The pick for our reading group’s book of the month was Michael Connelly’s The Wrong Side of Goodbye.
I’m new to Michael Connelly’s Bosch series. I’ve read two, The Crossings and this selection. Other members of the group have read several of his novels with the main character, Harry Bosch, solving crimes while he dealt with personal issues. They hoped Bosch’s retirement didn’t mean that Connelly would end that series.
Thankfully, Bosch is back and we discussed his character arc over the many novels about him.
For comparison, I brought up the author, Lee Child, whose crime series has Jack Reacher as a main character. The first 5 or 6 thrillers of Reacher tales entertained me. I liked the humor, I like the fact that Reacher doesn’t use suitcases, he only carries a toothbrush in his treks across miles and miles. He’s a strong, unique character.
However, I began to see a pattern to his books, which distracted my rapt attention and the critic in me complained that the extreme graphic violence wasn’t necessary to include in the plots. I didn’t give up, I read several more of Child’s series until the one I’m reading now.
This one is the last one. Not only is the violence too much, but I don’t think Lee Child wrote it. The style is similar but the content and the details can’t be Lee Child, the author I enjoyed before. The ending was medically unbelievable and the solution to the intrigue was summed up by one of the characters who was bleeding out from his wounds. Several paragraphs of backstory told by the guy whose blood pools everywhere? Come on, Child, you know better than that.
I looked at the reviews on Amazon and agree with PZF85Jon who said,
“Obviously Mr Child doesn’t have a plan how to deal with Reacher when he gets older (hint: have a chat with Mr. Connelly – his hero, Harry Bosch is ageing nicely – like a very good red wine.)”
Character Arc makes a difference.
I’d love any comments about either author.
Julaina Kleist-Corwin
Editor of Written Across the Genres
Author of Hada’s Fog
