The Wrong Side of Goodbye

Harry Bosch, Book 19

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Titus Welliver

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Unstoppable detective Harry Bosch returns in a new thriller from New York Times best-selling author Michael Connelly.

Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves.

Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir. Using all of his cold-case skills, Bosch pieces together a 65-year-old mystery and finds out that the case is not as simple - or as cold - as he thought.

Swift, unpredictable, and thrilling, The Wrong Side of Goodbye proves once again that "Connelly is still very much in his prime" (Washington Post).

©2016 Michael Connelly (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"A great mystery and a great narration are a winning combination." ( AudioFile)

Entertaining with some very good twists

Connelly is a good writer and he lived up to expectations with this contribution to the Bosch series. There were twists aplenty and most were somewhere in-between predictable and coming-out-of-left-field. And that's the way it should be in a good novel. This story had the added bonus of reprising the Lincoln Lawyer. Reminded me of the way John Sandford includes Virgil Flowers in his Lucas Davenport series, and vice-versa. All in all, a good story that will not disappoint Bosch fans.

Connelly Delivers Everytime

Bosch alone is not enough to carry a story. There are great series, Department Q and Duffy for example, where the detectives' personalities and nuances are so intriguing the mystery is secondary. The genious of Connelly is his ability to create mysteries that not only require great detective work, but hook his readers in the first chapters and keeps us captivated to the end.

Bosch is probably the most accurate description of a real detective in the Procedural genre. He is loyal to the job, above all relationships and personal gain. His dedication, persistence and years of experience make him one of the best detectives in literature.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye has Bosch working as a volunteer detective in the San Ferando police force, while working on his own as a P.I. There are two cases, a serial rapist he works as a detective and a lost heir case he works as a P.I. Both cases are riveting, and well worth your time.

So very very good!

As always because of audible's really awful prioritizing of reviews, only those following me will get this. This may very well be the best of all the Bosch series . Get it, read it, enjoy it. Also ignore all those who mentioned that this narrator is lousy. He is not. He is quite excellent.

Ignore all other reviews and just read mine

This book is terrific from start to finish. Am I saying this because I love Michael Connelly's work? Perhaps.
But the fact is that I have impeccable taste in audiobooks after having gone through several hundred titles and I know the difference between a good book and a great book.
If you are looking for a book where you will experience withdrawals when you are not listening to the story, then this book is for you.
If you are looking for a book that hooks you from the beginning and leaves you begging for more at the end, this book is for you
If you are looking for the perfect marriage between author and narrator, then this book is for you.
If you are an Angeleno and enjoy Michael Connelly's love affair with LA then this book will not disappoint you. To think that Harry Bosch goes to the same Starbuck's that I go to-who knew?
Even if you aren't an Angeleno but are a sucker for a good story with well developed characters and just the appropriate number of twists, surprises and appearances by some old friends then use your credit to get this book

Loved this police story!

I've listened to a couple other Bosch novels, but this was far and away the best. I can't remember enjoying a police mystery so much. This had my interest from the start and was great until the end. This had two plots: as a police reserve officer, Bosch was trying to solve a serial rapist case. At the same time, he was contacted by a very old multi-billionaire to see if he had any heirs from an affair in his youth. Both stories were so engaging. Great ending, too. Police procedurals are not my favorite genre, but they would be if there were more novels this good. One more thing - this book is so much better than the Bosch TV seasons, and they are not bad. Also, even though this is "Book 21" of a series, it stands alone if you have not read a Harry Bosch novel. Bosch is a great character - an understated detective who will not be afraid to bend rules a little to solve a crime.

A Tale Within A Tale

It is hard to believe that this is the 23rd book in the Harry Bosch series. Harry is now doing some private investigator work and is a volunteer reserve officer with the San Fernando Police Department. Harry is working as a detective on a series of unsolved rape cases that go back over a number of years. He is beginning to think he has a serial rapist case and the rapist will soon strike again. On the P. I. side of his life, he is hired by billionaire Whitney Vance to find out if he might have an heir from a relationship he had while he was a young university student.

The book is well written and Connelly keeps the plot twisting, turning and the suspense building to keep me reading. Connelly has skillfully revealed Harry ‘s transition from LAPD detective to that of an unpaid reserve investigator. He reveals the problems of his being a former big time LAPD detective to the “old guy” in a small-town police department. It has been great to watch the aging and work changes of Bosch along with that of his readers.

