Since our recent Bosch binge, I’ve been reading the novels. The first one I had to set aside for a bit was the author’s experiment with a second PoV, but that was minor compared to my issues with book 14, Nine Dragons.
I’m used to Bosch being reckless and breaking the rules; that’s kind of the point, after all. What’s different in this one is that he’s being careless and stupid. Repeatedly. I think the author was trying to show that the extremely-personal stakes are pushing him beyond all limits, but instead it comes off as “leaking brain cells out his ears”. Case in point:
He’s in Hong Kong, and needs a gun. Convenient Local Resource gets him a clean, untraceable 9mm pistol, with one loaded mag. But Harry can’t rely on an unknown gun, so he grabs a pillow and blanket from his ex-wife’s place, and tests the gun by wrapping it up and firing it twice. Inside a moving car. On a crowded street. Without warning the driver or other passenger.
Um, how does that even work? Won’t the slide get caught up on the blanket, making the second shot impossible? Also, where did the bullets go? And how’s their hearing after that? Were the blanket and pillow flammable? And, and, and…
Later he wipes down the gun and leaves it at a homicide scene, conveniently forgetting that he had previously handled the magazine and ammo without gloves.
That was not the last time I put it down, wondering who kept throwing idiot balls at Harry.
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