The Narrows

Rating:
Summary: This guy is good
Review: Great article in the May 9, 2004 NYT magazine about Michael Connelly. Glad he is finally getting his due. His attention to the details about the police officers is what makes the difference. The story is not so much about the crime and it being solved, but Harry Bosch, and how his job changes him and brings out more color on who he is and what makes him tick. Congratulations to MC, he is a great story teller!

Rating:
Summary: Past Back to Haunt Him
Review: Great to be back with Harry Bosch even though I didn't think the book was as good as some of the previous outings. Robert Backus, the serial killer who prowled through the pages of "The Poet" is back with revenge on his mind, and it's up to Harry and FBI agent Rachel Walling to trap him. Past characters resurface and the tension mounts as the story builds to what I felt what a bit of a let down climax from what is otherwise an entertaining and tightly plotted read.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful...A MUST read!
Review: Harry Bosch has given up his career as a detective, but when he agrees to investigate the suspicious death of a good friend he is thrust back into the world he was desperate to escape.

Harry gets the call from Graciela McCaleb asking him to find out the truth surrounding her husband's death...it was ruled as a natural death, but Graciela knows differently. The official story was that Terry forgot to take his heart medicine, but Graciella knows he would NEVER forget to take his pills. Harry starts questioning everyone that was in contact with Terry over the last few days of his life and they all seem to say that he was always taking his pills, so how is it the medical report found no trace of his medicine? It becomes obvious to Harry that someone tampered with Terry's medicine.

While Harry investigates what happened with Terry, FBI agent Rachel Walling, famous for working on the case of the serial killer known as "The Poet", gets the phone call she has dreaded for years, he's back and he's looking for her.

Before long, Harry crosses paths with Rachel and the two must work together to stop a serial killer and find out the truth behind McCaleb's death.

'The Narrows' is another crime masterpiece by Michael Connelly, blending heart-racing suspense with stunning drama the book can't be put down once started. From page one readers will be entranced by a mystery that is both shocking and compelling. Very few authors are consistent with putting out quality titles in a series, and even fewer are good at juggling various series, but Connelly has done that and more...he has taken characters from several novels and combined them into this one and the result is not short of amazing.

Expect to see 'The Narrows' on the top spot of all the bestseller lists.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: Just when you thought Harry was out........they keep pulling
Review: Harry Bosch has visted my life over the last what - twelve years? - like a benevolent uncle that I'm always glad to see. He's the perfect guest, never stays too long, does what he does best, then leaves - I look forward to my Harry visits, and he never dissapoints because somehow Mr. Connolly always delivers in line with my expectations - and for a $25 hardback, that's more than I can say about most of his contemporaries. Specifically, the Narrows has some nice experimental twists which will be noticable mainly to long term Connolly readers, and I applaud the way that the author makes me feel part of the saga of his characters over the years. I feel if I saw Harry Bosch walking down the street he'd say "hello". So yes - buy this book, but the real message I guess is go and buy the 2 Harry Bosch anthologies, and get started, and take your time. This guy is the Rex Stout of our times. And Mr. Connolly, (or your agent) let's send harry to NYC next time - or best of all, a collaboration with Derek Strange!!! Now that's a first!

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!!!
Review: Harry Bosch is asked by a friend's widow to investigate her husband's death. She suspects that it was murder, not a heart attack.

Concurrently, tarnished FBI agent Rachel Walling (on a "hardship posting" in South Dakota) receives a late night phone call from Quantico indicating that a demonic serial killer, assumed dead, is back in business.

The simultaneous plots converge at the Zzyzx Road exit on Highway 15 between Las Vegas and LA.

Harry's quest and Rachel's investigation eventually lead to a partnership that adds tension to the story.

The characters are well drawn and believable; their strengths and weaknesses probed.

Mr. Connelly is a master at quietly producing continuous action that explodes exponentially into a white-knuckle ride.

His ability to hide clues in plain sight is extraordinary

Taut suspense, intricate plotting and the captivating premise propel Harry and Rachel in their pursuit of the diabolical villain.

It is "cat and mouse" at the highest level.

The overriding struggles and characters are potent and persuasive, the plot labyrinthine, the twists logical yet unforeseen.