Titus Welliver does a good job narrating the book. Welliver is an actor and painter as well as audiobook narrator. He also plays Bosch on the Amazon T.V. Bosch series.

Superb book with two unrelated cases

All of Michael Connelly's books are in my Audible library, so I suppose I am a fan. The Wrong Side of Goodbye lacks much of the intense suspense of most of Connelly's novels. But it does contain two very interesting unrelated cases. The novel also has Harry Bosch working with his "brother by another mother" Mickey Haller. Again, this book is about mystery and strong intellectual police work rather than suspense. There is also a nice twist near the end. Titus Welliver does his usual yeoman's job of narration, excellent but not outstanding. I highly recommend this novel.

So far there have been 14 ratings at Audible with an average of 3.4 stars. There have been 27 ratings at Amazon with an average of 4.6 stars. Please do not let the low Audible ratings discourage you from listening; Titus Welliver is not as strong a narrator as Dick Hill, but Dick Hill last narrated a Harry Bosch novel since 2008. Len Cariou and Peter Giles have narrated most of the series since, and Welliver is as good as either of them. Ultimately I suspect the Audible average rating will be well above 4 stars.

Good Book

What would have made The Wrong Side of Goodbye better?

I liked the story and the characters, and loved dear old Harry as usual. I could have lived without all the GDs and Fs the author used this time. Don't recall him doing that in the past - at least not to the extent he did in this book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Probably the latest John Grisham book.

Would you be willing to try another one of Titus Welliver’s performances?

Wouldn't go looking for him nor would I avoid him. Don't pay much attention to readers unless they are unusually good or unusually bad.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Sure - it was a pretty typical Harry Bosch book that I liked a lot. I will be eagerly awaiting the next one. I just didn't like all the foul language which I think adds nothing to a book, and is an irritant to me.

Any additional comments?

Like I said, eagerly awaiting the next Harry Bosch book.

Great story--great narration!

There is little I can add to all the positive reviews that have already been written--but I do want to say that this is one of Michael Connelly's best Harry Bosch books (in my opinion). I especially loved one of the stories that ran through the book--his search for the heir of a dying billionaire--who wished to leave all his money to someone he wasn't even sure existed, in the memory of love.

Often Bosch is involved in much more sinister and hardcore criminal activity. And while that certainly existed in this book--just the premise, of a man wishing to know more about the early secrets of his own life offered a nice balance to the harsher story of a dangerous suspect who was more typical of Bosch's usual criminal cases. For this just this missing heir case, he is working with his half brother, Mickey--"the Lincoln Lawyer."

In this book, Bosch is essentially starting a new life as a private investigator, working as a "reserve officer" for a smaller town--and doesn't expect the work to be very demanding. He is very quickly back to his usual pace of moving fast to work the cases with the intuition and hard work that he always puts into his cases. This was an exceptionally good book--and made all the better by the outstanding narration of Titus Welliver. Highly recommend!

Once a Cop... Always... Nice Listen

How to stay relevant? Assuming you were ever relevant to begin with, well, that's the challenge of aging. Bosch was and needs to cling to a cubicle of authority, contribution, satisfaction. And even while it makes sense for him to vacate a chair for a younger mind... his massive accumulation of experience is difficult to retire.

And "The Wrong Side of Goodbye" is about that natural tension between getting out of the way, and finding a new purpose. Connelly tests the elasticity of that tension here as the champion Cold-Case detective simultaneously works to find a current rapist and lost-in-time missing person. Once again Connelly keeps plates spinning atop the bamboo rods of his imagination. Nothing drops, nothing cracks, yet the tensions are turned tight.

Titus Welliver's voice is new for Harry Bosch and he's an acquired taste. It's so hard to step into the tonsil's of Dick Hill's creation of this character... a difficulty which both Len Cariou and Peter Giles have wrestled with before Welliver stepped into the reading booth this time. Okay, I've acquired the taste and I hope that Audible won't ask me to get used to another Bosch reader soon.

Yeah, the ending's a little sappy, but satisfying I guess. Maybe editors shortened some of the last parts into one to be able to write "Finis"? Regardless, the book's fine. I enjoyed it.