Michael Connelly

February 2007

Question: The Overlook was originally serialized in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. For the publication of the novel you were able to re-write the story without the magazine’s space constraints. How was the experience of revisiting the story?

Michael Connelly: Well, it was good on two levels. The first one was that there were pretty strict guidelines on the NYT story. There were 16 chapters and each had to be as close to 3,000 words as possible. So I found myself cutting back in some chapters and padding others. It’s not that easy to do when you are used to—after 17 books—writing without looking at word count or chapter length, etc. So it was nice to revisit the story and pace it the way I wanted to. I think the original story in the Times had a lot of velocity but I think it has more in what I call the final version. The second level of enjoyment I got out of this is that I got a chance to revisit a story about eight months after it was supposedly finished. In the publishing world today it is rare that you get a chance to finish a story and then sort of mull it over and think about what you would add or change.

Question: How much is different in the novel versus the New York Times feature?

Michael Connelly: I think the story is more complex. I didn’t change the significant aspects of plot and character; the bad guy in the Times version is still the bad guy. But I made the bureaucratic and political obstacles that Harry Bosch faces more complicated. There is also a pretty significant story line added involving a character who was not in the Times version of the story. I also shifted the time that the story takes place. In the Times it took place right before Christmas. Now it takes place right now. This allowed me to make the story more current.

Question: The events in The Overlook are supposed to be taking place about five months after the events in Echo Park. Right away we discover that Harry Bosch has a new partner and is no longer in the Open-Unsolved Unit of the LAPD. What can you tell us about the time in-between the two books? What has Harry been doing between these two cases?

Michael Connelly: I try to make these books as realistic as possible without hindering the drama of each story. The events at the end of Echo Park I think would realistically require a major internal investigation to make sure that Harry acted appropriately. So I would say that Harry’s been waiting out an investigation and chomping at the bit to continue his mission. I don’t want to give away anything from Echo Park but it was pretty clear by the end that Harry would need to be assigned a new partner. In The Overlook he is teamed with a young detective he can mentor. I hope Ignacio Ferras is around for at least a few more books.

Question: Fifteen years ago Harry Bosch was introduced to the world in your first novel, The Black Echo. What do you think about when you look back over the years and examine the thirteen Bosch books?

Michael Connelly: I hope he has evolved as a character in a realistic fashion. I hope his changes are believable. I think they are. I look at the discovery that he has a daughter as the most important change or moment in the series so far because it is the thing that has changed him the most. In many ways Harry is still the same as he was in 1992 but in many other ways he has changed a lot because he has learned a lot.

An Excerpt From Chapter One

The call came at midnight. Harry Bosch was awake and sitting in the living room in the dark. He liked to think that he was doing this because it allowed him to hear the saxophone better. By masking one of the senses he accentuated another.

But deep down he knew the truth. He was waiting.

The call was from Larry Gandle, his supervisor in Homicide Special. It was Bosch’s first call out in the new job. And it was what he had been waiting for.

“Harry, you up?”

“I’m up.”

“Who’s that you got playing?”

“Frank Morgan, live at the Jazz Standard in New York. That’s George Cables you’re hearing now on piano.”

“Sounds like All Blues.”

“You nailed it.”

“Good stuff. I hate to take you away from it.”

Bosch used the remote to turn the music off.

“What’s the call, Lieutenant?”

“Hollywood wants you and Iggy to come out and take over a case. They’ve already caught three today and can’t handle a fourth. This one also looks like it might become a hobby. It looks like an execution.”

The Los Angeles Police Department had seventeen geographic divisions, each with its own station and detective bureau, including a homicide squad. But the divisional squads were the first line and couldn’t get bogged down on long-running cases. Whenever a murder came with any sort of political, celebrity or media attachment, it was usually shuttled down to Homicide Special, which operated out of the Robbery-Homicide Division in Parker Center. Any case that appeared to be particularly difficult and time consuming—that would invariably stay active like a hobby—would also be an immediate candidate for Homicide Special. This was one of those.

