When the body of a local teenager turns up in a community garden, veteran homicide detective Gus Ramone teams up with T. C. Cook, a legendary, now retired detective, and Dan "Doc" Holiday, his former partner who left the force under a cloud of suspicion.
Micky Haller, strafpleiter uit Los Angeles ('De Lincoln-advocaat' en 'Het laatste oordeel'), treedt dit keer op als openbare aanklager. Een hele ommekeer, tot nu toe heeft hij altijd aan de kant van de verdediging gestaan. Het gaat om de 24 jaar geleden voor een kindermoord veroordeelde Jessup die via de resultaten van recent DNA-onderzoek probeert zijn onschuld te bewijzen. Haller neemt de opdracht aan op voorwaarde dat zijn ex-vrouw hem mag assisteren en zijn halfbroer rechercheur Harry Bosch (hoofdpersoon in veel van Connelly’s misdaadverhalen) het nodige onderzoek doet. Het is een moeilijke zaak waarin ze de media en het bewijsmateriaal tegen hebben, maar het trio is ervan overtuigd dat Jessup schuldig is en als hij vrijkomt nieuwe moorden zal plegen. Een goed geschreven, spannende, uitstekende legal thriller van een van de topauteurs in het misdaadgenre met een intrigerende plot en veel aandacht voor de karakterontwikkeling en privélevens van zijn hoofdpersonen, o.a. de verhouding tussen Harry Bosch en zijn tienerdochter Maddie. Vijf sterren in de VN-Detective & Thrillergids. Biblion Redactie
For Jack McEvoy, the killer named The Poet was the last word in evil. Think again, Jack. Jack McEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Forced to take a buy-out from the Los Angeles Times as the newspaper grapples with dwindling revenues, he's got only a few days left on the job. His last assignment? Training his replacement, a low-cost reporter just out of journalism school. But Jack has other plans for his exit. He is going to go out with a bang — a final story that will win the newspaper journalism's highest honor — a Pulitzer prize. Jack focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer from the projects who has confessed to police that he brutally raped and strangled one of his crack clients. Jack convinces Alonzo's mother to cooperate with his investigation into the possibility of her son's innocence. But she has fallen for the oldest reporter's trick in the book. Jack's real intention is to use his access to report and write a story that explains how societal dysfunction and neglect created a 16-year-old killer. But as Jack delves into the story he soon realizes that Alonzo's so-called confession is bogus, and Jack is soon off and running on the biggest story he's had since The Poet crossed his path years before. He reunites with FBI Agent Rachel Walling to go after a killer who has worked completely below police and FBI radar—and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. What Jack doesn't know is that his investigation has inadvertently set off a digital tripwire. The killer knows Jack is coming—and he's ready.
Ex combattente dello Special Air Service (il reparto d'élite dell'esercito britannico), e ora al servizio dell'Intelligence, Nick Stone viene spedito negli USA sulle tracce di un agente che sembra svanito nel nulla: Sarah Greenwood, sospettata di aver tradito il controspionaggio ed essere entrata nell'organizzazione terroristica di Osama Bin Laden. Una volta Nick e Sarah hanno 'lavorato' insieme, e forse, una volta, si sono anche amati. Ora però gli ordini di Nick sono chiari e decisamente minacciosi: trovarla, fare rapporto, attendere ulteriori istruzioni. E sono proprio quelle 'ulteriori istruzioni' cui Nick decide di disobbedire, per trovarsi improvvisamente trasformato da cacciatore in preda. Braccati dai servizi segreti, dagli uomini di Bin Laden, dalla polizia, Nick e Sarah troveranno l'unica via di fuga in un percorso obbligato sino a "Crisi Quattro": il centro di protezione e controllo della Casa Bianca...
Nick Stone, lasciato nel 1988 lo Special Air Service (il reparto d'élite dell'esercito britannico) dopo uno scontro a fuoco con tre terroristi dell'IRA a Gibilterra, lavora adesso per l'Intelligence e scopre che il suo collega Brown e la sua famiglia sono stati sterminati a Washington in modo apparentemente del tutto inspiegabile. Soltanto Kelly, una bambina di sette anni, è sopravvissuta. Comincia una caccia spietata, nel corso della quale un duro come Nick, rotto a ogni esperienza, scoprirà non soltanto fino a che punto possano giungere la violenza e la corruzione, ma anche una sconvolgente verità che lega in intreccio indissolubile governi, terrorismo e trafficanti (di qualsiasi genere), uniti da una comune avidità e sete di potere...