Pun Salad

A non-Harry Bosch novel from Michael Connelly. Without Bosch, some of Connelly's stylistic seams show a little bit: dialog is a little stilted, characters aren't quite three-dimensional. (I'd say somewhere around 2.7, though.) And the prose isn't magnificent, just significantly above average. But Connelly does know how to tell a story and grab your interest, so all in all, this is a pretty good read.

The protagonist is Henry Pierce, a chemist with a company on the verge of making an enormous killing in the biotech/nanotech field. They're about to file patents on a revolutionary method for powering nanites, and they're in the process of wooing a venture capitalist who'll put them on the path to capitalistic success.

There are just a couple of minor problems: Henry's dedication to his work has caused a nasty breakup with his girlfriend. And his new phone in his new apartment is getting calls meant for "Lilly", typically from lonely busnessmen in hotels. A little digging discovers that Lilly is a standout on one of those websites offering temporary intimate services.

But now Lilly has disappeared, and Henry (for personal reasons disclosed later) becomes a little obsessed with tracking her down. His amateur detective work, aided by the social engineering skills he developed on a college whim, leads him to various underbellies of L. A., and (unsurprisingly) into danger, deception, and very justified paranoia.

Although Bosch isn't present, there's a gratifying indirect reference to him late in the book. Also, Henry's a big fan of Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears A Who!, very appropriate for someone working in nanotech.