Michael Connelly is the magical virtuoso of present day crime fiction. He defines and refines the genre---never playing it safe.

"The Narrows" is the most peerless example of contemporary noir writing imaginable.

I am certain one can enjoy "The Narrows" without having read "The Poet"---but if one does, it will spoil one's reading of "The Poet."

Rating:
Summary: The Poet comes back to haunt again!
Review: Harry Bosch seems to find more time in retirement than most do on the job. In this thrilling novel, he is on the trail of the murderer of colleague Terry McCaleb. The story is intertwined with The Poet and the prime suspect is this very serial killer. The Poet (or Bob Backus as he is called) is no typical serial killer, rather a highly trained FBI agent and mentor of another leading character in the book, Rachel Walling. As the story unravels, The Poet has made McCaleb one of his many victims and soon sets sights on Walling. Walling is the one helping Bosch in his investigation. It turns out that McCaleb, the lead character from another Connelly book titled "Blood Work", was working solo in pursuit of The Poet. Promising leads lead to his ultimate death.

The book is every bit as exciting and action packed with flair of the dark, intimidating atmosphere that Connelly's novels have become synonym with. In this book, Harry Bosch is as cynical and intelligent as ever. The action-paced story itself is a page-turner that will keep you glued until the very end, and then have you begging for more. Highly recommended reading.

Rating:
Summary: The sad state of publishing business
Review: How bad can a so-called thriller get? If it gets any worse than this I am sure it can cause dementia. There was something faintly interesting in the mediocre Poet but Narrows... There is nothing you could call a decent plot, no interesting characters, no good writing. Oh my what tricks this guy uses in the end! I appeal for a law to ban less than half-baked serial killer "thrillers".

Rating:
Summary: AGREED - IT'S AWFUL - AND I'M A FAN
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Glynn. This is not Michael Connelly's shining hour. There is no heart at the center of this novel and you don't really care if anyone lives or dies. Harry is just plain cruel to his late partner's fishing boat captain - why did he take an instant dislike to him? Why is Rachel the Poet's favorite? It is very arrogant of Mr. Connelly to assume that all the readers of THE NARROWS are going to fill in the blanks he leaves in the character development of the Poet - yes, he may have explained his psychosis in the book, THE POET, but the leap from OCD and having an overbearing father to being the kind of monster he brings back from the dead in THE NARROWS? Come on! This is bad TV! And what's up with Harry's ex-wife? Why has he written her off as such a whiny bitch? She hid the pregnancy from him, she moves to Las Vegas and becomes a professional gambler ... what next? The nanny is about the best thought-out and likable character in the book - that is sad. I long for Mr. Connelly's creative character development and interesting details. You cannot find sympathetic contract with anyone in the book.

Read one of Connelly's early books instead - maybe Angel Flight or Black Ice. Back when he could write. Sorry - he really is just phoning it in with THE NARROWS.

Rating:
Summary: Another Good Mystery Delivered
Review: I did not read The Poet and I can see now that there's no point. Regardless, this was a terrific "pre-summer read." It was well written, fun and suspenseful. Read it in three sittings and enjoyed every minute of it.

Rating:
Summary: Great writing, great reading
Review: I first read Michael Connelly when I read "The Poet" with Terry McCaleb. I became an immediate fan and read all of his Harry Bosch novels and have kept up with that series and the Terry McCaleb series since then as well as Connelly's other books. I have never been disappointed. I thought "A Darkness More Than Night" with both Harry and Terry in it was one of his best.

"The Narrows" allows Harry and characaters from "The Poet" and the other McCaleb books to meet and work together to finally eliminate the Poet. Harry's efforts to find out who murdered colleague Terry McCaleb is a thrill ride filled with well-drawn characters and detailed policework.

Connelly is one of the best mystery writers out there and whether or not you've read any of his previous works, you won't be disappointed with this one. In fact, after reading it, I am now going back to reread "The Poet" and then reread all of Connelly's books. It doesn't matter to me (like it appears to matter to other reviewers) that we now know what happened to the Poet. It does bother me that one reviewer couldn't even get McCaleb's name right (they called him Gerry more than once!).

If you want a good, fast-moving, well-written mystery, then spend a few hours with "The Narrows". You'll become a Connelly fan--if you aren't already!