5 stars out of 5
“Stil,” as he’s known, lives and works on Catalina Island; banished there by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after irritating the powers-that-be to the point that they sent him to a place where all the department “misfits” go. Most of the time, that keeps Stil out of their hair, other times, like now, the two locations get a bit tangled up. As the story begins, Stil and his troops are watching a suspicious plane land on a remote island airstrip. As a duffel bag of drugs is dropped as expected and Stil’s team advances, but then everything falls apart. The drop-off guy runs and disappears into the mountains, shots are fired from somewhere and someone catches a deadly bullet.
Despite being told by his superiors he’s off the case, Stil keeps up the investigation without their knowledge. As he digs around in his own turf, he finds a backpack still in evidence that hasn’t been claimed. Curious, he learns it belongs to a woman who went missing on the island four years ago while hiking. Not surprising in and of itself, but the backpack was recovered just two months earlier. More curiosity leads him off the island to the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit and (surprise!) a character familiar from another series by this author, Detective Rene Ballard. Turns out they’re something of a match made in heaven; it’s a team I hope we’ll see again soon.
The rest of the book focuses on that investigation, but Stil being Stil, he can’t back off that runway shooting case despite warnings from his superiors. Both cases get resolved, but it is the latter that brings serious ramifications for Stil and hints at the direction of the next book in the series. Can we see it soon, please? Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to immerse myself in another enjoyable mystery by way of a pre-release copy. Another one well done!
Ironwood
by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Co., May 2026); 336 pp.
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