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Summary: Connelly brings Harry Bosch to life...
Review: I am a new reader of author Michael Connelly. After several friends urged me to read "Blood Work", in which I enjoyed and recommend. Connelly's style instantly made me seek more of his work, "The Black Echo" is my second book of his. The plot was interesting, although I thought at times Connelly was prodding along, in which there was too much subject matter crammed into a "chapter", Connelly could have shortened the chapters, which would have made the novel flow better. The characters were excellent, Det. Harry Bosch reminded me of Lawrence Sanders'Timothy Cone character. All told, I look forward to "Black Ice" and will read all of Connelly's novels ASAP. Ed
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Summary: A Good Detective Novel
Review: "The Black Echo" is about L.A. detective Harry Bosch and F.B.I. agent Eleanor Wish, who, not so coincidentally, become involved in the death of a man Harry once knew in Vietnam. They set out to solve a death that appears to be a suicide overdose, but to Harry's perspicacious eyes have see too many in congruencies to be content with appearances. The story is well-hewn, but not as taut, as some of the other Bosch novels. Parts VI, VII, and VIII (about 100-200 pages, depending on edition) especially could be radically reduced with a finer sheen. The story sort of drags to bring in some characters that have only incidental merit to the overall plot. As a Californian, I knew many of the acronyms and numerical titles for PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), 405 (San Diego Freeway), 10 (Santa Monica Freeway), but Connelly uses these shorthand equivalents in a way that might make the distant reader feel confused. He's given to using these initials in the text (such as O.M. for Old Man), that's rather offputting. Overall recommended.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Summary: I loved it
Review: I ordered several Edgar winners from a mystery bookstore a long time ago and this was one of them. It was amazing. I then read The Black Ice. It was also excellent. You should read this if you like this kind of stuff. Connelly is a strong writer. Knows what he's talking about and puts it down like it should be. The Black Echo is a great book.
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Summary: mired in a bog of cliches
Review: The main story thread was good, but the book was too long, the story was overshadowed by clichés, had many inconsistencies and a sappy ending.
Harry the maverick cop (how many times have we read about these guys) carrying an SW 9mm? Never, it's too light weight, try an HK 357 or a Para 40. Then at the end of the story we find it is a revolver (SW makes no 9mm revolvers, does anybody???)
Harry the maverick beer guzzling smoker is paired with the fastidious water drinking, anti smoking by the book FBI agent Wish (of course she is beautiful). Then we are supposed to believe that she is ready to share her bed after three days (Harry should be getting suspicious).
Harry is trailed by a pair of dumb IAD cops. Why, in these types of stories, is every cop, but the hero (and his female counter part) stupid, or corrupt?
The ending is sappy. Harry loves to bust bad cops and expose corruption in the force so why would he let Wish of easy?
We know Harry is a hero; he has been built up to be this bigger than life character so, for my ending, try a twist. Let Wish blow away the last bad guy, but then let Harry find out that she is no angel as she pushes him over into the sewer water to drown. No one can trace her to the robberies and murders so, let Wish carry the series.
With some good editing (chop the book down by 40%) to tighten up the story and remove the clichés, Black Echo would be memorable and worthy of an award.
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Summary: THE ADVENT OF HARRY BOSCH
Review: Once upon a time I had a teacher named Mrs. Milstein. She had a principle. Boiled down to its most simple phrasing, Milstein's Principle states: "if you've heard of a thing once, you will hear of it again."
I have yet to find anything that can stand against this principle.
A case in point: Hieronymous Bosch. At least, I thought, I will never hear of this guy outside of an art-world setting. Once more, I bow to the principle.
Michael Connelly is, as the saying goes--one helluva writer. He and his Bosch books stand at the pinnacle of the loosely grouped writers & fiction known as the "New Noir." I am not a huge fan of genre fiction (especially mystery) but Harry Bosch has made a fan of me.
This first book of the series, The Black Echo, introduces us to a very grim (he gets more humanized in later books) Detective Bosch. He's just been demoted, he's got a painfully bureaucratic new boss, and an old platoon-mate from Vietnam has just turned up dead.
From here things only get more murky and dangerous.
The Black Echo is not the strongest of the Bosch series (which really starts hitting its stride in book three). It is a good introduction to a lot of the characters you will get to know better throughout the series.
Connelly's style is very cinematic. Having honed his skills as a journalist, the author is the master of taking snapshot after successive snapshot and then building these pictures into a compelling story.
As a stand-alone work, the Black Echo is a B+ at best, but I cannot give any higher recommendation to a series of books than I can for those of the Harry Bosch series.
Get a copy of The Black Echo today and dive in.
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Summary: excellent story, had a problem with tape 5, bookcassette
Review: I am writing this review again, as I tried to send the first one, actually, preview it, and had trouble. This is the first in the series featuring Harry Bosch, LA police detective. Gritty story, good characters. I bought the Brilliance Audio edition but had a problem with tape 5, which they're correcting. It features the investigation of a murdered man, who was a fellow Vietnam Veteran; who was dubbed a "tunnel rat", like Bosch. He has an interesting relationship with his female partner and except for the problem at the end was a great story; well read by Dick Hill. [My apologies to readers of this review, as it wasn't as good as the first one I had written, but an error screwed it up, and I'm going to contact Amazon if it keeps happening].
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Summary: Connelly is brillant...
Review: I've read almost all of Connelly's stand alone novels (excepting Blood Work, but something tells me I will read that one day too)...Chasing the Dime, Void Moon, The Poet, and the Narrows. It wasn't until the Narrows that I met Harry Bosch. I tend to avoid getting into series if I can help it--unless I start at the beginning with a character (for example, I adore Victor Carl in the William Lashner series). It is mostly because I don't the attention span to go back and read all the novels in a series...who has time to read 8 or 10 or 12 novels when there is so much out there to be read? Well, the Narrows convinced me that Bosch was a worthy exception to my very odd rule. This novel is one of the finest dectective novels I have read. I'm stunned that it was a first novel. It is not very dated--except the complete lack of cell phones and computers--and holds up beautifully. THe characters are complex and the story easy to follow but filled with wonderful details that hold upon further review. What's next? Black Ice of course...
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