By J.E.
So far, I’ve experienced Michael Connelly’s work only as audiobooks, since I have a bunch of CDs that a friend (and avid Harry Bosch fan) loaned to me. While I’ve liked a couple of Connelly’s novels, I wasn’t at the point where I’d go out of my way to pick up one of his books or wait with breathless anticipation for his next novel to be released. Even so, I feel that the recent ones have been entertaining enough to warrant my continued consumption.
That’s why I recently decided to check out Void Moon, a non-Bosch book that had an interesting summary on the back flap. Yes, this is the first Connelly book that I actually read instead of listened to, though I don’t think that made much difference in the bottom line.
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Cassie Black is a young woman who just got done serving a five-year prison sentence for a botched robbery attempt in Vegas, and is now trying to get her life back on track. She requested — and was granted — permission to relocate to Los Angeles, where she currently works as a Porsche saleswoman while on probation.
Early on, we see that there’s something else going on in Cassie’s life, something that’s revealed slowly in bits and pieces: It turns out that she has a daughter (by her former boyfriend and partner in crime Max, who died in the robbery gone bad) whom she had to give up for adoption because she was serving her jail term when the girl was born. Apparently, Cassie has been harboring a secret dream of reuniting with her daughter and forging a life for the two of them.
Unfortunately, Cassie’s hand is forced when she learns that her daughter’s family will be moving to Paris soon. She realizes that if she really means to get her daughter back, she has to set her plan into motion now. So Cassie looks up an old contact named Leo, gets him to cut her in on a big job that could net her a six-figure payday, and prepares for that one last con.
There are several complications with the plan, however, including the fact that it’s going to take place at the exact same Las Vegas casino where Max died. Moreover, Cassie has to work alone this time, making for an even more dangerous excursion, and she’s out of practice after having been in the slammer for all that time.
The rest of the novel then deals with Cassie’s preparations for the job, the execution of the robbery, and then the aftermath as casino goon Jack Karch comes after her and Leo with a vengeance.
My Reaction: I have to say that Void Moon was a surprisingly decent — albeit uneven — book. As usual, Connelly does a terrific job with plotting and pacing, so it was very easy to get through the whole story in just a few sittings. However, there were a couple of problems that prevented me from enjoying this book as much as I would have liked.
For one thing, I thought Cassie’s first plan of taking her daughter away was extremely flawed, and didn’t seem like something the character would do had she thought anything out. The girl was six years old, and knew her foster parents to be Mom and Dad. Can you imagine the emotional and psychological ramifications of snatching a child of that age away from her parents? The kid would not be able to understand that Cassie was her “real” mom, and would likely suffer serious problems as a result of such a transition. I didn’t believe for one second that Cassie would actually do that, so the whole boring setup was a waste of time.
I also didn’t like how Connelly switched from Cassie’s point of view to Karch’s about one-third of the way into the story. I had just warmed up to Cassie at that point, and found the abrupt switch to be annoying. Plus, while Cassie was entirely likable, Karch was not, so I didn’t enjoy having to deal with him for such an extended period. A couple of chapters would have been okay, but not half of the book.
Overall, Void Moon was a decent read. It’s not an example of Connelly’s best, but neither is it the worst he’s ever written.
I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that the Season 2 premiere of Burn Notice will air tonight at 10pm/9C on USA Network. I’ve already seen the ep, and am happy about the way the season starts out. I don’t want to give anything substantial away just yet, but I can tell you that Michael is as determined as ever to find out exactly why he was burned. Thank goodness, because obviously this show would cease to exist if Michael suddenly decided to begin a job search for a position in a more conventional field!