Void Moon

I'm quickly becoming a big fan of Michael Connelly. A few months ago I read The Lincoln Lawyer, and this one is just as good. In addition, I've read The Poet and a couple of his Harry Bosch mysteries.

Void Moon concerns an ex-con named Cassie Black. She's out on parole after being busted after a heist gone wrong at a Las Vegas casino. She wants to make one more big score and disappear, and her go-between presents her with an opportunity for just what she's looking for. Only it will be in same casino where she was captured, and her lover killed.

The title refers to an astrological condition in which the moon is passing between two different houses. Apparently for a few minutes it is in no particular house, and this is called a void moon. Nothing difficult should be undertaken during this period.

The first part of the book is about the set-up for the robbery, and then midway through we meet Jack Karch, the psychopathic investigator brought in to catch her. The result is a crackling, page-turning read, with lots of brutal murders and derring-do. It's a first-rate thriller.