and expose the kind of truth that shatters lives, ends careers, and keeps the dead whispering in the night...

User reviews

LibraryThing member jwhenderson
I sometimes take a break from "serious" literature to read some genre fiction. After reading Julia Keller's review of Michael Connelly's most recent novel I decided to try one of his earlier works, The Closers, featuring Detective Harry Bosch.
I was not disappointed as the novel was tightly woven,
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suspenseful story of crime and detection. In it Detective Harry Bosch is brought out of retirement by a new chief of police and assigned to a new division called "Open-Unsolved"; basically a 'cold case' division that is known as "The Closers". They look into cases that have remained unsolved for many years, and are hoping to close the file after all these years. He is teamed with his old partner, Kiz Rider, and they have the DNA of a man connected to the murder, but quickly discover that there may be more to this case than there seems. It is a seventeen-year-old case whose twists and turns kept this reader turning the pages until the resolution almost four hundred pages later. The book is full of realistic details about police work and references to some of the changes in criminal law, particularly the impact of "hate crimes". The change in the science of detection with the advent of DNA and its' resulting ubiquity is also an important factor in the story. This was a delightful light read, and introduced my to an author to whom I plan to return for more enjoyment in the future.
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LibraryThing member Lauren2013
The Closers
4.5 Stars

Harry Bosch is back on the force and together with his new (old) partner, Kiz Ryder, investigates the unsolved murder of a teenage girl taken from her home. The case takes an unexpected turn when the evidence suggests a connection to white supremacists and the possibility that
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the LAPD, specifically Bosch's nemesis, Chief Irving, may have been involved in a cover up.

The Closers is one of Connelly's better installments in the Harry Bosch series as the writing is succinct, the plotting cohesive and the characterization unburdened by the excessive personal angst that bogs down some of the other stories.

It is good to have Harry back in the LAPD as being a PI was not the right fit for him. The cold case is compelling with some excellent twists and misdirection. While the killer's identity is self-evident in retrospect, it is not as obvious as the story progresses. In addition to the solid mystery, Connelly also manages to skillfully evoke the reader's sympathies for the victim by focusing on those left behind - the parents, the friends, the cops.

Although the department politics takes a back seat to the mystery, there are still some interesting developments and there is one particularly satisfying scene when Chief Irving seems to get his just desserts. Perhaps we have finally seen the back of him, but only time will tell.

All in all, an extremely satisfying read and I am eager to read the next one and finally be able to watch the first season of the Bosch television series.
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LibraryThing member kambrogi
[The Closers] is crime fiction, not my usual fare, but I enjoyed reading it and hurried back to it each evening. It is about police work that focuses on unsolved crimes, and one crime in particular that involved the death of a young girl. I found it well-written, and the characters well-rounded,
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although ultimately forgettable.
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LibraryThing member Georg.Miggel
After all my praise for Connelly I have now to correct myself a little bit. Admittedly the plot of “The Closers” is good. As always Connelly knows how to lead the reader through the story, build up a lot of suspense and the end was really surprising and satisfying to me.

But the middle part of
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the book has its length. It takes page after page to describe how they set the trap (telephone bugs, false tattoos, choosing of the right car, etc.) before the action begins. And, no, “Reichert” is not the German word for “The Reich’s heart”. (But “Verloren” is the German word for “lost”).

But this is not my point: I really liked “The Brass Verdict”, but what bothered me was Connelly’s undisguised sympathy for self-justice and the capital punishment. In “The Closers” it gets worse. Bosch seems to think that dead is not punishment enough for a criminal. What would he prefer? Torturing? Stoning to death? Bury alive? Read this:

“A dull thud hit Bosch in the stomach. He had started liking Richard Ross Jr. for the Verloren killing. … But now he was dead. Could their investigation be leading them to such a dead end? Would they end up going back to Rebecca Verloren’s parents and telling them their long-dead daughter had been taken from them by someone who also was long dead? What kind of justice would that be?” (p. 233)
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LibraryThing member DCEFrance
This book was given to me. After reading the back cover I think it would interest others more than myself.
LibraryThing member SimonW11
for the first couple of paragraphs I was doubtfull. The sentences and vocabulary seemed straight out of Janet and John. but the pages kept turning. Harry Bloch who is I gather Michael Connelly's best known creation has returned to the LAPD in the department reinvestigating old, unsolved murders.
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The office politics did not strike me as particularily realistic and the attention to detail on police procedure was noticibly different from most books I have read.
but I enjoyed it
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Some years after leaving the LAPD Harry Bosch returns and finds himself partnered again with Kiz Rider and in a new department. He's now in the Open-Unsolved unit or the Cold Case unit. DNA evidence has thrown up a new suspect in the case of the murder of a young woman years ago. When they
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investigate they find that there's roadblocks in the way and only some of them are the suspects.

