Review by New York Times Review
BOX 21 (Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26) has something of that trapped quality. Scene by violent scene, this thriller by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom (in a blunt, uncredited translation from the Swedish) never loses sight of Lydia Grajauskas, who was exposed to violence as a child in Lithuania before being duped into prostitution and ferried over to Sweden to cater to the tastes of rough men with disgusting sexual habits. After landing in the hospital when the Lithuanian diplomat who moonlights as her pimp flays the skin off her back with a bull-whip, Lydia embarks on a daring plan to take vengeance - a plan that involves holding hostages in the hospital morgue and occasionally blowing one up with Semtex. For all their cinematic hyperbole, the authors don't contribute to any further degradation of Lydia, who makes a believably tragic model for all the real women exploited by human traffickers.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 26, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Every Harry Bosch novel tells two stories: one involving antiestablishment LAPD detective Bosch's bullheaded determination to solve the case in front of him; the other tracking the hero's inner struggles. This time the two stories come together in what may be the most wrenching Bosch novel yet. It starts with the murder of a Chinese grocery owner in South Central L.A., a man Bosch once met and remembers fondly. The trail leads to the Chinese triads, centuries-old, Mafia-like crime organizations with roots deep in China's history. Those roots seem to lead to Hong Kong, current home of Bosch's former wife, Eleanor, and 13-year-old daughter, Maddie. When Bosch receives an e-mail video suggesting Maddie has been kidnapped, the case explodes. Over a lost weekend like no other, Bosch flies to Hong Kong and launches a one-man vigilante campaign aimed at rescuing his daughter and solving the murder case. By the end of his 39-hour day, Bosch needs a shower, a new suit, and a therapist and a lawyer. The jagged intersection between a cop's personal and professional lives is a recurring theme in many crime novels, but never has it been portrayed with the razor-edge sharpness and psychological acuity that Connelly brings to the subject. And that's layered underneath the nonstop action of the novel's last half the kind of full-throttle, blood-spattered narrative road race one associates with Lee Child or Stephen Hunter. There's always something new around Harry Bosch's next corner, and he has the scars to prove it.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Connelly nimbly balances Harry Bosch's personal and professional lives, both of which take a substantial beating, in his 14th novel to feature the LAPD homicide detective. Bosch, last seen with his recently discovered half-brother, lawyer Mickey Haller, in The Brass Verdict (2008), investigates the shooting death of a liquor store owner. While the murder has none of the hallmarks of a regular gang hit, Bosch discovers the dead man was paying a weekly protection fee to a man Bosch suspects is part of a Chinese triad. Even though Bosch is warned to drop the case, he doesn't take the threat seriously until he receives a video showing his 13-year-old daughter, Madeline, being kidnapped in Hong Kong, where she lives with her mother and Bosch's ex-wife, a former FBI agent. Bosch flies to Hong Kong to try to rescue Madeline, prepared to face down one of the world's most powerful crime syndicates. Tenacious as ever, Bosch is even more formidable in his role as a protective father. 10-city author tour. (Oct. 13) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch returns to solve the murder of an owner of a liquor store in Connelly's latest. Evidence leads to a suspect with ties to a powerful Asian gang. Undaunted by this dangerous connection, Bosch apprehends the perpetrator but then hears that his daughter, who is living in Hong Kong with his ex-wife, has been kidnapped. Without the help of his fellow officers, Bosch travels to Hong Kong to rescue his little girl. There he realizes he's running of out time if he's going to save her before his suspect gets released in L.A. Verdict Connelly (The Closers) unveils his most personal Bosch story yet with this fish-out-of-water story. The pages fly, and although the last chapter feels a bit rushed, it doesn't distract from another Connelly masterpiece. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/09; ten-city author tour.]-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
