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Lost Light | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Connelly
Publisher: Orion
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
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Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 14575
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.3 x 1
ISBN: 0752842560
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780752842561
ASIN: 0752842560
Publication Date: November 3, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Paperback. Some wear to cover and spine, but nice and tightly bound, clean and unmarked within. Normally ships from UK within 24 hours of order (often the same day), 6 days a week, including evening (7pm) and Saturday (12.30pm) collections. (F4RB)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Paradise Found August 2, 2008
one-eyed Jack (England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Published in 2003, LOST LIGHT is the ninth in the Harry Bosch series and Connelly's thirteenth novel in all. In this tale Bosch tackles an unsolved murder case dating back four years which seems to have gone stone cold with no-one at the LAPD trying to find the killer of a young woman who Bosch never met. He had initially been involved in the original investigation but soon the FBI took over. Today, Bosch wants justice for the victim because he was never satisfied that the Feds did a proper job.
If I give a book 5 stars, my implication is that the book in question is a 'must-have'. I thought about this for a while before deciding. Obviously it's very good, I thought, but is it a must-have? And the answer could only be yes. If you like crime fiction, as I do, then surely, surely you will like Michael Connelly's novels. And if that's the case, then you simply have to read every single one. Not because you'll miss something important if you don't, but because every single one hits the button, it entertains, it even moves you sometimes. Lost Light is one of those that moves you.
It's certainly different though. Harry Bosch isn't an LAPD Detective anymore. He could have accepted an offer of promotion to RHD a year earlier - in City of Bones - but instead he handed in his badge and his gun and took retirement at the age of 52. He was entitled to a full pension after 28 years' service so he went for it, as many in his position would I guess. But then, not many are like Harry Bosch, are they? So after a few months of taking things easy and treating himself to a Mercedes-Benz SUV, he decides to personally look into a cold case that has been collecting dust in the LAPD archives and which he has never forgotten.
Typically, this novel's central element isn't really the story; it's about Harry Bosch, and that's just fine because I for one can't get enough of him. He seems to be ageing in real time so I suppose we can't expect him to carry on the way he does indefinitely, putting his life at risk, but thankfully he's a tough and uncompromising ex-Vietnam tunnel rat who despite his advancing years can more than handle himself in physical confrontations with men half his age. I must admit that it is kind of unlikely that anyone on a full pension would risk death just to seek redemption for a woman he never knew until she was dead herself, but then if he wasn't like this, we wouldn't have the stories to treasure that we do.
Another key change that took a while getting used to was that this tale is told from a first-person perspective for the first time. It didn't need to be, because all of the previous Bosch stories featured the great man on every single page and I never felt the need to go first-person, but my guess is that Connelly wanted to emphasise the radical change in Bosch's life and decided that the change in perspective would help to underline that difference; no back-up to speak of, no authority, no anything. It's just Bosch on his own, effectively a private eye but rarely referred to as such. The obvious inspiration for this must be Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, as iconically portrayed more than once by Humphrey Bogart in several classic Hollywood movies, and the doffing of the cap to a past master is made just the once in this tale as a gesture of respect.
Of all the other characters in this novel, the one who plays a minor role yet continues to have the biggest impact is Bosch's former wife Eleanor Wish, once an FBI agent from the first novel THE BLACK ECHO and later a nocturnal gambler at the biggest casinos in Vegas. That's where she still is, and she's the one who brings this novel to a memorable and (for me) unexpected conclusion. Here's an extract that helps to explain the book's title:-
"Twin skyrockets were going off inside me. One left a trail of red, the other green. They were going different ways. One anger, one warmth. One led to the heart's dark abyss, a devil's punchbowl filled with recriminations and revenge I could dip my cup fully into. The other led away from all of that. To Paradise Road. To bright, blessed days and dark, sacred nights. It led to the place where lost light came from. My lost light."
Thank you, Mr Connelly. Just don't change a thing.
 Policing Cold Cases without a Badge July 1, 2008
Donald Mitchell (Boston)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You can quit the force, but can you get it out of your blood? Clearly not based on this excellent novel about a retired Harry Bosch seeking justice for a murdered woman. But can you at least get away from the police politics? Maybe so. Maybe not.
Why can't Harry leave a cold case alone? The dead woman's hands were "directed upward from her head, as if she were reaching out to someone, almost beseechingly, begging for something. They looked like the hands from a Renaissance painting, like the hands of the damned reaching heavenward for forgiveness. In my life I have worked almost a thousand homicides and no positioning of a fallen body ever gave me such pause."
The advantage of being retired is that you have plenty of time to work on one cold case. The disadvantage is that no one has to help you. Harry Bosch always finds a way, driven by the cruel memory of the dead Angella Benton.
One thing connects to another, and soon Harry is seeing that appearances may be deceiving . . . and intended to fool the casual observer. Then Harry steps his foot into something very delicate, the heavy feet come down on him. Harry doesn't like it, and he's more determined than ever to get to the bottom of the murder.
Opportunity, motive, and alibi all turn out to be important to solving the crime.
But Harry also notices some things that don't add up . . . but doesn't draw the right conclusions until the end of the book where you and he are in for a big surprise.
This is one of the better Harry Bosch stories, and it marks new ground for the series.
 Reasonable but not as good as early Bosch June 4, 2008
Clive
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Bosch retired, opens up a cold case which still frustrates him. This leads to an investigation to an actresses murder, its tie in to a robbery on the set of the production, the shooting of 2 investigating cops, and a missing FBI agent. It also has ties to terrorist activity and a deeper investigation by the NSA. All good plot markers, but unfortunately it became quite obvious who did it. Good Bosch development at the end with Elanor Wish.
Shine a Light April 21, 2008
Sam (Reading, Berkshire)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Harry Bosch has finally left the police and is now trying to enjoy his retirement at home. Unfortunately for Harry not having the badge any more does not mean that his sense of justice is also gone. During his time on the force there were cases that he failed to solve and one particular killing still haunts him. After being asked by a bed ridden friend to look into it Harry once more sets out as a lone wolf on the trail of a killer. Little does he know that his investigations go far deeper than one murder - there is millions of dollars at stake and perhaps even terrorism.
`Lost Light' is probably the best Harry Bosch book to date and is at least as high a standard as the excellent first two novels. By allowing Harry to become a PI of sorts author Michael Connelly can distil the very essence of what it is to be Bosch. With no one to back him up and only his hunches to rely on we get to see Harry in his element. With a fantastic central character it is a bonus that the actual story is also of top Connelly quality. With various well thought out threads including suspects, red herrings and politics, any reader is in for a master class in crime noir. After the disappointing `Chasing the Dime' it is a joy to read Connelly once more at the top of the crime writer pile.
Gripping read December 5, 2007
Piperbella (UK)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
An excellent novel. I read this in three days which is a record for me. Would definitley recommend this book.
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