Detective Sergeant Stilwell knows that his posting on Catalina Island is no paradise, but to most residents, it seems blissfully separated—by twenty-two miles of ocean—from the troubles of Los Angeles County. But now a threat is coming to his safe haven.
Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway and the plane flies off.
An internal inquiry follows, putting Stilwell on the bench until he is cleared of responsibility for the disastrous operation. But he is determined to find out who brought deadly violence to his island, and begins his own secret investigation into the drug deal gone wrong.
While under orders to remain in the sheriff’s substation, he finds in the lost and found a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces it to a woman who disappeared while hiking on the island four years ago. But then why was the pack only turned in two months back? Now thoroughly intrigued, he follows the mystery all the way to the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard.
Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagined.
Ironwood is the second book in Michael Connelly's Catalina series starring Detective Sergeant "Stil" Stilwell. It is a step forward from the first book, Nightshade. Stilwell gets more character development and the plot is even better.
A quick summary: Stilwell has been exiled to police Catalina as a sort of punishment. When one of his officers gets a tip about a drug drop, Stil and his crew look to make some arrests. However, things quickly go sideways and Stil is once again at odds with his chief on the mainland. Meanwhile, Stil's discovery of a mysterious key ring in a lost backpack puts him in contact with Renee Ballard, the head of the LA Open/Unsolved unit. As both cases progress, things become incredibly dangerous for Stil, with both his job and his life on the line.
Connelly is the author of the amazing Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and most recently, the Renee Ballard series. I have read all of the above and love how Connelly is able to have his characters interact in completely natural occurrences, rather than manufacture a forced meet. Connelly also tends to write main characters who have a strong moral code but might stretch the rules a bit if necessary. Detective Stilwell fits this mold. While not as well-rounded as Bosch or Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer), Stilwell is well on his way to becoming a believable and interesting protagonist to read about.
As far as the mystery(ies), I think Ironwood was definitely better than Nightshade. Both of Stilwell's cases were engaging and he moved quickly through each, with little downtime for the reader. And, one of my favorite things about Connelly is that there are no cheats to solving the mystery - each clue and discovery is well-earned. That's definitely the case in Ironwood.
Overall, I highly recommend Ironwood by Michael Connelly. It's a no-brainer for fans of the author but I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good detective procedural.
I received a preview copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
