The Burning Room

The Burning Room

Hardcover edition
Author	Michael Connelly
Language	English/Spanish
Series	Harry Bosch #17
Genre	Crime novel
Publisher	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date	November 3, 2014
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print, e-book
Pages	400 pp.
ISBN	978-0316225939
Preceded by	The Black Box
Followed by	The Crossing

The Burning Room is the 27th^{[ citation needed ]} novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the seventeenth novel featuring Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch. ^{[1] [2]} The book was published by Little, Brown and Company on November 3, 2014. ^[3]

The novel and The Concrete Blonde formed the basis for the 2021 seventh season of Bosch , starring Titus Welliver as Bosch. ^[4]

Plot

LAPD detective Harry Bosch and his rookie partner, Lucia Soto, are assigned the case of mariachi performer Orlando Merced, who was shot in a crowded Los Angeles square and was paralyzed from the waist down. The shooter was never found, and Merced survived for ten years before dying from complications from his wounds. When the bullet is finally removed from his body, Bosch establishes that Merced was shot with a hunting rifle and that the crime was a targeted hit, not a random act of gang violence as originally suspected. This new evidence leads Bosch to one of the city's most powerful businessmen, and a controversial former mayor with aspirations of becoming governor.

Meanwhile, Bosch notices strange behavior from Soto and begins to suspect that she has gang affiliations. After catching her carrying out an off-the-books investigation, she reveals that she is a survivor of a notorious apartment fire that killed nine children; the fire remained unsolved after a key suspect disappeared without trace. Bosch fabricates a connection to the Merced case to protect Soto, and the two investigate the fire parallel to the Merced case. The trail leads them to a series of robberies across Greater Los Angeles that the FBI believe were used to fund a white supremacist militia group, and ultimately to a witness hiding in a convent on the Mexican border.

Over the course of the story, Bosch wrestles with the knowledge that his retirement is imminent and makes it his mission to train Soto to take over in the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit. Ultimately, he is caught breaking into the Robbery-Homicide Division offices as part of the Merced investigation and is placed on indefinite suspension pending an investigation. With less than a year until his retirement, he leaves Open-Unsolved knowing that he might never return.

References

1. O'Connell, Tim (October 30, 2014). "Book Review: 'The Burning Room' by Michael Connelly". The Florida Times-Union . Retrieved November 1, 2024.
2. Maslin, Janet (November 24, 2014). "The Craziness Adds Up for an Antihero Cop". The New York Times . Retrieved October 31, 2024.
3. "THE BURNING ROOM". Kirkus Reviews . October 4, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
4. Zorrilla, Mónica Marie (June 25, 2021). "'Bosch' Series Finale Closes One Chapter and Smoothly Transitions Into Spinoff". Variety . Retrieved November 1, 2024.