Ironwood, by Michael Connelly

 

The Book

Detective Stilwell is back and as usual, he's screwed. We open this novel a few month after the previous one in this series closed, where Stilwell, his new deputy Alton Quigley and his favorite deputy, Isla Ramirez, possibly taking out a drug drop on the island of Catalina. A bust like this, might get any one of them transferred off of the "Island of Misfit Toys", and back to the mainland. Stil, having almost no notice, will not let this opportunity pass him by. He hastily makes a plan, and sends Quigley and Ramirez to block the plane from retaking off. All seems to be going well, with Stil following the already on island suspect, and Quigley and Ramirez at the airport, until Still hears the plane take off again. He breaks off pursuing his suspect to race back to the tarmac. There he find Quigley beyond help ad Ramirez hanging on for dear life. He calls for help and get Ramirez back to the mainland in time to save her live. 

Because Stilwell made command decisions and is a witness, he's benched from the investigation. Stil both knows and respects the investigators assigned to the case, Simon and Trestle. Reluctantly he backs off, for the time being. He's got other fish to fry. 

The backpack of a woman, suspected to be a victim of a serial killer, is part of Stil's lost and found. When Stil finds who she is, how long she's been missing, he's transferred to Rene Ballard in Cold Cases. Rene reads him in on the case, after a bit of tussling with Stil's boss. With a little bit of luck, and a little bit of wisdom originating with Bosch and passed to Stil through Rene Ballard, Stil may have located a serial killer. Can they find him before he kills again? And with Stil using the case as cover to investigate the murder Quigley, can he stay focused on the work and not let their suspect get away. And if that's not enough to complicate matters, he's suddenly faced with one more case. 

On an island like Catalina, where the families go back over a century, and heritage is everything, someone starts tagging the island's historic landmarks with the graffiti reading FSID. It doesn't take long for Stil to trace it back to a club whose name is "Free Speech is Dead" and a troubled young man, who links back to Stil's biggest case on the island.

By the time Stil finally pieces all three of these together, he's faced with a choice, admit the solve has reached beyond his control, or blow the whole thing up by going public. What's a rebel like Stil to do? 

My Thoughts

Michael Connelly has mastered the three case plot at this point. I like this better, it feels more authentic than wild romantic subplot here and there. In fact, I quit reading a series once because I felt the author had used the romantic subplot too many times and had a character step out of character to make the subplot work. Connelly is not and has never been so sloppy. 

He is a tight story teller, carefully weaving his clues through out the narrative. He has his facts in place and works hard to make his characters both human and complex. It's not wonder that after only 2 novels, Stil's character has been picked up by HBO for a new series called Catalina. Can't wait to see it. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

I got this 323 page book was lent to me the same day it entered my library's system, May 27th 2026. Of course it's in excellent condition, as I was the first to read it. New books, especially by popular authors are often restricted to just 2 weeks to read it. I am happy to report, despite my busy schedule, it took me just three days to read it. 

Library Books

This Book                                                         $32.00

Library Items Reviewed This Year                 $294.83

Private Books

This Book                                                        $00.00

Total of Private Books                                     $55.75

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year          $362.58

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