Rating: 
Summary: Great sequel to the Poet.
Review: Michael Connelly's sequel to his hit "The Poet" is a worthy follow up that has a great lead character in Harry Bosch, Connelly's most interesting series character. The action is tease and the story is crisps and it's a worthy chapter in the Harry Bosch series. I rank it right up next to Angles Flight as one of the best in the series.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best this year
Review: So far this year, my favorites have been "The Narrows" (this guy in a slump is better than most on a roll),"Sunset and Sawdust" by Joe Lansdale and newcomer Harry Shannons "Memorial Day (A Mick Callahan Novel)" because of the lead character. Still, Connolly's Harry Bosch is the industry standard at this point, the one to beat--and at this point the weary homicide detective is still danged near unbeatable. Don't miss a master at the height of his talents.
Rating:
Summary: Connelly DELIVERS AGAIN
Review: Some of the editorial comments you see put Connelly at the top of the list as a writer. I ignore most of that to some degree as we must each determine what we like - and some of those who tout a writer do not necessarily read the book.
But, after this effort, I would have to agree. Connelly has not failed yet. Each book is really a darn good read.
The Narrows brings the dreaded Poet back and you will be on the edge of your chair from cover to cover.
Pick this one up
Rating:
Summary: The Return of the Poet
Review: Some years ago, I read a pair of novels by Michael Connelly, back when pretty much no one knew who he was. The Black Ice and Black Echo were pretty good detective novels, but they were also pretty formulaic. The character was the typical slob loner, obsessed with catching bad guys and unable to form a meaningful relationship with a woman unless she was in the department and the relationship itself was work-related. I've followed Connelly's career from there, and worked my way through his books as they've come out (with the exception of Lost Light, which I have but haven't read yet). He's grown tremendously as a writer, adding layers to his characters, his prose style, and his plots. Several of those plots (notably Blood Work, the Poet, Angel's Flight, and the Concrete Blonde) are standouts in detective fiction, so cleverly written that the mystery's just wonderful, and adds layers to the story.Here, the plot is more straightforward. Terry McCaleb, the protagonist of Blood Work, has been killed. Though he and Harry Bosch (Connelly's main character in most of his books) didn't really get along well in life, McCaleb's widow, Graciela, is concerned that his killing wasn't the heart attack it seems, and asks Harry to look into it. Meanwhile, Rachel Walling, the heroine of The Poet, is called out of exile from South Dakota. The FBI HQ in Quantico has recieved a strange package, addressed to her, which leads them to a stretch of desert on the road between LA and Las Vegas, where they discover ten bodies buried in the ground, and strange indications that it might be the same Poet. Their stories merge partway through the book. This is one of the most satisfying books I've read in recent years. I will admit that Connelly's choice to jump between first person narration (with Bosch doing the talking) and third person (mostly following Rachel) was a bit jarring at first, but I got used to it. There are most of the Connelly touches: an enigmatic character who just fades in and out in one scene, but will be recognizable to Connelly fans as Cassie Black, the thief heroine of Void Moon, and of course Connelly's almost encyclopedic knowledge of Southern California. He even gets things like the place to hold a large retirement party right. I like Michael Connelly, and I especially liked this book. I would highly recommend it, though people who haven't read other of his books might want to look into a few others, first.
Rating:
Summary: Connelly consistently satisfies
Review: Terry McCaleb, from an earlier novel, has died and his wife, Graciela, enlists Harry Bosch's help in finding out who tampered with Terry's medications. The poet, also from another earlier novel, is back to haunt Rachel Walling. And, as Connelly does so well, the seemingly disparate stories are cleverly woven together in this most recent worthy effort. Connelly is not only a good story teller, but a fine writer as well engaging the reader from the very first page and keeping you engaged and intrigued until the very last page. Those two attributes alone would qualify him as one of the better contemporary writers, but he is also a perceptive student of the human condition brining his penetrating analysis of human nature to bear on his characters. So many contemporary writers today end up disappointing. Connelly is an exception and that is why I eagerly await all of his books. This is one of his best and I heartily recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Can he get any better?
