Book Dragon is Reading - FaceOff, edited by David Baldacci

 

1. Red Eye [Patrick Kenzie vs. Harry Bosch] by Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly

So far I’ve yet to read anything by Michael Connelly I did not enjoy. Admittedly that is not much - a novel, The Poet, and a short story “Father’s Day” in the collection The Blue Religion. The latter is all I have otherwise read of his main series character Harry Bosch. I’m not previously familiar with Dennis Lehane or his work but this piece worked so well I’m inclined to give him a look.

This was a refreshing, exciting change from what I had been reading but at the moment I seem to have my reading patterns set up well enough to generate that feeling nearly every time I switch from one book / series to the next.

At the point of writing this, having nearly finished the book I can say in retrospect that Red Eye gave me much more of what I had been wanting and hoping for from this book than many of the others in it. My belief continues to be evidenced that anthologising often involves managing reader response by opening and closing with especially strong stories if available.

Red Eye played out in a way I imagine - am led to believe - many superhero crossovers don’t quite manage to do. We have one protagonist pursuing a case into the territory of another, who picks up a separate lead to the same target. They cross paths and … don’t fight. I like a lot the way Bosch and Kenzie came to each other’s attention in a sort of surveillance triangle, each keeping an eye in the house and on this strange guy who also seems to be watching it.

From there it plays out quickly, each having half the puzzle which put together demands they resolve the situation now. The two get to play their roles as the heroic white crime-fighters who really care about justice and will step outside the rules if need be to thwart serial rapist-murderers of young black girls who would otherwise slip through the cracks of judicial apathy.