Rating: 
Summary: Cream of the crop
Review: Could easily be considered the best of Michael Connelly's novels. Loved this story, and Harry Bosch's character is masterfully done. If you love hard-boiled detective, you'll love this one. Heartily recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: An edge-of-your-seat psychological and action thriller
Review: Harry Bosch is in his fourties and a temporarily suspended LAPD homicide officer when he decides to take on the most important case of his career: solving the more than 30 years old murder of his mother. Illegally using the name of his direct superior, who was the reason for his suspension in the first place, he takes the old file from the archives and starts his investigation. And apparently he is raking up quite some mud, because before long people start dying. And all the while Harry has to decide whether it is worthwhile what he is doing: will it help him to cope with the past?This book blends the description of a thorough and creative investigation with a lot of action plus an insight into the psychology of a man whose mother was killed when he was a teenager. One of the best of the Harry Bosch series of thrillers.
Rating: 
Summary: Harry does a little howling
Review: Harry Bosch is on involuntary stress leave after putting his supervisor through a glass window. Not only is his career in doubt, his house has been red-tagged after an earthquake and is slated for destruction. Sylvia Moore, Harry's one-time squeeze, has run off to Venice, presumably never to return. And the coyote that used to roam the canyon behind Harry's house hasn't been seen since the earthquake. In this outing Harry is both more reckless and more human than we've ever seen him. We see more of Harry's early past than we've ever seen before. We learn a little more about Marjorie, the mother who was both prostitute and murder victim. Marjorie remains a rather shadowy figure, yet Connelly lets us see tough-guy Harry's love for her and makes us think we'd have loved her, too, for all her faults. The plot is Connelly's usual stew of bad doings in high places, and, as in most of the Bosch books, it's pleasurable but secondary to the characters. Harry is more alone, and more vulnerable, than in the previous books, and his single-mindedness will lead to tragedy--Harry won't be this reckless again. Even the dread deputy chief, Irvin S. Irving, will continue his slow evolution toward being almost human. And, as in all the Bosch books, Hollywood itself is almost a character, from the cheesy corner where Marjorie's body was dumped to the absurdly rococco mansions of the rich and powerful. Two words of caution. While Harry is as finely drawn a character as you'll ever find in detective fiction, and other male characters, such as Irvin S. Irving, are vivid if sometimes simple, Connelly has yet to create and sustain a believable female character. Sylvia Moore, introduced in "The Black Ice," seemed promising, a wise, somewhat weary cop widow and school teacher aware of Harry's darker corners. Indeed, at the end of "The Concrete Blonde," she and Harry seemed committed to the affair. Yet by the beginning of "The Last Coyote," she has disappeared--to Venice, of all places! on a teacher's salary?--with no explanation. Harry's grief is understandable, but it seems unfair to a reader to have a character built up over two previous books to behave in such a flighty fashion with no warning. You'd think that a woman who'd have sex in her newly-deceased husband's bed with a man she'd just met--even if that man is Harry--would be hardy enough to live with Harry's warts. Sylvia's disappearance is a disappointment. The other word of caution deals with the lady offered as a love interest in this outing. She is even less believable than either Eleanor Wish or Sylvia Moore, and the romantic interlude here is essentially pointless. It adds nothing to the plot and little to our understanding of Harry--the one revealing moment with "Jazz" is really just a continuation of a revelation begun in Harry's mandatory counseling sessions, and it could as easily have been handled in that fashion. Unfortunately, the presence of this female leads to an ending which seems at odds with the rest of the book, and which will, in the next Bosch novel, be completely ignored. So the whole episode could have been removed from the book without injuring either the plot or the character development. Strange that the most compelling female character Connelly has developed in this series is the dead Marjorie, who never speaks a word and lives only fitfully in Harry's memory. Those two caveats aside, this will please anyone who likes a good detective story or anyone who loves Raymond Chandler's atmospherics. Connelly's LA is never as dark or as twisted as James Ellroy's town, but it has plenty of shadowy corners and shadowy doings, and a fitting guardian in its lone-wolf lover, Harry Bosch.