Review: THE CONQUEROR WORM by Edgar Allan Poe Lo! 't is a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres. Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly -
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible wo! That motley drama - oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot. But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude! A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes! - it writhes! - with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued. This poem by Poe is one of his best. Imagine the narrows, with huge snake laying in wait for its dinner. Connelly describes the narrows in his novel. The Poet returns!
Rating:
Summary: Harry Bosch turns a corner
Review: THE NARROWS finds Harry Bosch at a crossroads. The ex-cop turned private detective is commuting between LA and Vegas to see his daughter and elusive wife Eleanor. By books end he has made a life-changing decision and seems to have found a new sense of purpose.
This novel is Michael Connelly's lolapalooza, combining characters and plot lines from several previous books. The main thrust involves Bosch stumbling into an FBI investigation of the "Poet", the killer in Connelly's book of that name. Bosch teams up with FBI agent Rachel Walling to pursue the Poet through the Nevada desert. There are twists and false endings, all delivered with Connelly's impeccable narrative logic.
More than any other crime writer I can think of, Connelly deals with way law enforcement professionals are driven to right the wrongs they encounter and speak for the victims. Also, how work defines the lives of these men and women, sometimes curtailing their personal lives. This book marks a turning point in Connelly's work, and fans can only wonder in what direction this series will now head. Essential.
Rating: 
Summary: Been there, done that!
Review: THE NARROWS is pretty much a stock-in-trade serial killer mystery. The antagonist is super smart and leads the private eye and female FBI agent around by the nose until almost the last minute. We can also predict that the private eye and the FBI agent will eventually fall into the sack together. And, of course, the FBI agent, Rachel Walling in this case, is persona non grata with the SAC in charge of the investigation. The SAC is a conceited jerk, as is a former student of Rachel's who makes it clear that she, not Rachel, is in charge of the case.
The Poet has returned and Harry Bosch, in response to a call from a former colleague's wife, sets out to investigate what looks like a heart attack. The colleague was involved in the original Poet investigation and Bosch finds evidence pointing to the Poet as the perpetrator. His quest intersects with Rachel Walling's (The FBI agent) when she is called to Nevada to act as a liaison when the poet "sends for her" via some evidence he's left at the scene of a grisly burial scene.
In addition to the above, Connelly has some idiosyncratic writing quirks. He likes to separate his character gestures from the same character's dialogue. He also gives Harry a first person point of view, while Rachel's scenes are written in third. He also loses track of one of his plot threads. While tracking down a clue, Bosch stays in a seedy hotel in Las Vegas where he meets a character named Jane. He's interested enough in her to try to search her apartment, but that's the last we see of her. A well-know author once said that if you show a rifle above the mantel, you darn well better do something with it later in the story. Jane is Connelly's rifle above the mantel.
The story picks up at the climax, but there's an artificial twist in the resolution that seems to imply that even Connelly knew this wasn't his best effort.
Rating:
Summary: Redemption for Bosch and readers a like
Review: The Narrows is the latest Harry Bosch novel and the follow up to the Poet. The Narrows is a novel of deception, intrigue, and mystery. I definitely liked this book a lot more than Lost Light, I just felt that in Lost Light when Bosch was a private investigator that there was something missing, the politics of the department wasn't there, Edgar and Kiz weren't really along for the ride, and the feeling wasn't there like his previous novels, Lost Light was a turning point in Boschs life, but The Narrows is a great step towards Harrys redemption back onto the force. I'd rate the Narrows definitely 10/10 as it had a great plot, characters, and story behind the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Redemption for Bosch and readers a like
Review: The Narrows is the latest Harry Bosch novel and the follow up to the Poet. The Narrows was a novel of deception, intrigue, and mystery. I definitely liked this book a lot more than Lost Light, I just felt that in Lost Light when Bosch was a private investigator that there was something missing, the politics of the department wasn't there, Edgar and Kiz weren't really along for the ride, and the feeling wasn't there like his previous novels, Lost Light was a turning point in Boschs life, but The Narrows is a great step towards Harrys redemption back onto the force. I'd rate the Narrows definitely 10/10 as it had a great plot, characters, and story behind the novel.
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