The Black Echo (Harry Bosch (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: Enter Harry Bosch
Review: An absolutely terrific first novel in the superb Hironymous Bosch series, introduces us to Michael Connelly's enigmatic and troubled LA detective. Harry Bosch lives for his job, and the cost to his personal life and relationships is troubling.

When we meet Harry, he has already been, in essence, demoted by being kicked off of the elite Robbery/Homicide squad and stuck in Homicide in the Hollywood division. But Harry is a pure detective, and will work every case with the same single-minded tenacity that gets results while alienating him from his fellows and irritating his bosses.

A throw-away death of a junkie found in a drainage pipe would have gone unnoticed if anyone but Harry Bosch had caught the call. But Bosch, while having a lousy personal life IS a superb detective, and he sees what many would miss. Not only that, but the victim is someone from Harry's past which further prompts him to look deeper. Harry's investigation causes him to cross paths with the FBI and his conflicts become even more personal when he becomes romantically involved with a female FBI agent.

The story unfolds with many surprises and the meticulous detail that we will come to expect from Connelly in the series. First rate all the way. A great beginning.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Every now and then you read a book that announces the presence of an excellent new writer. These are great discoveries that are to be savoured: I get a shiver and my heart races with excitement each time it happens. The book cries out to be read slowly and enjoyed, but you just want to rip through it to see how it ends. Then you read the book again and again, just for the sheer enjoyment. "The Hunt for Red October" was one such book; "The Eye of the World" another. "The Black Echo" is a third. Michael Connelly's debut effort has to be one of the very best books I have ever read, and certainly one of the best detective fiction books out there.

Connelly has an excellent eye for describing real life: his scenes are gritty and intoxicatingly detailed and his ear for dialogue is superb. His characters are memorable; writing with the benefit of hindsight, the Harry Bosch series has proved to be a modern classic. The old adage is "write what you know about". Connelly knows crime (he was a newspaper crime reporter) and he knows LA; like the back of his hand. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story. Stick through his next, "The Black Ice", which is very good but not as good as this, and then move into "Concrete Blonde" and "The Last Coyote", which are also superb.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Debut for a Great Character
Review: Michael Connelly won the "Edgar Award" for Best First Novel with "The Black Echo", which introduces us to LAPD Detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch. Bosch had formerly been a member of the LAPD's elite RHD (Robbery Homicide Division), but roughly a year before this book begins he killed a suspect in the 'Dollmaker Case'. As a result, Bosch was investigated by IAD (the Internal Affairs Department), suspended for a month and demoted to robbery-homicide team of the Hollywood Division. As it happens, IAD weren't entirely happy with this outcome, and are waiting for their chance to get Bosch out of the police force altogether. Malicious ? They make the 'real' villains look good.

Bosch proves to be an interesting character. With a reputation as being something of a loner, he's a jazz fan with a taste for coffee, beer and cigarettes. He served in Vietnam as a Tunnel Rat, before returning home and joining the Police Force.

It's Harry's time as a Tunnel Rat that comes back to haunt him in The Black Echo. The book begins with Harry being called out to Mulholland Dam, where a body's been found in drainage pipe. Dismissed by other officers at the scene as simply another drug user who'd accidentally overdosed - and therefore, not needing any further investigation - Bosch isn't quite so and decides to run with it. Things take a more personal twist when he recognises the corpse as a fellow Tunnel Rat, Billy Meadows. Things start looking more and more like Meadows was murdered - an autopsy seems to indicate he'd been tortured before he died, while a pawn ticket found in Meadows' apartment links him to a major bank heist carried out the previous year. This bank job is officially being investigated by the FBI and, as Bosch believes the men behind the bank job are also behind Meadows' death, he arranges a meeting with Special Agent Eleanor Wish. Harry's intention was to request a sharing of information but he doesn't exactly get what he wants out of the meeting - and things haven't finished going downhill for him.

Connolly's style of writing is excellent - a former Crime Reporter with the LA Times, I would assume there is a great deal of accuracy in his portrayal of a homicide investigation. He has created a very likeable character in Harry Bosch, while his descriptions of the city have left me feeling like I know LA. Definitely worth reading !

Rating:
Summary: An intricate & detailed crime novel that won the Edgar.
Review: Michael Connelly's debut, which won the Edgar Award for Best 1st Novel, is an engrossing mystery in the tradition of updated L.A. noir. It begins when near-burnout detectiveHarry Bosch is called on to investigate the death of a smackhead found in a drainage pipe. Turns out the dead junkie is an old war buddy of Harry's. Other facts about the apparent O.D. begin to bother the lone-wolf detective, and what begins as a routine inquiry turns into a convoluted mystery involving the FBI, the Internal Affairs Division of the LAPD, and old secrets from 'Nam. Connelly uses a wealth of authentic detail and an intricate-but-never-incomprehensible plot to great effect, but the book is hampered by hackneyed characterizations and verbosity. In fact, Connelly's over-writing telegraphs many of the surprises of the story, especially when he tries to portray Bosch's thought-processes on the verge of discovery. Bosch's mullings circle important clues again and again, in Connelly's attempt at a kind of angst, until the reader wants to reach into the book and scream the all-too-obvious conclusions at the detective. The book could have been cut by a fourth without losing anything, and the cuts would have strengthened the tautness the mystery's spine. The character of Bosch himself is not particularly vibrant or inventive, conforming to all the cliches of the genre of wounded, lone-wolf detectives whose only saving graces consist of a plodding perseverance and a kind of reckless courage, although there is an interesting attempt to elevate Bosch's woundedness to a kind of metaphor involving a Hopper painting and the artist who is Bosch's namesake. The other characters are, for the most part, even flatter. Given that this is 1st novel, however, it is a promising one, especially in its detailed authenticity, and I would recommend it as a starting place for anyone interested in contemporary LA police procedurals.

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME POLICE PROCEDURAL, CONNELLY IS THE NEW MASTER
Review: The first book I read by Mr. Connelly was his departure from the Bosch series, "The Poet" and I knew I had to read the rest. I have read every single other Bosch novel and finally went back to the beginning and read this. I should have started with this one, its just as good if not better than the series and Bosch is a fully-fleshed out character who you can always cheer for. This book is also interesting because of its attention to detail and the police procedure as well as the first meeting of Harry and Agent Eleanor Wish, his mysterious future love. Connelly has become my favorite author and his books are a pleasure to read. Just make sure you start with this one and work your way down, it does make a difference!