As far as thrillers go this was very good. The characters were deep and enthralling, keeping your interest all the way through. There was enough suspense to keep you turning the pages, and plenty of action. If you enjoy Lee Child`s Jack Reacher books then this will please you. I`m a series fan and enjoy Child and Michael Connelly books immensely, if you like that kind of thriller read the `Soft Target` books by Conrad Jones. They are unputdownable!! Back to the review, ten out of ten.

Like we couldn't figure out less than half way through that this wasn't a terrorist plot but a murder done to look like one. Who would want to murder the Dr.? Wifey of course, she acted wierd from the beginning anyway. How could she murder Dr. and stage it to look like terrorism? With the help of yet another "gone bad" law enforcement officer.

The book is little else than Bosch and the FBI running around chasing false clues.

Two things about Connelly's writing that I am getting really tired of seeing: 1. use of the word "nodded" people are nodding constantly sometime three or four times a page, 2. Cop or ex cop turned killer. I think he has used this in quite a few books now, enough already!

I will not be buying any more Connelly. I will be getting them all from the library. If he is turning into another Robert Parker, then I am not interested.

"The Overlook" is Michael Connelly's eighteenth novel, his thirteenth to feature Harry Bosch and was first published in 2007. Orphaned at twelve when his mother was murdered, Bosch's teenage years were spent in and out of orphanages. He enlisted in the army and served in Viet-Nam, before returning home and joining the police force. Once a member of the LAPD's elite RHD (Robbery-Homicide Division), he was demoted to the Hollywood Division after an Internal Affairs investigation. After more than ten years in Hollywood, he was notified of a 'promotion' back to RHD - however, he chose to quit the force instead. He left the LAPD with an armful of Hollywood 's open-unsolved cases, tool out a private investigator's licence and continued to 'speak for the dead'. However, a couple of persuasive phone calls from a former partner from his Hollywood days saw him return to the LAPD - working out of the Open Unsolved Unit, at the Parker Centre, rather than at Hollywood . Any cases that would have a high media prolife or would appear to be a time consuming, long running case get passed over to Homicide Special by the local police departments. "The Overlook" opens with Harry picking up a case from the Hollywood Department - Harry's old stomping ground.

Stanley Kent's body found was found close to Mulholland Dam, overlooking a house that once belonged to Madonna. He seems to have been the victim of an assassination - forced into a kneeling position, he was shot twice in the back of the head. However, Harry has barely arrived at the scene before the FBI also turn up - in the form of Rachel Walling. (Bosch isn't too upset - he's worked with her a couple of times before, and has also enjoyed her company on a more intimate setting). While Bosch has only been able to gather the most basic information about the victim, Walling knows a great deal more about him. Kent worked as a medical physicist, and had access to nearly every hospital in LA County - and all the radioactive material used in the treatment of cancer. Naturally, now that he's turned up executed, the automatic assumption is terrorism...

By Michael Connelly's standards, "The Overlook" was hugely disappointing. It first appeared in serial form in the New York Times, which may account for something - but it almost seemed that Connelly was trying to write the book equivalent of a Greatest Hits' package. The whole terrorism thing was ticked off with "Lost Light", while the "Echo Park" case was talked about far too often. Kent's body was found at Mulholland Dam - where Bosch's first case in "The Black Echo" began - while the opening is a sanitised version of a classic Bosch pose. (In the early books, Bosch suffered from insomnia and would have spent much of the night smoking, drinking and listening to jazz. Nowadays, he's quit smoking and there's no mention of any beer). There was an entirely pointless meeting with Jerry Edgar - one of Bosch's ex-partners at Hollywood - and several phone calls to Kiz Ryder, his other ex-partner. Even the 'swimming pool incident' - when Bosch heard of his mother's death - is wheeled out again for no real reason. Rachel Walling's appearance really stank of laziness : she and Bosch only met for the first time "The Narrows", but they have now teamed up so often Connelly should just have her transferred to LAPD. (The LAPD could do with her - even though that Bosch has no trouble in either reading or bluffing her, and that her interrogation technique is clearly on the wrong side of average. Bosch's actual partner - Ignacio "Iggy" Ferras - appears to be little more than an errand boy). Given the suspicions of terrorism, I'd have thought Bosch should have been kicked off the case the second Walling arrived. However, it's possible there wasn't time for the paperwork to come through - given that the whole thing was solved in only twelve hours. One of the book's genuinely 'new' character characters - Captain Don Hadley - really made me shudder. I can only hope this guy was just a very bad caricature and that there aren't really cops like him in senior positions. Overall, hugely disappointing for a Bosch book - I can only hope the next instalment isn't serialised and that Connelly puts more effort into it.