Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Bosch
Oct 17, 2019 20:14:20 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 17, 2019 20:14:20 GMT -8
We had ample discussions at the previous site ( StubbornThings) about all things Harry Bosch, both regarding the TV series and the novels. The general consensus (weighted toward my own opinion) is that Titus Welliver is a fantastic Bosch in the TV series although the material is often weak. Having watched most of the series and read most of the books (including the Lincoln Lawyer series), my opinion is to skip straight to the books. But it probably does help to watch the first two seasons of the TV series to implant Titus Welliver in your brain as the definitive Bosch. And that’s not a bad thing. But I had set this series aside for a while. It was played out. However, by chance my online library had featured Michael Connelly’s newest book (although another is due out this October) titled Dark Sacred Night on its front page. Having just finished this book, I will say that’s a pretty stupid title, Michael. I went into this with some trepidation having nothing to do with the title. I had started “The Late Show” (first in the series) a few months back and got bored only part way into it. This book features Renée Ballard as a detective who got into some trouble with her boss and was exiled to the night shift in the Hollywood division. It was plain vanilla and boring. I wasn’t wrong about that. And Renée Ballard is plain vanilla and boring in “Dark Sacred Night” as well. You can tell that Connelly is scared out of his wits regarding putting any real personality in his women for fear of “cultural appropriate” or some other politically correct crime. So she remains rather nondescripet. (Although I will say that Connelly put more oomph into Bosch’s female hispanic sidekick in the later novels that feature him in the San Fernando police department, Detective Bella Lourdes.) After only one solo novel in the Renée Ballard series ("The Late Show"), for this second one Connelly wisely adds some gravitas. Harry Bosch is co-featured. And (not giving too much away), at the end of this novel they decide to partner up for the future. She’ll be on the inside. He will be working on the outside. And both of them will bend (but not break) the rules to get the bad guys. Words are stuffed into Bosch’s mouth at the end of this novel that Ballard reminds him of himself for his tenacity, etc. But it’s a thin justification for the pairing. That said, the plot and pacing in this one are amongst Connelly’s best efforts. You really get deep into some of the details of police work. Never (unlike so many of the others….even the very good ones) does it bog down. This is a terrific book just for getting inside what it looks and feels like to be in law enforcement. I may go back and try to finish “The Late Show” now that I’ve read the second book in the series. But I’m not optimistic that it will be much better than when I put it down. But I’ll definitely be on the lookout for "The Night Fire"which also will feature Harry Bosch. It will be the third in the Ballard series and its release date is October 22.
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Bosch
Oct 18, 2019 19:16:26 GMT -8
Post by artraveler on Oct 18, 2019 19:16:26 GMT -8
Brad, I could not agree more, Titus Welliver is Bosch. If he were not there we would have to invent him for the part. I read about 10 or so of the books and burned out. It seemed to me that Connely had locked himself into a formula and either couldn't or wouldn't get out of the rut. It is a drawback of putting out a book a year, even Sherlock and Tarzan gets a little tedious after a few books, so I don't fault him but when you find yourself with a feeling that it is getting trite, it's time to lay back, as a reader and for the author also I think.
America loves, cowboys, cops, soldiers and romance. More so than any other western country. You could stock a bookstore with just these sections and science fiction and have a successful business.
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Bosch
Oct 18, 2019 19:34:22 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Oct 18, 2019 19:34:22 GMT -8
No doubt this explains why Doyle wrote so many different series (and separate stories). After he decided to bring Holmes back, he also made sure he didn't do too much too quickly. And these other works have had their influence. His "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" took the mysterious disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste and fictionalized them -- and many accounts actually use the fictional details instead of the real ones (such as giving the ship's name incorrectly as Marie Celeste). Doyle in fact considered much of this work (especially his historical fiction) much better than his Holmes stories.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 11,033
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Bosch
Oct 19, 2019 8:27:37 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 19, 2019 8:27:37 GMT -8
Yes, and I thank you for introducing me to this series/character/books.
We’ve definitely been reading the same books. I think you state eloquently what will happen when one binge-reads any series of books. As much as I liked the H. Rider Haggard books (mainly about Allan Quatermain), the author’s eccentricities and style-weaknesses could begin to grate on you.
