After being impressed by Season 1, I was looking forward to Season 2 of Bosch when Mighty Ape hammered $30 off the shelf price…I was underwhelmed…

A dead body found in the trunk of a car on Mulholland Drive appears to have mob connections and leads LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch down a dangerous trail of corruption and collusion that stretches to Las Vegas and back. As the case becomes more complex and personal, and Bosch’s search for the truth more relentless, the dark side of the police department is brought to light.

That is a description of Michael Connelly’s Bosch novel Trunk Music. I’ve read Truck Music a number of times: it is a fast-paced story with plenty of plot twists and turns and the novel in which Eleanor Wish re-enters Bosch’s life. It doesn’t need any additional sub-plots to beef up the story and it certainly doesn’t need to marginalise The Last Coyote by adding that plot line to the last few episodes of the Season 2 story. Coyote is one of the best Bosch novels and deserving of its own season – it resolves a number of Bosch issues and sets the scene for the next few novels.

I really like the idea of adapting a  novel to a ten (or so) episode TV series and appreciate that there will always be some literary license applied. I don’t mind that the Bosch-verse has been updated to the current day or that he’s no longer a Vietnam veteran. I do mind when a great story is marginalised for no apparent reason; it’s certainly no improvement on Michael Connelly’s original (although I noted that he is listed on the series production team).

Recommend Bosch Season 1? Absolutely!

Season 2? Meh…maybe if you haven’t read the books or once it turns up on Netflix…