Submitted by Gertie
This
is the first novel I have ever read by Michael Connelly, and I have
to say that I am impressed. I usually don’t read crime or detective
stories, but this one caught my eye in the library bookroom, and I’m
glad it did. Apparently, Connelly is a former LA crime reporter who
not only has a good, clear style of writing, but is also quite a
storyteller. One of the only critiques I have of “Blood Work” is
that I had already seen one aspect of the plot in a Robin Cook book
before, as his novel “Blindsight” deals with mobsters killing
their way down a list of people on an organ donation list to make
sure their boss survives. But Connelly doesn’t stop there – he
adds a twist to that plotline that makes this story his own again.
Here
the protagonist is former FBI detective Terrell “Terry” McCaleb,
who recently got a heart transplant from a woman killed in a
convenience store robbery. Her sister, Graciela Rivers, comes to him
to help solve the crime, since the LA detectives working it seem to
have hit a dead (no pun intended) end. He helps her out of a sense of
obligation – her sister died so he might live. He has no idea until
the end of the book how very right this assessment of the crime is.
He does fall for her, and of course they end up sleeping together,
which I expected, but found mildly irritating. (Can’t men and women
just work together on a project without having sex?) However,
Connelly doesn’t make it a big deal, and the sexual details are
minor and relatively inoffensive to those with sensitive tastes.
Aided
by Graciela and Buddy, his hippyish houseboat neighbor, Terry goes
through the old case file of the crime, visiting locations, and
re-interviewing witnesses. He finds a connection with another murder,
this one at an ATM, and follows up on that one as well. When a third
murder is connected to the same weapon, Terry sees the big picture at
last, but the killer has a few surprises up his sleeve for him, too,
including planting evidence on his houseboat that makes the FBI think
Terry committed the crimes to get a new heart, and an escape to
Mexico where a final showdown takes place.
Half
Sherlock Holmes, half Columbo, Terry works his way through the
evidence with logic and gut instinct, thrilling readers like me with
his inside knowledge of cops and how crime solving actually works.
Since I’m unfamiliar with the genre, the language and politics were
fascinating to me, and the writing was good enough that I’ve
already requested other Connelly novels to read during the Christmas
vacation. I strongly recommend “Blood Work” if you like a crime
story where the good guys win out, but which also contains lots of
plot twists and odd moments of humor.
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