“Where is it?” Bosch asked.

“Up on that overlook above the Mulholland Dam. You know the place?”

“Yeah, I’ve been up there.”

Bosch got up and walked to the dining room table. He opened a drawer designed for silverware and took out a pen and a small notebook. On the first page of the notebook he wrote down the date and the location of the murder scene.

“Any other details I should know?” Bosch asked.

“Not a lot,” Gandle said. “Like I said, it was described to me as an execution. Two in the back of the head. Somebody took this guy up there and blew his brains out all over that pretty view.”

Bosch let this register a moment before asking the next question.

“Do they know who the dead guy is?”

“The divisionals are working on it. Maybe they’ll have something by the time you get over there. It’s practically in your neighborhood, right?”

“Not too far.”

Gandle gave Bosch more specifics on the location of the crime scene and asked if Harry would make the next call out to his partner. Bosch said he would take care of it.

“Okay, Harry, get out there and see what’s what, then call me and let me know. Just wake me up. Everybody else does.”

Bosch thought it was just like a supervisor to complain about getting woken up to a person he would routinely wake up over the course of their relationship.

“You got it,” Bosch said.

Bosch hung up and immediately called Ignacio Ferras, his new partner. They were still feeling their way. Ferras was more than twenty years younger and from another culture. The bonding would happen, Bosch was sure, but it would come slowly. It always did.

Ferras was awakened by Bosch’s call but became alert quickly and seemed eager to respond, which was good. The only problem was that he lived all the way out in Diamond Bar, which would put his ETA at the crime scene at least an hour off. Bosch had talked to him about it the first day they had been assigned as partners but Ferras wasn’t interested in moving. He had a family support system in Diamond Bar and wanted to keep it.

Bosch knew that he would get to the crime scene well ahead of Ferras and that would mean he would have to handle any divisional friction on his own. Taking a case away from the divisional squad was always a delicate thing. It was a decision usually made by supervisors, not the homicide detectives on the scene. Any homicide detective worth the gold trim on his badge would never want to give away a case.      That just wasn’t part of the mission.

“See you there, Ignacio,” Bosch said.

“Harry,” Ferras said, “I told you. Call me Iggy. Everybody does.”

Bosch said nothing. He didn’t want to call him Iggy. He didn’t think it was a name that matched the weight of the assignment and mission. He wished that his partner would come to that realization and then stop asking him.

Bosch thought of something and added an instruction, telling Ferras to swing by Parker Center on his way in and sign out a car for them to use. It would add minutes to his arrival time but Bosch planned to drive his own car to the scene and he knew he was low on gas.

“Okay, see you there,” Bosch said, leaving names out.

He hung up and grabbed his coat out of the closet by the front door. As he put his arms into it he glanced at himself in the mirror on the inside of the door. At 56 years old he was trim and fit and could even stand to add a few pounds while other detectives his age were getting round in the middle. In Homicide Special there was a pair of detectives known as Crate and Barrel because of their widening dimensions. Bosch didn’t have to worry about that.

The gray had not yet chased all of the brown out of his hair but it was getting close to victory. His dark eyes were clear and bright and ready for the challenge awaiting him at the overlook. In his own eyes Bosch saw a basic understanding of homicide work, that when he stepped out the front door he would be willing and able to go the distance—whatever that entailed—to get the job done. It made him feel as though he was bulletproof.

He reached across his body with his left hand to pull the gun out of the holster on his right hip. It was a Kimber Ultra Carry. He quickly checked the magazine and the action and then returned the weapon to its holster.

He was ready. He opened the door.

An Excerpt From Chapter Three

Following the walk-through he stood in the backyard looking up at the Hollywood sign and calling central communications again to ask that a second forensics team be dispatched to process the Kent house. He also checked on the ETA of the paramedics coming to examine Alicia Kent and was told that they were still five minutes away. This was ten minutes after he had been told that they were ten minutes away.

