Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly is the 15th book in the “Harry Bosch” mystery series. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, October 2009
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Detective Bosch has known for years. Bosch still carries in his pocket a matchbook he picked up there on a case years ago. It’s motto — “Happy is the man who find refuge in himself” — has been a guiding light through some of his darkest days. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Harry hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation — not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Mr. Li’s life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the United States.
And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch’s life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him, and Harry travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he’s lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city’s Hungry Ghosts festival turns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate attempt to outmatch the triad’s ferocity.
Delivered at a fever pitch far surpassing even his own extraordinary standards, Nine Dragons is Michael Connelly, “the best mystery writer in the world” (GQ), at his blistering peak.
Harry Bosch is back and on the case when a local store owner is murdered. As he is getting closer to the clues to solve this case, his family is indirectly involved when his daughter is kidnapped with a threat of loss of life if he doesn’t get off this murder case. We see Harry flying to Hong Kong; working with his ex-wife to find their daughter and then bringing his daughter back to L.A. A surprise was seeing Mickey Haller. This story was engrossing until the last punctuation mark. My rating: 4 stars