Time saver tip: if you've read my review of any Harry Bosch book, you've read 'em all. Since I don't reveal plots and reserve my comments to the overall book/author, characterization, style, etc...I just don't feel the need to repeat myself as in most cases series books if any good at all do remain consistent. The star ratings might change, but not my opinion of the series as a whole.Michael Connelly is a well know and very popular author in the mystery/detective and police procedural genres. Exploding onto the scene in the early nineties with his first six novels, and topping it off just recently with his 18th Bosch novel (The Black Box), Connelly has garnered most awards worth getting. Let's face it, the awards are well deserved, especially for those first novels (more on that later). Having emerged onto the fictional world after a career as a journalist, culminating with his job as crime reporter for the LA times, and admitting to becoming interested in writing fiction as a result of reading Raymond Chandler early on in his journalistic career, Michael Connelly has since involved himself in several collaborations: notable the television series Level 9, and as co-writer with Val McDermid's Wire In the Blood series (and that spawned the wildly popular grim, noir BBC television series of the same name). If you're into Noir than this TV series is a must see.Connelly has a knack for writing suspenseful tales that take quite a few twists and turns before being resolved with a stellar Who-Done-It that has most readers guessing till the very end (at least in his earlier books).Heironymous (Harry) Bosch, the hero in this series, is named after a Renaissance painter who specialized in earthly sins, debauchery, fanciful and gruesome visions of hell, violent consequences from high above if not detailed looks at the tortures reserved for earthly residents. Score 1 for Connelly in choosing a very apropos name for our own tortured detective Harry Bosch.Bosch is a complicated and conflicted character, a character that slowly develops across this series but whose emotive origin lies in the Viet Cong tunnels where Harry got his education in fear: underground, claustrophic, dark, drenched with blood, gruesome deaths, peopled with a savage enemy crawling within the absence of all light, hunting for the American soldiers like bloodthirsty rats. From these dark tunnels emerges Harry Bosch, LAPD detective, bent on setting the world right. From this darkness where pacific military command has sent Bosch to discover the inevitable conflict between a military order and the reality of carrying out that order, we find a detective in perpetual defiance of LAPD authority.The Harry Bosch series, for me, are divided into two sets: the first 4 books, and the rest that follow. As mentioned earlier, the classic early 90's novels were better for me. Books starting with The Black Echo on through The Last Coyote all inherit the tortuous origins of Harry's artistic namesake. Reading these books I could actually feel my heart begin to race as I sped towards the inevitable ending, ones that actually kept you guessing to the very end. One reviewer (sorry, can't remember who it was) says the following of these earlier book titles:[...]Even the titles of the books used to be cleverer. Compare The Drop (a simple reference to Deferred Retirement Option Plan) to The Concrete Blonde (a reference to both lady justice statue on the courthouse and the body of a blonde entombed in concrete. [...]Compare that to the later books in the series where we find a Harry Bosch notably mellower in his older age, where we find endings easily guessed at, where procedure begins to trump a superb plot. Bosch no longer smokes, doesn't drink and drive, doesn't slap people around anymore, where his defiance of LAPD authority is tempered by retirement, and let's face it, where my heart just doesn't race as often anymore. Let's say that his later novels are beginning to show an author's haste (is it me, or are the novels shorter and shorter?)Don't get me wrong, I still love reading the latest Bosch novel. Where the earlier novels have a few things that can be improved on (dialogue could have been better) the later novels are polished, almost a little too much so. After 18 Bosch novels, is Connelly tiring? Maybe.Beginning with the last 90's novel (Angels Flight) in which we are introduced to Bosch's latest romantic interest, Eleanor Wish, with whom Bosch is to have a daughter this mellowing process takes root. Connelly is absolutely right to introduce this notable character shift in Bosch from this book forward because as I can attest to in my own personal life: when you see your child born, a fundamental shift takes place in a man. For me, I was reborn from a devilish bachelor into a man who now bore the responsibility of an innocent life. It completely turned around my life for the better. And so it is with Harry Bosch. It is the presence of his daughter that transforms him from Heironymous to Harry.Overall, I highly recommend this series.