Full of interdepartmental squabbling and personality clashes this is a solid murder mystery, but occasionally it lagged.
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LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Harry Bosch rejoin LAPD in "The Closers" unit or Open, Unsolved to give its formal title. Another cracking story.
LibraryThing member JimBrewington
Very good. Easy to follow - characters and plot. This Connelly has no humor, but a fun read.
LibraryThing member franoscar
This was plainly written. It is not as good as some of the Harry Bosch novels. The story was pretty obvious.
LibraryThing member mrtall
Bosch returns to the LAPD after three years of retirement, is assigned to the 'Open, Unsolved' unit, and is paired up with Kizmin Rider once again. His first case is the abduction and murder of a high school girl, with a DNA hit pointing to a white supremacist type as the likely killer.

This is a
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good clean police procedural, well-written and featuring a plausible set of suspects and plot twists. The only irritant is the involvement of Bosch's long-time nemesis, i.e. Deputy Chief Irving, at nearly every step of the way.

Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Darrol
An enjoyable story with the minimum of St. George stuff. Bosch seems a little unsure of himself (rusty), and the narration also seems a little unsure. I am not sure what was accomplished by the switch back to 3rd person from the 1st person of the 2 previous books in the series.
LibraryThing member co_coyote
Michael Connelly is another writer I love to read on airplanes or on vacations. I like his slightly flawed characters, and his books hold my attention. I have a stack of Connelly books I'm planning to take to the beach in a couple of weeks.
LibraryThing member Gary10
Detective Bosch novel about a cold case. Standard detective fare, but above average.
LibraryThing member debavp
Bosch is back at LAPD and apparently not missing a beat. Again I wish Connelly had addressed the Eleanor issue, this book would have been a great opportunity since there wasn't much about Harry personally until the very end. I do think the new chief should make a few appearances in future works
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because he could be quite an interesting character. This is not Connelly's best work, but if you'regoing to keep up with the series you do need to read it.
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LibraryThing member readerswebs
Death of a 16 year old presents a cold case for Harry Bosch. Harry, now in charge of the cold case division of LAPD finds many old enemies stand in his way to solve this murder.
LibraryThing member les121
Good, but probably not one of Connelly’s best. It started off slow and didn’t pick up until two thirds of the way through. The mystery was interesting, but the investigation felt tedious. Thankfully, the last hundred pages ratcheted up the suspense, turning the crime-solving from boring to
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thrilling. Harry Bosch is a fascinating, multi-dimentional protagonist, which makes me wish that I had read these books in order. Despite this story’s flaws, I will undoubtedly pick up another Bosch novel at some point in the future.
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LibraryThing member bbuchan
Connelly delivers on another fast paced and smart Harry Bosch novel. In this round Bosch has been assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit and is teamed up with his old no-nonsense partner, police woman Kiz Rider. They embark on an unsolved seventeen year old murder of a young girl, taken from her
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bedroom, shot through the chest, and dumped in a nearby field. The investigation seems to be given new life with the identification of a crime scene DNA sample, however, the person it matches doesn't seem to have anything to do with the case. The case unravels into a fast-paced mystery thriller.
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LibraryThing member norinrad10
typical quality Harry Bosch
LibraryThing member bookczuk
Bosch is back, out of retirement, and pulling unsolved cases out of retirement. After 11 books, it's like running into an old friend on the street and catching up with life. Some nice twists, and, as always, I appreciate the jazz interludes on the audio version. Let's hear it for cold cases getting
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closed.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I listened to this book which was read by Len Cariou who did a great job of changing voices for various characters. There was also an interview with Michael Connelly at the end and an excerpt from his next book.

In this Harry Bosch outing Harry has rejoined the LAPD in the Open Unsolved files group.
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He is paired up with his old partner and they are given a 17 year old case of murder of a young girl. There is DNA evidence from the murder weapon that leads to a known felon who was in the area at the time of the murder. There appear to be racist overtones because the victim was biracial and the person that the DNA belongs to was a member of a white supremacist youth gang. Of course nothing is as clear cut as that but within a week Bosch has discovered the perpetrator, almost been killed and been targeted by a higher up in the police force.

Bosch will continue to stay with LAPD according to Connelly's interview and that is a good thing. I'm looking forward to more from Harry Bosch.
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LibraryThing member fyrfly
LT showing wrong cover and number of pages. (I used ISBN only.) Also, this one has 'FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK' on front cover. Includes exert from The Lincoln Lawyer.
LibraryThing member wdwilson3
Harry Bosch returns to the LAPD and starts working a cold case with his old partner, Kiz Ryder. Michael Connelly has a formula for the Bosch books, always complicating a police procedural with other forces, most commonly the meddling of the Department brass, sometimes outside operations like the
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FBI. This time the impediments thrown up in Bosch's way are handled pretty deftly, and the investigation is the thing. Good pacing and a good read.
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LibraryThing member tabascofromgudreads
Worst Connelly book I've ever read. Too slow. No traction. Yes, some LA soul as always, but zero spark in this one.
LibraryThing member tabascofromgudreads
Worst Connelly book I've ever read. Too slow. No traction. Yes, some LA soul as always, but zero spark in this one.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2005

ISBN

1594830207 / 9781594830204

Barcode

0100129
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