Have you ever been the leader of a revolution or a police detective on the trail of a serial killer or the boy wizard who takes down Voldemort only to realize it was all a dream? I haven’t, unfortunately. Because I’d rather become a part of the books I’ve read just a little bit than not at all.

I’m not sure I have a pick of who I’d actually want to be. Wait, that’s a lie. I’d say Harry Bosch. He’s an LAPD detective who works relentlessly in pursuit of justice. He has a saying. “Everyone counts or nobody counts.” Do you see what he means? If you’re going to investigate one murder in a certain way, then every murder should be investigated in that same manner. And I’d hope the mindset of homicide detectives is no different in the real world. Whether it’s a suburban teen or a drug dealer killed in a gang shootout. One murder should not be any more or less important to the investigating detective.

And I think his mindset is something I’d adopt as my own. It’s bad enough that homicide detectives have a job only because people are killing people. But it’d make things even worse if those killers weren’t brought to justice. It’s real-life people like Bosch who literally take killers off the street. It’s one of the many professions that get no appreciation. But I imagine no decent homicide detective does the job to be recognized or appreciated by the public. They do it because they have to.

So if I had my pick of characters I could be, I’d be Harry Bosch. Who would you be?