Next he called Lt. Gandle, waking him at his home. His supervisor listened quietly as Bosch updated him. The federal involvement and the rising possibility of a terrorism angle to the investigation gave Gandle pause.

“Well . . .,” he said when Bosch was finished. “It looks like I am going to have to wake some people up.”

He meant he was going to have to send word of the case and the larger dimensions it was taking on up the department ladder. The last thing an RHD lieutenant would want or need would be to get called into the OCP—the office of the chief of police—in the morning and asked why he hadn’t alerted command staff to the case and its growing implications earlier. Bosch knew that Gandle would now act to protect himself as well as to seek direction from above. This was fine with Bosch and expected. But it gave him pause as well. The LAPD had its own Office of Homeland Security. It was commanded by a man most people in the department viewed as a loose cannon who was unqualified and unsuited for the job.

“Is one of those wake ups going to Captain Hadley?” Bosch asked.

Captain Don Hadley was the twin brother of James Hadley, who happened to be a member of the Police Commission, the politically appointed panel with LAPD oversight and authority to appoint and retain the Chief of Police. Less than a year after James Hadley was placed on the commission by mayoral appointment and the approval of the city council his twin brother jumped from being second in command of the Valley Traffic Division to being commander of the newly formed Office of Homeland Security. This was seen at the time as a political move by the then chief of police who was desperately trying to keep his job. It didn’t work. He was fired and a new chief appointed. But in the transition Hadley kept his job commanding the OHS.

The mission of the OHS was to interface with federal agencies and maintain a flow of intelligence data. In the last six years Los Angeles had been targeted by terrorists at least two times that were known. In each incident the LAPD found out about the threat after it had been foiled by the feds. This was embarrassing to the department and the OHS had been formed so that the LAPD could make intelligence inroads and eventually know what the federal government knew about its own backyard.

The problem was that in practice it was largely suspected that the LAPD remained shut out by the feds. And in order to hide this failing and to justify his position and unit, Captain Hadley had taken to holding grandstanding press conferences and showing up with his black-clad OHS unit at any crime scene where there was a remote possibility of terrorist involvement. An overturned tanker truck on the Hollywood Freeway brought the OHS out in force, until it was determined that the tanker was carrying milk. A shooting of a rabbi at a temple in Westwood brought the same response until the incident was determined to have been the product of a love triangle.

And so it went. After about the fourth misfire, the commander of the OHS was baptized with a new name among the rank and file. Captain Don Hadley became known as Captain Done Badly. But he remained in his position, thanks to the thin veil of politics that hung over his appointment. The last Bosch had heard about Hadley on the department grapevine was that he had put his entire squad back into the academy for training in urban assault tactics.

“I don’t know about Hadley,” Gandle said in response to Bosch. “He’ll probably be looped in. I’ll start with my captain and he’ll make the call on who gets the word from there. But that’s not your concern, Harry. You do your job and don’t worry about Hadley. The people you have to watch your back with are the feds.”

“Got it.”

“Remember, with the feds it’s always time to worry when they start telling you just want you want to hear.”

Bosch nodded. The advice followed a time honored LAPD tradition of distrusting the FBI. And, of course, it was a tradition honored for just as long by the FBI in terms of distrusting the LAPD right back. It was the reason the OHS was born.

When Bosch came back into the house he found Walling on her cell phone and a man he had never seen before standing in the living room. He was tall, mid-40s and exuded that undeniable FBI confidence Bosch had seen many times before. The man put out his hand.

“You must be Detective Bosch,” he said. “Jack Brenner. Rachel’s my partner.”

Bosch shook his hand. It was a small thing but the way he said Rachel was his partner told Bosch a lot. There was something proprietary about it. Brenner was telling him that the senior partner was now on the job, whether that would be Rachel’s view of it or not.

“So, you two have met.”

Bosch turned. Walling was off the phone now.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was filling in the special agent in charge. He’s decided to devote all of Tactical to it. He’s running out three teams to start hitting the hospitals to see if Kent has been in any of the hot labs today.”

