Part of Harry Bosch, book 26
First published 2026
Harry Bosch receives news that will change everything. His half-brother Mickey Haller tells him about a multibillion-dollar settlement for former residents of MacLaren Children's Center, where Harry lived as a ward of the state after his mother's murder. Harry could claim $400,000, but he refuses the money. He wants something else entirely: justice for a boy named Chops who died at the facility decades ago. Chops's body was discovered in a hidden space beneath a staircase, a place staff used for punishment that children called "the hollow." Officials covered up the death and closed the case. Now Bosch reopens the investigation, following leads that reveal a predator who escaped consequences and continued killing. The retired LAPD detective must confront the abuse that shaped his childhood and drove him to become a cop. As he hunts down a sadistic criminal, Bosch faces the demons that have haunted him since he was eleven years old.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: cold-case, redemption, second-chance
Setting: Los Angeles, MacLaren Children's Center
Period: Present Day
400 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, violence