Ok-the first Michael Connelly that I didn't enjoy very much-Void Moon. Told from the perspective of a good-hearted ex-con. One final con and the kidnapping of her adopted out daughter and she thinks she's through. It tries to make her sympathetic and a heroine-I was, frankly, bored. Even when a detective does awful things his motive is to get the bad guy. In this case none of Cassie's motives are "good" and "bad" things happen as a result of those motives. Hope the next one's better.

Back to Michael Connelly-Angels Flight-and back to Harry Bosch. Angel's Flight is a short inclined railway carrying people up Bunker Hill in downtown L.A. There are two bodies. The important one is a lawyer who has made it his life work to hunt out any real or perceived injustice-large or small-by the police and bring a lawsuit against the "racist, paramilitary organization known as the LAPD". Obviously, the police have motives and Harry is not appreciated by those who don't like the fact that he's tying to solve the case. Harry also finds himself being framed and has to solve that problem as well. Unfortunately, he is also in the middle of a one-year-old marriage that is rapidly coming apart.

The book that my book club read was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I'm afraid that I was the only one in the room who did not care for it. It seemed shallow, full of platitudes that are abviously true but bear no connection to the undeveloped characters or plot. The Secret has also been a huge hit these last couple of years and my reaction to both was the same. These things are not 'secret'. Following them is hard but they are not new.