“The hot lab is where they keep the radioactive stuff?” Bosch asked.

“Yes. Kent had access through security to just about all of them in the county. We have to figure out if he was inside any of them today.”

Bosch knew that he could probably narrow the search down to one medical facility. Saint Agatha’s Clinic for Women. Kent was wearing an ID tag from the hospital when he was murdered. Walling and Brenner didn’t know that but Bosch decided not to tell them yet. He sensed the investigation was moving away from him and he wanted to hold on to what might be the one piece of inside information he still had.

“What about the LAPD?” he asked instead.

“The LAPD?” Brenner said, jumping on the question ahead of Walling. “You mean what about you, Bosch? Is that what you’re asking?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Where do I stand in this?”

Brenner spread his arms in a gesture of openness.

“Don’t worry, you’re in. You’re with us all the way.”

The federal agent nodded like it was a promise as good as gold.

“Good,” Bosch said. “That’s just want I wanted to hear.”

He looked at Walling for confirmation of her partner’s statement. But she looked away.

“The scramble to investigate threats to national security, justified or otherwise, is a timely subject and one on which Connelly puts a brilliant new spin.”
— Publishers Weekly, * Starred Review

“Treat The Overlook like a tasty hors d’oeuvre: down it in one quick gulp, and look forward to the next Bosch entree.”
— Bill Ott, Booklist, American Library Association

“Connelly, once again, has hit a home run. He does it quietly and without any pyrotechnics. He makes it look deceptively easy.”
— Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post

“The Overlook is about crime and the “marks,” the “transfers” that it leaves on a community.}
— Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“The Overlook” will keep you on the edge of the precipice to the last page.
— Steve Bennett, San Antonio Express-News

“The good news: In plenty of time for summer reading, Michael Connelly has given us another crime thriller starring Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch. The even better news: Although “The Overlook” takes a more terse tack than other Bosch books, it meets Connelly’s standards in all ways.” — Harry Levins, St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Speaking of cool, Connelly’s Harry Bosch is back in The Overlook, a novel that began as a serial for The New York Times Magazine. (The story, says the publisher, has been “expanded and revised substantially.”) Why was a doctor found murdered, execution-style, on Mulholland Drive? Was it because he had access to radioactive substances? Los Angeles cop Bosch is his typical selfish, driven and coolly effective self as he follows divergent trails. Perhaps because of its original format, “The Overlook” isn’t as cohesive and tight as most Bosch outings; still, fans won’t want to miss it.”
— Michele Ross, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A second mystery novelist whose stories are set in Los Angeles is veteran Michael Connelly, back with another Harry Bosch tale, “The Overlook.” The LAPD detective is off the Open-Unsolved Unit and back on Homicide, catching a live case for a change. Murder, conflict with his bosses and the FBI, cover-ups and a touch of romance blend to make this another winner in the franchise.”
— Allen Pierleoni, Sacramento Bee

“Like police detective Harry Bosch, the star of 13 of his best-selling novels, writer Michael Connelly is a hard-boiled pro. His novels are remarkable for their authentic detailing of police procedures. His new book, The Overlook, originally was created as a 16-part serial for the New York Times Magazine. Connelly has expanded and revised it into its present form as a novel about a body found on an overlook near Mulholland Drive in L.A. Bosch butts heads with the FBI — including onetime lover Rachel Walling — and LAPD brass trying to figure out who killed a scientist. Solving the murder is all in a night’s work for Bosch.”
— Carol Memmott, USA TODAY

“The last entry in Connelly’s unstoppable Harry Bosch series, 2006’s Echo Park, was perfectly okay. When you’re a trusted brand name and your hero is a straightforward, jazz-loving tough, that can too easily be enough. What a treat, then, to open Bosch’s 13th installment, which was serialized in The New York Times Magazine, and smell fresh blood. Bosch is hunting not just a murderer but also some missing radioactive substances that could paralyze his beloved L.A. Admittedly, it’s an easy, early guess as to who the bad guy is, but Bosch gets into some amusingly tense tussles with the feds as his case climbs up the ranks of national importance.”
—Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly B+

