The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch just can’t leave the life of investigation behind, even in retirement.  He secures his California P.I. license but is discriminate in the cases he takes and the clients he will work for.  He signs up as a reserve detective on the small San Fernando police force.  He agrees to volunteer at least twenty four hours a month on cold cases but meets his minimum the first week of each month, sometimes in the first two days.  He can’t give up the life… not with a serial rapist on the loose.

A billionaire tycoon, Whitney Vance is on his death bed and has one regret in his life he needs P.I. Harry Bosch to fix.  Vance had but one love in his life, a young Mexican girl when he was nineteen.  She became pregnant and Whitney’s father severed the lovers’ relationship.  Now Whitney needs to know if he has an heir before he dies.  No one must know, the stakes are too high.  Harry quickly tracks Vibiana to a home for unwed mothers and discovers the baby was adopted by a working family in Oxnard.  The boy grew into a man and enlisted into the Navy in 1969, the Vietnam era.  From his sister, Harry learns the young man had died there in a helicopter crash but had met a woman in San Diego during basic training who bore his daughter… the last thing Vance’s board of directors wants to know about.  What measures would they take to keep it buried?  The Vietnam connection brings back memories of Harry’s experience there… now thinking of Maddie, his daughter, he can’t let go until he finds all of Whitney’s living heirs.

Meanwhile, back at the SFPD Harry uncovers some clues that lead the full time detectives closer to the serial rapist.  His experience and tenacity can’t be matched when it comes to sniffing out the perp.  But Harry’s clues get a female detective abducted as she tries to accost the rapist alone.  In a frantic blitz to find the missing detective, Harry alienates all his coworkers and finds the perp in his sights... figuratively and literally.

This is Michael Connelly at his best.  Harry Bosch lives on in retirement, consumed by his code… everyone counts or nobody counts… thumbing his nose at authority, searching for the clue that kicks in his wave of adrenalin to find the next perp just because the victim deserves redemption.  What a privilege and a thrill for the reader to ride that wave with Harry.