The Overlook is the 18th novel by American crime writer Michael Connelly, and the thirteenth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. The novel first appeared in serialised form in The New York Times Magazine, in sixteen installments published from September 17, 2006 to January 21, 2007. The tile of the book is in reference to the scene of the crime in the opening chapter. The location described in the novel is based on an actual overlook above the Hollywood Reservoir and Mulholland Dam, located on the 3100 block of Canyon Lake Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Plot summary

Evidence mounts that the murder of Stanley Kent is part of a terrorist plot to build and deploy a dirty bomb, justifying the FBI's moves to push the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Bosch to the sidelines. Refusing to be sidelined, Bosch aggressively works around the FBI in order to track down Kent's killers, much to the chagrin of his young, inexperienced partner, who sees his career at the LAPD jeopardized by Bosch's actions. The FBI agents, including Rachel Walling, view Bosch as endangering their attempts to retrieve the missing caesium and to track down known terrorists. Relying on instinct and experience, Bosch pursues his line of inquiry, ultimately succeeding in solving the murder and recovering the caesium.

Characters