That’s what was surprising about his latest book, Dark Sacred Night. It wasn’t quite like putting the band back together. But it seemed a fresh look at the intricacies of police work. There was no nagging overriding bad guy on the inside of the police department (a cliche worn thin not just by the Bosch books).
I still don’t get the book title. I might have titled it “Elusive Justice” or something like that. If you never plan to read this, I’ll give a quick overview: Cop-chick Ballard gets interested in working one of Bosch’s cold cases when she finds him rifling through a file cabinet at her police station. (No locked door or file cabinet is safe when Bosch is involved.).
A prostitute named “Daisy” went missing a decade before. In one of the previous books (I think it was in the Lincoln Lawyer series), Bosch — and Mickey Haller’s private detective, Cisco — become involved in a case involving Daisy’s mother who (through grief, if nothing else) has become an addict. I *think* the situation is that she had been framed for murder.
Well, they do salvage her life, at least for a time. Cisco is an ex-addict and knows what to do and personally takes on the first stages of detoxing her. Near the start of Dark Sacred Night we find that Daisy’s mother has moved in with Bosch, at least until she can get on her feet again. She’s clean. But there seems to be no due date on her moving out and actually being solidly on her own two feet again. And her being there puts a strain on Bosch’s relationship with her daughter. (Hurrah! Luckily there is very little Maggie in this book which is a bonus. And what there is of her in it is not the usual obnoxious.)
You meet an interesting assortment of characters along the way as Bosch and Ballard work the cold case, all of whom you assume are suspects. I suppose another aspect of this that makes it good is that there is continued character development of Bosch. He’s getting old. He’s losing a step. At one point he allows a prisoner to overpower him with a stock move that he should have seen coming.
Because of this and other things, he may no longer have a job at the San Fernando Police Department, although this is not resolved at the end of this book. But it’s clear he will devote at least part of his remaining good years to working cold cases, even if on his own — with some help from Ballard on the inside. She was allowed to pursue the murderer of Daisy as a “hobby” case — just so long as it didn’t interfere with any other work she was asked to do. But The Late Show (basically graveyard shift) is not usually a busy time.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 11,033
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Bosch
Oct 19, 2019 8:29:25 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 19, 2019 8:29:25 GMT -8
I mentioned H. Rider Haggard. And I have indeed read a few things outside of his Allan Quatermain series. And I’d like to to the same with Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Bosch
Oct 19, 2019 15:18:26 GMT -8
Post by artraveler on Oct 19, 2019 15:18:26 GMT -8
Brad I still don’t get the book title. Dark sacred Night is a quote from that famous Louis Armstrong song, What a Wonderful World. I don't know if that works into the plot but it is classic NO Jazz from the 30s I see trees of green Red roses, too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, "what a wonderful world" I see skies of blue And clouds of white The bright blessed day the dark sacred nightAnd I think to myself, "what a wonderful world" The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shaking hands saying, "how do you do" They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cry Watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever know And I think to myself, "what a wonderful world" And I think to myself, "what a wonderful world"
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Bosch
Oct 19, 2019 15:32:36 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Oct 19, 2019 15:32:36 GMT -8
I've heard the song, and it's probably somewhere on the MP3 images I play. But it's not familiar enough for me to recognize that line. Incidentally, Paul Shanklin has a parody of it (as sung by the Goracle and referencing his climate alarmism scam).
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 11,033
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Bosch
Oct 20, 2019 9:28:02 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 20, 2019 9:28:02 GMT -8
Thanks, Artler. I wasn’t aware of that book title being associated with the song. And certainly regarding the police work in the book, it’s not a bright blessed day nor a wonderful world.
I read recently that suicide has spiked in some places for law enforcement. I don’t know any more than the headlines I read about that. But it’s a reminder of how soul-sapping that work can be. And you do get a bit of that in the Bosch novels.
I watch the series, “Blue Bloods,” and in that series there are many instances (particularly regarding the work Jamie does) of helping people. But I wonder if that is as common in real life. I would imagine 99% of the work is taking out the trash.
Spoiler alert, so don’t read on if you want to read “Dark Sacred Night” from scratch. Eventually Daisy’s mother (who was staying with Bosch) leaves unexpectedly. Bosch fears the worst, that she has gone back to her old ways. He and Cisco (who has much invested in her reovery) do an extensive search.
