The Hollow

When Harry Bosch was eleven years old, his mother was murdered, forcing him to become a ward of the state. He was sent to live at the MacLaren Children's Centre, a notorious California youth facility where systemic abuse and brutal discipline ran rampant. Decades after the facility closed its doors, a massive, multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuit resolves in favour of the former residents.

Bosch’s half-brother, defence attorney Mickey Haller, tracks him down to inform him that he is personally entitled to a $400,000 settlement. Instead of accepting the money, Bosch rejects the payout (later he gives it to charity). He decides that he does not want financial compensation; he wants justice.

The news of the lawsuit reawakens a deeply buried trauma of his past – specifically, his memories of Charlie “Chops” Lamb, a young black boy Bosch befriended while living at MacLaren in the 1960s.

In 1965, when Bosch was fifteen (and had escaped from MacLaren), Chops was found dead from blunt force trauma. His body was hidden inside a dark, cramped space underneath a staircase, known as The Hollow. The facility's staff regularly used this hidden room to isolate and discipline misbehaving children.

Calling on his friend Renee Ballard for help, Bosch conducts a sub rosa investigation into what really happened to Charlie Lamb.

What can one say about Michael Connelly’s superb mystery writing skills that hasn’t already been trumpeted from the rooftops?! He’s simply the best.  This was another two-day read of pure pleasure for me.  I hope and expect it will be the same for you.