Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77754 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-26
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Customer Reviews

One-off thriller that works
This is Connelly's twelfth novel and the second stand-alone or 'one-off' after VOID MOON a couple of years earlier. No sign of Harry Bosch, then, but almost inevitably a couple of characters from Bosch tales either feature or get a mention. The key difference with this book is that instead of a strong character built around a mildly interesting story - Connelly's highly successful modus operandi over the past decade - we have here what becomes a very interesting story built around a lead character that could never really survive beyond the one novel. The author has turned things inside-out, you could say, and come up with a story that to me had hints of Michael Crichton here and flashes of Harlan Coben there but in the end, thankfully, it has the Connelly signature.

Leading character is 34-year-old Henry Pierce, a chemist and scientist who is on the verge of a major breakthrough in the world of nanotechnology. His vision and near reality is compared to the 1966 science-fiction film 'Fantastic Voyage' in which a craft carrying several people is shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the bloodstream of a dying man. The objective behind Pierce's molecular biology is to create and power microscopically tiny computers that live in the human body indefinitely, warding off or treating deadly illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS among many other conditions. It's not clear how much of the science that Connelly writes so earnestly about is fiction and how much is fact, but in some notes at the back he does add that nanotechnology is a reality and that the human race is on the threshold of life-changing frontiers in the field of molecular computer manufacture. Anyway, Pierce's personality is intimately examined as the pages turn and while he doesn't get within a mile of Harry Bosch in terms of charisma, he does have something in common with him. Just as Bosch does in the very next novel LOST LIGHT, Henry has a soft spot for a woman he has never met and sets out on a potentially lethal mission in search of redemption and justice. It takes a long time for the reader to be convinced that such risks and activities are credible for a laboratory-loving biologist, but eventually there is enough in Pierce's past - his guilt at failing to save his sister's life many years earlier - to suggest that he would go to such lengths. Basically he is searching for a missing prostitute, and his attempts to find her lead him into serious trouble such that he is soon regarded as the only suspect in her murder, but as no body has been found there is no certainty that she is dead. Things really heat up (after a rather long-drawn-out beginning) in the second half of the story when Pierce realises that he is the victim of an elaborate and horrifying set-up. That's when the reader starts to wonder, out of all of the friends and associates known to be in Pierce's circle, who would want him arrested for the murder of a woman he has never met. My first guess was Pierce's first too, but there were further surprises in store.

I found the first half of the story rather slow in pace even if it was very interesting, but the tension definitely lifted in the second half and it quite suddenly became an intriguing thriller. The ultimate end was a little clunky and predictable but the complete package turned out to be a much more satisfying read than I had expected in the early stages. This one can be selected even if you have never read a thing by Connelly before as it has no bearing at all in the lives of other key characters (Bosch, Haller, McEvoy, McCaleb) but a little taster worth mentioning is that the long-dead serial killer The Dollmaker gets more than a brief mention...

Chasing the Dumb
Henry Pierce is a scientist on the edge of making a discovery that could enhance the World. He needs to spend as much time as possible organising his work so that his company can get the funding they need to continue. All he needs is his new phone number to be constantly called by men looking for a mysterious woman. Unable to resist a puzzle Pierce decides to look into the apparent disappearance of this woman and soon finds himself in a dark world of prostitution and naughty web sites. Can Pierce investigate a crime whilst balancing his research - why has he got involved in the first place?

As a huge fan of Connelly's books, and in particular the Bosch novels, I was disappointed in how stupid `Chasing the Dime' seemed to me. Firstly, the title does not match the book at all and is an attempt by Connelly to sex up what is a rather dull science based story. Secondly, the main hero is not only unlikable with his paranoid delusions, but also a bit dim. What these elements did was hamper an ok mystery that could have been fun if the hero did not fall into trap after trap. Waiting over 100 pages to tell the reader why Pierce is so motivated to investigate is also a mistake as for a long time you do not understand why he even bothers. `Chasing the Dime' is in my opinion Connelly's worst book so far by a long chalk. His usual mix of moody crime action and violence sits uneasily in a book about science. This is for Connelly enthusiasts only, first time readers should start at the beginning of the Bosch novels to see how good he really can be.

SLOW-BURNING THRILLER PAYS DIVIDENDS
I'm a big Michael Connelly fan, based up to now entirely on his Harry Bosch detective thrillers, and I found the first half of this book frustrating and disappointing. The main character behaves in a way which seems to defy all logic or commonsense; the absence of Bosch is felt keenly; and several of the characters, particularly the bad guys, seem like cardboard cut-outs. Then, half-way through, there's a twist, and the novel comes alive. Plus, we learn more about the protagonist's background, which explains to some extent why he behaves as he does. For my money, the book still doesn't meet the usual high Connelly standards; but from about half-way through, this is quite an enjoyable read.

Summary: well-plotted but lightweight thriller based on some implausible premises.