Connelly sort of cheats us on this story. The point of a book is to tell a story. The demise of Daisy’s mother (perhaps following her final decline and her thoughts about what she was doing) was a story missed. I’m not sure why we basically turn the page and learn that she had died from an overdose. Yes, I get that the life of an addict (or ex-addict) can be precarious. But this had been such a long-running story, I don’t know why Connelly wimped out on telling it.
It’s another reason that “Dark Sacred Night’ seems like a horrible title for this book. I’m not disappointed that Daisy’s mother didn’t make it. I just don’t know why we were taking all this distance only to be dropped off on the curb miles from the station.
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Post by artraveler on Oct 20, 2019 18:36:32 GMT -8
I read recently that suicide has spiked in some places for law enforcement. I don’t know any more than the headlines I read about that. But it’s a reminder of how soul-sapping that work can be. My experience is that everyone who deals with the misfits of our society suffers from elements of PTSD. It is not just our warriors who suffer. In fact, IMHO it is impossible to do the job and not be effected by the misery of the human condition. I have friends in Fayetteville PD and some state troopers who tell stories that would curl the hair of most people. They are comfortable telling me because some of my stories are worse. Think of the most horrific thing you can imagine and our police, soldiers and even firemen deal with it. Joe Doaks, Sally Soaks and all the folks don't want to know. What we do, where we do it, and who we do it to. It is part of the price paid to defend our culture from the troglodytes who would destroy it. Imagine if to do your business you had to make life or death decisions in a tenth a second and if you made the wrong decision innocent people would die. I said would, not could; now multiply that pressure by 20 or 25 years and you begin to understand why police and soldiers particularly are prone to suicide. It is a wonder that more don't take the quick way out. The reality is we can't talk to anyone who has not been there and done that. Military and police have hordes of shrinks, but you just can't talk about this stuff to them and all they do is proscribe drugs to mask the pain and anger. The miracle of WWII is that we did not have 12 million psychopaths roaming the streets in 1945. Most adjusted and moved on with their lives, but changed forever. I did not eat my gun when I got back from Golan in 73, but I did spend two years practicing to be a drunk. Luckily for me a wonderful lady dried me out and put me on the path to what we laughingly call normal.
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Bosch
Oct 20, 2019 18:45:54 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Oct 20, 2019 18:45:54 GMT -8
I gather suicide is also common among doctors. They would have the same problems, and of course easy access to poison (just as the police and military have ready access to various military weapons). One can get an interesting fictional look at a commander who was forced to make necessary decisions that he couldn't bear to have made, and spent his time afterward getting drunk until he too found a women to save him, in Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Bosch
Oct 21, 2019 8:08:54 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 21, 2019 8:08:54 GMT -8
I don’t know how one can regularly view such degradation and keep any happy outlook on life. My older brother is retired from the fire department. He hasn’t told all his stories but enough to know what was “normal” for him. Pretty ghastly. I don’t know if the physical injuries they regularly dealt with on aids calls were as bad as dealing with all the scumbag people who are forever going out of their way to make their lives worse.
And perhaps worst of all is pulling some dead child out of a fire. That’s thankfully rare, but it does happen.
I’ve always got the feeling that these company shrinks were cover-your-ass stuff, motivated more by a womanly view of what people need than what people really need. In the recent Bosch novel that I read, a lifeguard on duty pulled someone from the water. That person later died. The discussion came about the lifeguard and the cop (Ballard) getting together for lunch on his mandatory “healing” day.
The lifeguard clearly wasn’t traumatized. In fact, he did his job very well. But the pussies up top think he need a day off. Why?
I guess if I was department head I’d deal with PTSD with hookers, beer, and maybe just sitting around shooting the bull. But a mandatory “healing” day or a trip to the shrink? That just seems silly.
But then I don’t know. Maybe these shrinks do help some of them. Give me the shrink that Jesse Stone was talking to (William Devane).
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Bosch
Oct 21, 2019 11:00:34 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Oct 21, 2019 11:00:34 GMT -8
Sexual perversion can get even stranger and more dangerous. Look up autoerotic strangulation sometime. I've read about it in studies of forensic pathology, which is an indicator that it can be fatal.
There are other problems as well, not always sexual. Milton Helpern many decades back encountered an obscure version of malaria -- among New Yorkers. It turned out a sailor from the tropics had it, and used a syringe to inject drugs, getting malarial blood into it. Then others used the syringe uncleaned for the same purpose.
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