“Harry Bosch has been promoted from the LAPD Open Unsolved Unit to the Homicide Special Unit, but this supposedly greener pasture hasn’t brought better sleep. His very first case at his new job involves the murder of a doctor with access to radioactive cesium. The investigation moves to red-alert status when it’s discovered that a large quantity of the deadly material disappeared shortly before the killing. With the threat of an imminent terrorist attack hovering in his head, Bosch must not only track down the killers but also sidestep homeland security turf wars in the process. Thrilling with the deep tinge of reality.”
— BarnesandNoble.com Editors Review

“It takes place in a twelve-hour period and reads like a half episode of TV’s “24.” Its pace will suck you in and keep you hooked through to the end. Armchair Interviews Says: This is a quick shot in the arm for those that need a Harry Bosch fix.”
— ArmchairInterviews.com

“The fear of terrorism brings in the FBI and ratchets up the suspense to an almost unbearable point, especially with the twists it takes”
— Stacy Alesi, BookBitch.com

“No one needs to sing Michael Connelly’s praises. The guy is as solid as his lead detective. Connelly plots the story perfectly and brings it home with all the self-confidence and easy storytelling of a master.”
— Sue Burke, FreshFiction.com

“This complex, tortured soul with a long back-story of failed relationships and rocky work history rivals Loren D. Estleman’s Amos Walker and James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux as one of the most compelling and fully realized heroes of modern crime fiction.”
— Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press

“The Overlook has fewer of the contemplative departures in which Bosch considers his history or relationships — the sort of passages that make previous books like long, multidimensional jazz improvisations. This one is an intense riff, and that’s satisfying, too.”
— Nancy Gilson, Columbus Dispatch

“A former crime reporter, Connelly clearly knows his way around the inside of a police department. His stories smack of authenticity. And, as always, his writing and pacing are top-notch. “The Overlook” was originally written as a 16-part serial published weekly in the New York Times Magazine. But Connelly has reworked it so that you can’t tell. It’s a great — and timely! — read.”
— Curt Schleier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Connelly’s books are always compellingly suspenseful, but this one runs in overdrive, with little time for Bosch’s usual reflections on the past. …the energy and skill Connelly continues to bring to this series will leave readers eager for Bosch’s next case.”
— Colette Bancroft, St. Petersburg Times

“The Overlook” thus makes for a current-events opportunity for any reader searching for a new favorite fictional character to follow. If you like this one – and it would be surprising if you didn’t – it wouldn’t hurt to start at the beginning, with a younger and more nimble yet no less ornery Bosch, in “The Black Echo.”
— George Meyer, Tampa Tribune

“Our Tip of the Ice Pick Award goes yet again to veteran crime novelist Michael Connelly for his 13th Harry Bosch novel, The Overlook. …Let me just say that this is perhaps the sparest, most riveting and most plot-driven Bosch novel to date. Adapted from a 16-part serial in the New York Times magazine, The Overlook has been considerably reworked for book publication—now richer and more complex, it is well worth reading even if you read it in the original form.”
— Bruce Tierney, BookPage

he Overlook made the following “Best Of 2007” Lists
Amazon.com’s Best of 2007 Lists
# 2 Customers’ Favorite Mystery/Thrillers
# 32 on Customers’ Top 100 Books
The Seattle Times, Best Crime Fiction 2007
Chicago Tribunes Favorite Books of 2007, Thrillers

Michael Connelly has “interviewed” Harry Bosch before in 2002 and in 2005. For the third time around, you can hear the interview .

(Psst…Harry’s voice provided by Len Cariou, the reader of many of the Bosch audiobooks including the Echo Park audiobook.)

Print these questions and use them to lead a discussion about Echo Park. Spoiler Warning!! This guide does address the entire book.

1.“It was the clothes that got to Bosch. The way they were folded so neatly. Did she do that? Or had it been the one who took her from this world?”
Why do you think LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is obsessed with certain unsolved cases, like Marie Gesto’s in Echo Park? Why would some cases haunt him more than others?

