GREAT READS

Nine Dragons

Michael Connelly.

L.A.P.D. Detective Harry Bosch is feeling a touch of malaise.  His partner, back from rehabilitation from a shooting injury nine months before, isn't really back.  Ferras is basically "riding the desk," finding every excuse to do paperwork and avoid returning to the field.  To a high-energy, action guy like Harry, this is tough to take.  Couple that with the fact that they haven't caught a "fresh kill" in four weeks, and it's no wonder Harry is restless. It doesn't take long for all this to change.  In 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly, Harry is suddenly catapulted into a world for which he is unprepared, and boredom gives way to the most critical 39 hours of his life.  Forced to take a trip to Hong Kong for the most desperate and personal of reasons, he is thrust into the unforgiving world of Chinese gang culture.  In order to navigate the unfamiliar culture and language, Bosch needs help, but who can be trusted? In Hong Kong, the lives of those he loves most may depend upon his ex-wife's new lover, and in L.A., information about the case is leaking. What ensues is a fast-paced, frightening journey with stakes so high as to be unthinkable and where guilt becomes far more than a legal concept. Plot and subplot twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the final page where that leaves the reader asking that most intriguing question of all, "What's next?"

Recommended by Carol Brannock