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Summary: A Great Harry Bosch mystery!!!
Review: What starts out as a obvious suicide by a Los Angles narcotics officer, turns into a top notch Harry Bosch mystery. This one is a real page turner, that will take you to the darker side streets of L.A. to the poverty stricken border town or Mexacali Mexico. And all the way through you will be kept on the edge of your seat as you try to guess who is who. Michael Connelly has to be one of the best mystery writers around. His characters are so real and life like, it's as if they are just going to jump right off the page. I strongly recommend this book, you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Enter the world of Detective Harry Bosch-you'll never return
Review: A cop who was 'in the wind' (disappeared) is found quite dead with a shotgun blast to his head. Suicide? Everyone thinks so--but not Harry Bosch. Something doesn't fit. In this second novel by Connelly, he revs up his caharacter so that we learn, piece by piece, just what it is that makes this shrewd detective tick. A PUZZLE! It is all a puzzle - the suicide is the center piece - before you catch your breath , the four corners are in place. You may think you know where the next piece will fit - but Harry twists it and turns it until it fits right where he wants it. L.A. - Mexico - murder - drugs -med flies- good cops - bad cops -monstrous bulls and 'The Pope' - how do they all connect to the death of the cop, Colexico Moore? Harry somehow makes sense of all these elements and fits the last puzzle piece snuggly in place as we try to catch our breath. Done with expertise, sensitivity , compassion and brute force coupled with the resolve of a good man and an intelligent cop. The surprises never end-but with MICHAEL CONNELLY, they never do! DON'T MISS IT - I'm on to the next in his series "The Concrete Blonde!
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Summary: Strong contemporary pulp fiction for fans of true noir
Review: A troubled anti-hero in love with a hot widow, a convoluted mystery, and strong, natural descriptions of police procedure and departmental politics makes this a strong entrant for the attention of fans of contemporary pulp fiction. Not for those seeking politically correct fiction or glamourized "sleuthing." If you like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard, Andrew H. Vachss, James Ellroy, and Chester Himes, and can't stand Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Dick Francis, and all the other pretenders, you'll enjoy Connelly.
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Summary: Connelly is good.
Review: First, THE BLACK ECHO, now THE BLACK ICE. I hadn't read any of Connelly's books until this summer and now I can't wait to get to THE CONCRETE BLONDE. His characterization of Harry Bosch is near to brilliant and his plot structure keeps me reading until it's over, because I, at least, never can QUITE figure out where it's going. And that's the beauty of Connelly and Bosch. Keep 'em coming, Michael.
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Summary: Good Hard-Boiled Writing
Review: Michael Connelly has hit another one out of the park with "The Black Ice." The writing is fast-paced, taut, and grippng. "Black Ice" flows better than a bottle of scotch on a Saturday night. Harry Bosch and the other characters are so real that you can smell the cigarette smoke, taste the border dust, and see the blood on the bathroom floor. If you enjoy modern hard-boiled detective writing than this is the book for you.
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Summary: The on-going trials and tribulations of Harry Bosch
Review: Everyones favorite troubled detective, Harry Bosch, dives into another seemingly closed case - and opens more than anyone could have possibly imagined. As with all of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, this is well written and keeps an even pace all through the book. What is sad, is nobody gets his personal life kicked in the groin more than Harry, and just once I would like to see him come out on top! The main character is very real, and easily identifiable with the reader. My heart rises and falls with each new spin on the tail, and this book is non-stop on spins. Great book, as all the Harry Bosch books are... just let Harry win one once in awhile!
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Summary: Tragic characters and good plot make a great read.
Review: This mystery has it all for the lover of the "hard-boiled" genre. Harry Bosch is a compelling, unpredictable, intelligent, and, of course, tragic character. He makes his second appearance in The Black Ice, following his debut in The Black Echo. After reading The Black Echo, I immediately purchased The Black Ice and was not disappointed. Harry's character is "true" and multi-dimensional. The plot is complicated but not beyond belief. The other characters in the story add to the richness of the whole by giving an emotional undercurrent to the events unfolding. Michael Connelly writes police procedurals that have intelligence, tragedy and heart. The Black Ice is, in my opinion, the best of the five Harry Bosch novels, although they are all worth a read, just to keep up with Harry.
