LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch stands trial for the fatal shooting of a suspect in a serial murder case. When the bones of a missing 13-year-old boy are discovered, however, Bosch’s professional struggles clash with his desire for justice. Bosch vows to pursue the case no matter what the personal cost to him. The daring recruit Julia Brasher sparks Bosch’s romantic interest.

The bones case leads Bosch and his partner J. Edgar to a convicted pedophile. Bosch locks horns with Deputy Police Chief Irvin Irving over his ongoing court battle. The relationship between Brasher and Bosch deepens. Murder suspect Raynard Waits makes a startling confession about Bosch’s cold case.

The main suspect in Bosch and Edgar’s investigation meets a shocking result. When the young victim in the bones case is identified, the detectives are pulled into the troubled world of the boy’s family. Bosch’s own trial ratchets up. The romance between Bosch and Brasher stumbles as job pressures mount. And an intense confrontation with Raynard Waits forces Bosch to rethink everything.

Arthur Delacroix’s murder investigation uncovers the family’s dark past. Bosch’s court case reaches a climatic verdict with mixed results. Bosch gets caught up in a politically orchestrated field trip where Waits promises to reveal the location of his many victims. Waits manages a stunning escape, leaving dead and wounded police officers in his wake. Bosch is blamed for the disaster as a frantic citywide manhunt begins.

The pursuit of escaped killer Raynard Waits escalates. When Deputy Chief Irving sidelines Bosch in the Waits affair, the detective focuses back in on unraveling the Arthur Delacroix mystery. Waits targets Bosch in a bloody game of cat and mouse.