Nine Dragons starts with the murder of a Chinese shopkeeper in LA. Evidence connected to the murder makes LAPD Detective Harry Bosch suspect that triads were involved. Triads are vicious, powerful Chinese gangs, whose tentacles are everywhere, so Bosch turns to LAPD’s Asian Gangs Unit for background information on triad activity in LA, and an ethnic-Chinese detective from the AGU is assigned to help out with the case. There is some immediate friction between the Chinese detective and Bosch, so when mysterious events threaten to derail the murder investigation, it’s easy for Bosch to suspect that there’s a leak somewhere in the LAPD, probably within the AGU itself.

Connelly takes numerous threads and weaves them together to create a terrific story. The main thread, of course, is Bosch’s desperate search for his kidnapped family-member; but interwoven with that is the murder investigation that preceded the kidnapping, with Connelly doing a fine job detailing the methodical, step-by-step investigative process, including some interesting developments in forensic science.

And Bosch’s attempt to discover the source of the leak that threatens to sabotage his murder investigation is interwoven with the personal friction developing between Bosch, his partner, and the Chinese detective from the AGU. Connelly weaves the various threads together to form an apparently satisfactory solution to all those puzzles, but an unexpected plot twist right at the end shows how misleading superficial appearances can be. The final clues change everything and lead Bosch to a conclusion that is simply stunning.