Sunday, March 16, 2014

Michael Connelly: Void Moon

If you enjoy a good crime thriller, I'm sure you've read a Harry Bosch or Mikey Haller. We know Matthew McConaughey as the Lincoln Lawyer and soon to be Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch. Those are great characters and it should be an honor to be chosen to portray them (in my opinion anyway). But what about the other books written by Connelly? What about the ones that are one-timers? The ones that don't belong in a series? Do you get caught up on the series and only focus on those leaving other great stories on the shelves unread? I realized that sometimes I do that! I've started picking up some of my favorite author's books that are not part of a series or are older (older than me) that I wouldn't normally pick up.

I was searching thought my state's digital library and decided on Void Moon by Michael Connelly. I was looking through the reading list of the Harry Bosch series (I admit it, I'm behind a bit) when I came across Void Moon. I decided to give it a go knowing that when the book was over, it was over. The connection I lost with this character was going to be gone as soon as I read the last page. She was not coming back. With a sigh I hit the borrow button, downloaded it to my phone and set off for a long walk to start the audio book. Keep in mind I have about three books going at any given time. I have a book by my bed (currently Servant of the Bones by Ann Rice), I have a Kindle book (currently Home For The Holidays by Jeaniene Frost) and then my audio book which is now Void Moon. Wait, I just realized at this very moment I have a fourth book, it's The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. That one is in my bag those goes back and forth to the car with me. You never know when you're going to need a book to read. I want to be prepared.

Anyway.... back to Void Moon. Even though Cassidy "Cassie" Black had driven off into the sunset to start her knew life, I'm okay with that. Let's start at the beginning. Cassie Black has been out of jail for just a short time when the novel starts. But it's not too long before she sucked back into her old life. The difference this time is that she just wants one bog score so she can take her daughter and run away and live happily ever after. Like that was going to happen! Cassie hooks up with her old pal Leo. Leo gets her a big job where they are going to strike it big. Cassie immediately sets out to get the job done. She hits some bumps along the way. Her other old pal Jersey tries to steal from her and let's just say he was a bit inappropriate as well. But this girl can kick some butt! With a kick to the groin and a gun to his head she's able to get the upper hand and tie up the dirt bag in the back of his own van, the one she uses for the job! What a dumbass this guy is. Anyway, there's a lot of suspense throughout, from the time she gets to Las Vegas to the time she's standing in the "mark's" room with $2.5M and a gun aimed at the man's head.... holy moly! But then Connelly cleverly cuts off Cassie story right at that point and brings in the next set of characters.

Now we've got the casino manager, Vincent, who gets a guy named Jack to find out what the hell happened to the money and why is the guy dead in the hotel room? You think you know everything. This is why I love mystery novels! Jack tracks Cassie to Los Angeles. Back up - he sees Jersey;s van outside the casino on cameras thus leading him to Jersey who gives up Cassie fairly quickly. Jack kills Jersey (duh! he's a bad guy!). Jack finds Leo but Leo won't give up the money or Cassie. Leo is dead. Jack finds Cassie's place. Unfortunately Cassie's parole officer is doing a home check and the poor fat woman is shot by Jack (don't worry, she doesn't die). Jack finds out about Cassie's daughter and kidnaps her. Now Cassie had given birth in prison and this child was adopted by a loving couple. The almost 6 year old girl has no idea who Cassie is, but Cassie had been planning to snatch her and run away with her. Jack gets there first and they all meet back in Vegas to exchange the money for the kid. Cassie is smarter than that. She knows that Jack won't ever let them out of it alive. She plays some tricks getting Vincent (the casino manager) involved. And then....

And then we have the what what? Holy moly! I didn't see that coming moment... Cassie never killed the "mark". In fact Vincent arranged the whole damn thing. There are so many parties involved that you just don't see this coming! But the other parties aren't really involved the way you think they are and so much of it Vincent made up. Cassie saves her daughter and starts driving back to Los Angeles. She now has a decision to make. Does she take the girl and the money she was able to salvage (over a million bucks) and blow out of the country? Nope. She delivers the girl back to her adoptive parents. She did the right thing. 

I would suggest picking up this book and giving it a read for yourself. I know I give a lot away, but there's a lot I didn't cover. So if you have a favorite author and you've been ignoring some of their other works, give them a try. You never know what you might find.

Enjoy! Read often!

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