Rating:
Summary: Harry's Not Your Average Joe
Review: Harry's in trouble with his superiors again. This time it's gotten him suspended pending the outcome of psychiatric treatment. While he's on suspension he decides to clear up a family mystery that's bothered him for 30-odd years. His mother's murder. Harry's methods are not always orthodox, which is both why he's always getting into trouble and what makes these books so interesting. With his usual relentless determination, the investigation takes him from his home turf in LA to Florida, Las Vegas and back home. Once again Michael Connelly has produced an outstanding mystery that is, at times dark and depressing, yet leaving me wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another enjoyable Harry Bosch story!!!
Review: Have just finished this one and it's a great read!! With a few twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and an intricate plot, this was hard to put down!! Thought it was getting a bit long-winded towards the end but nevertheless very captivating with a twist I didn't expect!!
Rating:
Summary: What Does Bosch Do During His Time Off?
Review: He goes out and solves a murder case that's what he does. On involuntary leave for punching out his lieutenant he tackles the unsolved mystery of who murdered his mother 30 years ago. If you like police procedurals that have an air of verisimilitude about them you are always safe plunging into a Michael Connelly novel. I just finished a faux police procedural written by JA Jance, and the difference between the two writers is amazing. Connelly seems to have lived in the police department (like Daley, Caunitz, Dee, and Mahoney), while Jance's knowledge of police operations seems to have been gained when she was ticketed for jaywalking. The poor writers have their cases solved by talking to one witness or relative of the victim, who gives a lead on another person to talk to, who gives another lead on another person, and on goes this chain. Connelly deals a lot with evidence. Nice curious, strange pieces of evidence. Makes things much more interesting and challenging.
Rating:
Summary: Grabs you and takes you for a ride
Review: I don't like Los Angeles much but when Michael Connelly writes about it through the eyes of Harry Bosch, I can't stop turning the pages. In this, the fourth, Harry Bosch novel, readers are let into the heart and soul of a man who you don't think you could like (drinks too much, an in your face smoker and generally dark sort of guy) and you end up wanting to name your next cat after him. Actually, Harry probably would prefer a dog but the independent, ornery nature of a cat seems more true. Harry's on suspension and finds himself digging into the unsolved murder of his prostitute mother. By the time he's done we've learned plenty about Los Angeles in the early 60's, politics and the angst of a policeman without a badge. My husband, a former cop, simply shakes his head at Connelly's ability to express the experience of a renegade cop. We listen to these as books on tape and 13 hours go by in flash. Connelly's books are terrifically paced and this one has one heck of an ending.
Rating:
Summary: A Man on a Mission
Review: I enjoyed this Harry Bosch mystery alot. I did not enjoy it as much as the previous two Bosch books but that is hardly a major criticism. Connelly has fleshed out the Harry Bosch character quite well in this cop/psychological thriller. After Harry loses his cool and attacks his boss he gets suspended and sent to the department shrink. During this suspension Harry decides to investigate the thirty year old unsolved homocide of his mother. Connelly succeeds on several levels with this book. First this is an excellent police procedural. Second, Connelly has Harry wrestling with his demons while investigating his mother's homocide. This really broadens the character of Harry Bosch. I also like the character of Jazz who is Harry's love interest. My major complaint about the novel is that there is one to many plot twists for my liking. Not a major detractor though. Overall a good book. I look forward to "Trunk Music".
Rating:
Summary: Coyote Not Ugly
Review: I guess all Michael Connelly fans have their own personal favourites which is a sign of a good writer. I liked 'Last Coyote' the best so far. (I haven't read Void Moon, Angels Flight, or the Black Ice yet) I liked it the most because it was a battle of the human spirit which was Harry's greatest test of all. It also had the most action which didn't hurt. Last Coyote was an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: It was everything I expected from Michael Connelly
Review: I have been lucky to read all of Harry Bosch's experiences in order and I am ready for more. I think I know who the villian is and I change my opinion many times before the end. This was one of the best so far!
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