"Suicide Run" is a compilation of three Harry Bosch stories. This series takes place between "Nine Dragons" and "The Drop." Per usual, here are my ratings for each story.

"Suicide Run" (5 stars)-Though the book takes place between "Nine Dragons" and "The Dragon", this story does not. We have Harry and Jerry Edgar working a probable suicide together. I forget what book had Edgar and Harry no longer partnered, but it's been a while. Harry and Edgar are called to a scene where they find a naked young woman named Lizbeth Grayson. It appears that Lizbeth committed suicide. However, small things are off that has Harry digging into whether someone else could have possibly murdered her. We also get a first look at Harry meeting Kizmin Rider as well.

"Cielo Azul" (4.5 stars)-This is an old case that involved Harry and his former partner, Frankie Sheehan. The two are called to a scene where a young girl is found dead. Due to a lead that is found during the autopsy, the two men come across FBI profiler, Terry McCaleb. This story had to take place during the late 1980s or early 1990s due to the story mentioning VICAP and how some detectives still don't trust it. I liked the look into this case and how Harry and McCaleb found out the guilty party. The end though takes place decades later with Harry wanting the name of the young girl who he found all those years ago and realizing that he may never be able to lay the case fully to rest. The main reason why I didn't give this a full 5 stars is that we got insight into Harry with the first few books and I don't know if he would have been like this earlier on. We got to see his feelings about the FBI and working cases too. 

"One-Dollar Jackpot" (3.5 stars)-Aww we get to see Harry and his former partner Ignacio again. I always felt like Connelly gave Ignacio a raw deal. This story was a bit confusing for me though I liked how Harry went about trying to solve it. We also get mention of Kiz in this one since one of the detectives on the scene who works this case with Harry knows her as well. 

Loved all three short stories!

Story number one featured Kiz and J. Edgar. I forgot how much book J. Edgar sucks though. 

Story number two is featuring Terry McCaleb.

Already hooked. Fun to see a younger Bosch with J. Edgar.

by Jeremy Bates

The first book of Bates' Scariest Places on Earth series. Though the stories are fictional, they are all set in real places that are creepy or scary in some way.

Suicide Forest is just outside of Tokyo, Japan and is actually called Aokigahara Forest, but commonly known as Suicide Forest because it's a place where people go to die. Bodies are often found hanging from trees. There are stories about restless spirits haunting the forest, as you would expect in such a place.

A group of friends decide to explore the forest when weather reports divert them from their original plan of climbing Mount Fuji. They end up camping there, after running into some other people doing the same thing. They encounter natural hazards in the forest in their quest to find morbid evidence of the forest's reputation and there is some antagonism between Ethan and his girlfriend's male friend, John Scott, who came along results in typical male posturing and competition.

When they find the abandoned belongings of a woman, mysterious screams are heard in the night and one of their companions is found hanging dead from a tree in the morning, the situation quickly turns into one of survival in a massive forest where they are lost and running out of supplies.

The book is very well written and scary to the point that I had to stop after a few chapters at a time. Horror enthusiasts will love it! The foreign setting and concerns over whether the authorities would respond in the way those in the characters' own countries would lends a sense of immediacy and disorientation in an already engrossing story.

The explanation for what was happening is close enough to plausible to make a good story as well, but one question was left unanswered and I'm docking half a star for that. Otherwise this is an easy 5 star read.