The Narrows: Why Did I Wait So Long?

 

 

 

 

 

The Narrows (2004)

By Michael Connelly

Little, Brown and Company, 405 pages

★★★★★

 

Back in 1996, Michael Connelly hit his stride with his fifth novel, the award-winning thriller The Poet. It brought together two characters from other books, LA homicide detective Harry Bosch and FBI agent Rachel Walling to investigate a cluster of homicide detective suicides. Why? Because cops aren’t generally susceptible to the sort of copycat patterns of hormonal teens. Crime reporter Jack McEnvoy suspects murder and one-line “suicide” notes  from Edgar Allan Poe confirm that a serial killer nicknamed The Poet is at large. As things unfurled, a finger pointed back to FBI  superstar Robert Backus, who went over to the dark side. The book ended with Rachel pushing Robert out a window and down a steep embankment. Later a body was discovered that was said to be Backus.

 

There are other plotlines in The Poet that make it worth reading, but its ending practically screams out for a sequel. The Narrows is that book. I’ve no idea why I waited so long to read it but now that I have, I’d rank it above The Poet. In intervening novel time, Harry has retired from the LAPD after a procedural squabble. Now he does some occasional PI work. Graciela, the wife of his friend Terry McCaleb, an ex-FBI agent, asks Harry to look into his recent death. Terry was heart transplant recipient whose death appears to be a routine medication mix-up. Graciela isn’t convinced, and neither is Harry when he searches Terry’s boat. Terry has been looking into “cold cases,” including files suggestive of Backus’ MO.  

 

The FBI knows that Backus is back. Cherie Dei, from FBI HQ at Quantico recalls Rachel from a post in South Dakota, where she has been exiled for various reasons: having been Backus’ mentee, a crime involving her ex-husband, an FBI agent killed during his arrest, having an affair with McEnvoy while investigating The  Poet, and insubordination. Dei makes clear, though, that Rachel’s role is strictly advisory. Rachel finds this maddening. She truly does have authority issues, but she knows Backus better than anyone and suspects he will have altered his appearance. (Hey, it’s not just actors who get new faces!)

 

As crime novels go, The Narrows is considerably more gruesome than most. Backus has left calling cards and enjoys toying with the FBI. He literally wrote the investigative procedures the FBI uses and trained several of its top agents. He is thus several steps ahead of everyone else and, though he is a psychopath, he’s as brilliant as he is bold. His murders are so perversely cruel that it would be safe to say that the only difference between him and Hannibal Lecter is that Backus doesn’t eat his victims’ livers with fava beans. You can also bet that he takes pleasure in pulling Rachel’s strings, though Connelly wisely leaves open questions of whether he admires her or has a predetermined grisly fate in mind for her.

 

Harry and Rachel work along parallel lines until their paths cross and converge–in more ways than one. Backus will lead them on a follow-the-crumbs trail that takes Bosch to a California island and then he and Rachel to a spot in the Mojave called Zzyzx, Los Vegas, low-rent brothels in Nevada, dots in the desert on their way to becoming ghost towns, and back to Los Angeles.

 

The title refers to a canyon wash that empties into the Los Angeles River, either . Contrary to what most Easterners think, though 95% of the LA River lies in concrete, during heavy rains and spring run-off it is a raging stream that can be 25-35 feet deep. The Narrows is either the Alios or Brown Canyon Wash. It is there that the novel’s heart-pounding denouement takes place.

 

It’s a terrific thriller, even when it strays into expected places. Connelly’s law enforcement characters have attitude and stubbornness, but he prefers suspense and tension to wisecracking PIs. He leavens The Narrows with occasional humor, but of the variety that induces a wan smile rather than ripostes you’re tempted to add to your own repertoire. Instead of a notebook, you might wish to keep a blood pressure cuff nearby. I’d call The Narrows a good vacation read, except you’ll be afraid to turn off the lights.

 

Rob Weir