Michael Connelly - Chasing the Dime (2002)
Henry Pierce is a hotshot scientist, focusing on the microscopic world of molecular electronics. His goal is to create a supercomputer the size of a dime (hence the book's title) - and he's about to make a huge breakthrough that will advance the state of the art a long way towards that end.
Pierce is distracted, though, by his personal life. He's just broken up with the woman he loved and moved into a new apartment when he starts getting strange phone calls. Apparently the previous owner of the number was a very popular "escort" with a large client list. A visit to her website reveals that Lilly was a stunningly attractive woman and Henry finds himself more than a little interested in her. He can't help but wonder where she's gone. As he begins to pluck at the knot of her apparent disappearance, a complicated plot - along with Henry's life - begins to unravel.
Chasing the Dime is something of a departure for Connelly, taking the reader not just away from the ongoing life of detective Harry Bosch, but also away from the gritty, noir world that most of his work inhabits. The emphasis in this book is less on the physical and more on the mental. Pierce is a brilliant man and he brings his considerable analytical skills as a scientist to bear in figuring out what is happening. (He does a much better job of solving the mystery than I did. The ending was a real shocker.)
Although Chasing may not have the sheer intensity or moral poignancy of the best of Connelly's mysteries, it is still the kind of thriller that keeps your interest piqued, keeps the pages turning, and pays off with a satisfying conclusion.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