2.“They ought to strap him down, put the juice in him and send him down the hole to where he belongs.”
Bosch was initially appalled that Assistant DA Rick O’Shea would make a deal with Raynard Waits, giving him life in prison over the death penalty. Bosch believed that Waits should die for what he did. Do you believe it is worth negotiating with a serial killer in order to close more murder cases and provide answers to the families of victims? Does a life sentence in prison equal the death penalty?

3.“The prosecutor is running for DA. He needs the headlines.”
Harry didn’t trust O’Shea’s motives for making the deal with Waits—he thought O’Shea just wanted publicity for his campaign. In this particular case, do you think Harry was being cynical and narrow minded, or was O’Shea looking out for his own best interests by dealing with Waits?

4.“Taking it straight to the heart is the way of the true detective.”
Raynard Waits targeted young women who were “fringe dwellers,” unaccounted for by society and not missed when they disappeared. Harry Bosch’s philosophy has always been that everybody counts or nobody counts. It makes him good at his job but also makes him vulnerable. Why?

5.“It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? About how many of these guys are out there. The under the surface killers.”
Waits was arrested by accident—the police were looking for burglars when they stumbled onto him. Potentially, he could have continued to kill unnoticed for years to come. FBI Agent Rachel Walling’s evaluation was that he was an intelligent and organized killer—the police got lucky catching him.  Can you see how someone like Waits could get away with murder for years?

6.“The call would not be a complete shock to them.”
Harry Bosch had continued to call Marie Gesto‘s parents over the 13 years since her disappearance. He thought it was some measure of comfort for them to know he had not given up. Do you think this was wise for Harry to do? Did this bring comfort to the parents or just fill them with hope and unfulfilled expectations? Was Harry personally responsible to these people?

7.“They were eyes that were hurt from the inside out. “
Harry Bosch felt a sense of damage in Rachel Walling. He thought she had victim’s eyes. Why is he drawn to her because of that? Why is she drawn to him?

8.“But I’ve got to tell you, partner, you’re doing that cowboy thing again and I don’t like it very much.”
Following protocol and regulations doesn’t seem to matter too much to Harry Bosch. His partner, Kizmin Rider, and Rachel Walling, struggled to deal with Harry’s solo outings, his rule breaking, his recklessness—what Harry called “going off the reservation.” What are the pros and cons of working with Harry Bosch? Do you think he intentionally tries to alienate people or is it just a result of his narrow focus on his mission?

9.“If you can’t stand the ghosts, get out of the haunted house.”
Harry was devastated to find out that he and his former partner, Jerry Edgar, had made a mistake when initially investigating Marie Gesto’s disappearance in 1993. Kizmin Rider thought about quitting the force after she froze when she should have gone for her gun in Beachwood Canyon. Were they right to beat themselves up over these mistakes? Or was Rachel Walling right when she said that mistakes are part of their job?

10. “You are nothing but a political opportunist and a hack.”
Irvin Irving has been Harry Bosch’s nemesis since the beginning of this series. Harry was there to witness Irving being forced out of the LAPD by the Chief (The Closers), In Echo Park, Irving is running for City Council. Is Michael Connelly setting us up for future showdowns between Bosch and Irving? If elected, how do you imagine Irving will use this position against the LAPD and Harry Bosch in future books?

11. “You went your way and I went mine. I guess I fed the wrong dog.”
Harry Bosch and Raynard Waits had similar backgrounds—their childhood was spent in and out of youth halls and foster homes. A sad story but not necessarily unique. How is it that some people, like Bosch, manage to survive and rise above their past, while others, like Waits, do not?

12. “Predicted, hoped, set in motion—what’s the difference?”
What do you think about Rachel Walling’s accusations at the end of the book?  Was she right?

The Echo Park audiobook by Hachette Audio is read by narrator Len Cariou. It is available in CD and in downloadable formats.

Listen to an excerpt: