Occassions In The Overlook, By Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly’s book, The Overlook, is about a fictional homicide case fused with a terrorist threat. The main character, Harry Bosch, gets a call in the middle of night on a homicide case with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Upon his arrival at the scene, the victim is found on the overlook of his road with two bullets holes in the back of head. The forensics team discovers that the victim is, Stanley Kent. Stanley Kent was an oncologist who had access to radioactive substances when treating patients. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security hear about this case, the combine forces with LAPD and find that the radioactive substance that was stolen, called cesium, was taken from a hospital. The three

As the case continues and the FBI and Homeland Security gain more control of the case, Bosch is slowly pushed away from the case because they believe that LAPD is incapable of solving the case. Bosch feels the need to prove the FBI and Homeland Security wrong, so, he spends the next couple of hours solving the case. As a result, Bosch was able to figure out who killed Stanley Kent, the motive behind the killing and came to the realization that the all the clues they had were only there to mislead the forces in solving the case.

There are several occassions in this book, where the legal topics that we studied in class are also present in the story. One topic that was mentioned in the book was freedom of religion. Citizens of the United States have the right to practice whatever religion they choose. However, if their religion is used as a terrorist action, then it’s not allowed. Religion was discussed at several points in this book. The first time it is mentioned is when one of the witnesses of the crime, thinks that he had heard one of the shooters yell, “Allah” just before shooting Dr. Kent. It is later on in the book when Dr. Kent’s wife reveals that the

The benefit of writing this story in third person is that, there is no bias from the characters in relation to the story. No bias from any of the characters results in the author enhancing the amount of information about each character to the plot, which is exactly what Connelly did. For example, near the end of the book, Bosch is trying to explain to Rachel Walling, a FBI agent, his logic and why he thinks his theory on the evidence is correct. Connelly writes, “Rachel nodded and Bosch knew she was committed. She was a believer...There was no doubt now. Bosch had her...Walling’s eyes widened in shock” (202). Here, Connelly is able to control the information that he gives us on Rachel since he isn’t restricted from character perspective. Connelly was able to inform us on what was going on in the scene without any character bias. Furthermore, he also allowed for us to get a feel for the character’s emotions, which typically doesn’t happen when a story is written in third person. Connelly’s description of Rachel Walling, in this scene tells us how convinced and how much she agreed with Bosch’s