The Drop by Michael Connelly: Likeable Plank Investigates a Suicide and an Undetected Serial Killer

This, my first encounter with a Connelly book, the prose felt overwhelmingly male. How fitting the detective, Bosch would be a namesake to powertools – as upright as a plank, but likeable all the same.

Double Plot

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A double helix of a plot begins with an apparent cockup in the DNA department when a match is found between blood on an old murder victim and a suspect (Clayton Pell), only Pell would only have been eight at the time. Bosch’s nose starts twitching and he will not let up until he finds the answer to this riddle.

To Catch a Serial Killer

The plot gets complicated when old adversary, Councilman Irving asks Bosch to look into an apparent suicide of his son, found at the foot of a plush hotel. Bosch encounters corruption in high places, only those that pull the strings are being manipulated themselves. The story really takes momentum when Bosch rattles Irving’s cage, bringing about a showdown during a press conference. 

But during all of this, a serial killer is sneaking beneath the radar, leaving a covert trail of blood three decades long. Things don’t go to plan with Pell and things almost go pear-shaped after Bosch’s partner Chu makes a mistake. Well, it is all very ‘high jingo.’. Bosch’s planky nature comes out when he does not forgive easily. He is also a little stilted with his daughter, whom he doesn’t spend much time with.

Connelly doesn’t go into detail of the serial killer’s horrors but he does so with food and navigational directions. Some might have seen the twist at the end, but I didn’t. A twisty turny plot that I enjoyed.