I didn’t discover him until last year. Now I can’t get enough of him or of his half-brother, Mickey Haller. I’ve been reading him out of order just because I’m reading what I can get for free or next to free before spending money on those things I can’t get without spending money. Not that Harry isn’t worth money. It’s just that I’ve learned that some things I can get for free and I don’t mind reading Harry out of order. It keeps me on my toes.
One of the things that I like about Harry is that the reader knows so much more about him than the characters in any of the novels. They aren’t privy to Harry’s history as we are. They don’t know some of his preferences or the things he enjoys when he’s off the job. I like that while reading Harry, I often find myself putting my Kindle into sleep mode so I can go off and find something that Harry has led me to. Like today. I have been busy finding some of the music in The Drop. Harry, you see, loves jazz. He loves vintage jazz. I often know who Harry is listening to just by reading the name, as I’ve a small collection of vintage jazz, but not so today. As Maddie listened to one of Harry’s CDs, I was introduced to Chet Baker, and to Night Bird in particular. It’s great music. And downloading it and playing it as I read about Harry, adds to the experience and to my music library. Today I also learned a little about poet, John Harvey.
The Drop also finds me thinking about the origin of evil. It’s one of the themes in the novel and Harry has a lot of thoughts about evil and the source of it. Is it nature? Or is it nurture? Harry is unsure. He can see it both ways. It gives the reader a lot to think about as we read and digest.
Harry isn’t just another literary character. He is a source, or should I say a resource? He leads us to discover a lot we didn’t know. He leads us to remember some things and some places that we already know but hadn’t thought about in a while. He makes us think. Thinking is good.
Okay, Harry is calling me back.
Sounds like he’s a character who’s become a friend 🙂
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[…] well, I guess you can tell I’m a huge fan. I would tell you about another blog post I wrote a while back about Harry and the music that pulls readers into the novels. It’s a […]
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I’ve not hear about Harry Bosch till reading your blog, and checked him out on Amazon, and still wasn’t sure whether I’d like him or not. This helped me a bit, to understand why you liked him. I wonder what you would recommend to a first time reader.
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I removed your comment with your email address to protect that from any crazies out in the world. I will be sending you a file a little later or in the morning. It’s almost midnight here so maybe in the morning.
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