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Summary: Better Than The First
Review: I really enjoyed the first in the series, The Black Echo; but this one is even better. The main character, Harry Bosch, is developing nicely. The mystery was intriguing. The only predictable thing is Harry seems to become attracted to all the women. Not very discriminating, but that might be a typical male trait. Overall, an excellent read!
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Summary: Hard-boiled thriller, a great read
Review: Michael Connelly's books are definitively within the "hard-boiled urban detective" genre that historically has been highlighted by the work of Raymond Chandler and other great mystery writers. *The Black Ice* is the second in a series of novels with LAPD detective Hieronymous Bosch as the protagonist (the first was *The Black Echo*), and it's definitely a winner. There's murder, intrigue, twists and turns in the plot, and plenty of action, as well. One thing that Connelly does particularly well is to include geographical/place descriptions in his work. When one reads his descriptions of life in Los Angeles or travels to a bordertown like Mexicali, these places really do seem real and are accurately depicted. The book is not perfect; as in so many police mysteries, sometimes the clues come just a bit too neatly packaged, and at times this doesn't seem realistic. But then, real police work is probably pretty dull 90% of the time (false leads, endless drudgery, etc.), so streamlining the process for the sake of fast-moving fiction is certainly forgiveable. The other thing that had me rolling my eyes a bit is the obligatory "romantic angle" that seems always to be a subplot in these books. Again, it's kind of a sacred part of the genre, but wouldn't it be interesting if for once Bosch noted the "gorgeous but sad woman" and then went about his business without becoming involved with her? All in all, this is a terrific book and an absorbing, "can't put it down" read. One last thing: I would recommend that people who wish to read the Bosch novels start with the first (*The Black Echo*) and read them in chronological order, as Connelly is very careful in his novels about maintaining accurate references to what has happened to his protagonist previously.
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Summary: No Sleep Till Mexicali
Review: This is Michael Connelly's second book and - like his first - features Harry Bosch as its central character. Little has changed for Bosch in the eighteen months since the events of "The Black Echo". He's still a jazz-loving loner who's happy to bend the rules, while his taste for coffee, beer and cigarettes remains undiminished. As the book begins, it's Christmas Day and our hero is at home, alone and on call. Monitoring police / fire / ambulance radio messages on his scanner, he picks up a message regarding an apparent homicide within Hollywood boundaries that is being dealt with directly by RHD. Despite the fact that it's Christmas, Bosch isn't too happy that he wasn't notified first - as he should've been, according to protocol. Arriving uninvited at the scene of the crime, he tries to edge his way into things. At first glance, it's an apparent suicide involving Cal Moore, another cop working out of the Hollywood Division's narcotics unit. Although they worked in the same department, Bosch didn't know Moore that well. They'd only spoken properly once, about a stalled case Bosch was working : the murder of a drugs runner called Jimmy Kapps. Bosch was hoping Moore could give him a few leads - about the drug he was smuggling in from Hawaii, called Ice, and possible rival gangs who may have been responsible for his death. Bosch was aware, however, he'd had a few problems - including a possible showdown with IAD. Bosch's only involvement in the case, however, is informing Moore's widow. The following day, Bosch's boss - Harvey '98' Pounds - tells him to stop working the Kapps case and to keep away the Moore case. One of Bosch's fellow homicide detectives, Lou Porter, has decided to retire on stress related grounds - though it has been commonly known for some time that Porter had a drinking problem. Pounds has assigned Porter's cases to Bosch in the hope that Bosch will be able to clear at least one of them by New Year's Eve. Things soon become complicated though - Bosch's investigations constantly bring Cal Moore back into the equation. Of Porter's cases, he settles on the murder of an unidentified Mexican, whose corpse has been found dumped beside the kitchen door of a diner. Although it was Porter's case, Cal Moore had found the corpse. Not long afterwards, Bosch is contacted by Moore's former colleagues - Moore had left a file for Bosch's attention, with some information regarding the Kapps case. The information throws up some interesting coincidences - and Bosch doesn't believe in coincidences. Now believing that Moore case isn't a straightforward suicide, he believes that the cases are so tightly connected that in solving one he'll solve them all. Like Connolly's first book, I found this a very enjoyable story. Although this is the second book to feature Harry Bosch, it's not entirely necessary to have read the books in order. There's nothing in it that'll have any major impact on this story - but I would recommend reading "The Black Echo" first. It will clarify a couple of minor points and cover some parts of Harry's background.
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