This third entry in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series begins as a courtroom thriller. Four years before, Harry had killed a man believed to be the Dollmaker, a serial killer of women. Now the man's wife is suing Harry for wrongful death in the case. She is being represented by one of the premier civil rights lawyers in Los Angeles, a woman who is not used to losing. Harry is being represented by a city attorney who is not in the same league with her. His chances do not look good.At the time Harry had killed the man, it was believed that he was responsible for the murders of eleven women, but at the beginning of his civil trial, evidence becomes known that seems to indicate that two of the later victims may actually have been killed by someone else. And now a third body has been found that follows the pattern of the other murders - a woman who was killed at least two years after the death of the Dollmaker. The inevitable conclusion is that there's a serial killer still out there, one who is copying the work of the Dollmaker. The action in the court was fascinating and I thought Connelly was particularly adept at his sketching of the characters and personalities of the various people who were involved. The court case takes up about three-fourths of the book, during which Harry's attention is divided between what is happening there and the investigation of the newly discovered serial killings. The whole purpose of his life is to put bad guys away and so he is obsessed with this new investigation, to the point of giving very little concern or attention to the outcome of his trial. In the latter part of the book, both sides in the case have rested and Harry is able to join the task force investigating the killings full time. Then the book's action begins to pick up speed.Throughout all of this, we get to learn a bit more of Bosch's back story and also his present relationship with Sylvia, the widow of a cop whose alleged suicide he had investigated in the last book. That relationship has intensified and it seems that Sylvia may be a keeper. If Harry can manage to keep from pushing her away.Finding the copycat killer, known as the Follower, is a daunting task. There are so many possible suspects. The killer has to have been someone with intimate knowledge of the Dollmaker murders. Could it be a cop? Someone from the Medical Examiner's office? A reporter who wrote about the cases? A psychologist who studied the cases and advised the police, helping to create a profile of the potential murderer? In addition to the overwhelming number of possible suspects, there is the fact that time has passed while the perpetrator went undetected. Time that may have destroyed clues. It's impossible to even know how many victims there might be. Are there more than three?Harry puts his analytical mind to finding answers to all of these questions and, relatively soon, comes up with someone who fits the profile and who just might be their killer. The reader soon suspects that he is barking up the wrong tree and, through the skillful use of various red herrings, we are led to believe that we have solved the case and that we know the true murderer. But it turns out we are just as misled as Harry, and the ending, after another particularly brutal killing, comes as a surprise.I felt the plotting and the character development in The Concrete Blonde were especially strong, more so than in the two previous books. This has to be my favorite in the series so far.
What do You think about The Concrete Blonde (2007)?
3.5***Book # 3 in the Harry Bosch series has Harry in federal court defending a civil suit. Four years prior he fatally shot a notorious serial killer – The Dollmaker. Now the family is suing for damages, claiming his civil rights were violated. Unfortunately for Harry’s case, on the first day of the trial a new note arrives for Harry, supposedly from the killer, and leading the police to another body. A blonde buried in a concrete slab certainly fits the profile of The Dollmaker killings. Could Harry have killed an innocent man? Is the killer really still at work?This is a fast-paced, suspenseful read. Connelly keeps the reader (and Harry) on their toes, with multiple twists in the plot. He also gives us a little more of Harry’s personal life – his childhood experiences come to light during the trial, and how he deals with these secrets in his present-day life has an impact on his relationships. But the main focus is the mystery of the Dollmaker, and that is exactly what this genre requires. I was sure I had it figured out, and for a few pages there I felt victorious. I should have known better. Connelly is a master at surprising the reader and I definitely did NOT solve this one ahead of Harry.
—Book Concierge
9/10This was the best Bosch story I have read to date. It might even be the best Connelly novel or at least on par with The Fifth Witness. Each Bosch novel has got better and better so far but it will be a hard act to follow after this!The story has two aspects, the law room aspect and the on-going serial killer aspect. All linked in some way or another and linked together expertly. It's easy to see how Connelly was able to hit his stride straight away with "The Lincoln Lawyer" as the courtroom scenes here zip along with ease and add the dreaded "just one more chapter...." syndrome which doesn't bode well late into the night.Bosch as a character is easily able to hold up the story on his own but it is also the added depth of the surrounding cast which add another layer making it all the more engaging. Jerry Edgar is a standout character from the support and there is a nice little sub-plot there too.I won't say anything on the main story line as there is too much to say and so many chances of ruining the plot for someone else. It is very engaging though and well worth the read. Whilst it could essentially be read as a standalone, as with most of these types of series books, it adds that something extra knowing a bit about the characters from the other novels. "RRRRRRRRooooggggggger dream leader!" goes down as a high point laugh out loud moment in the book too which relieved some of the on-going tension. It's great to have a bit of humour in these sorts of plots.Very much looking forward to the next in the series!If you enjoyed this try "Knots & Crosses" by Ian Rankin
—Richard
[Cross-posted to Knite Writes](view spoiler)[PlotHarry Bosch is being sued by the family of the infamous Dollmaker, the serial killer Harry gunned down a few years prior. Claiming the man wasn’t actually the killer, the family wants “justice” for Harry’s so-called rash behavior that cost them a father and husband. Helmed by the infamous lawyer Honey Chandler, things aren’t looking good for Harry.And to make matters worse, a note delivered to the LAPD leads to the discovery of a murder victim that bears the Dollmaker’s signature…but was killed after the man’s death. Did Harry make a mistake and kill the wrong man?Dealing with court and the new murder case at the same time, Harry finds himself in the dark underworld of LA prostitution and pornography, the Dollmaker’s hunting ground, where he desperately tries to retrace the Dollmaker’s steps and figure out who, if anyone, could be copying the serial killer’s style.When he digs back into the old case files, he makes a startling revelation: two of the supposed Dollmaker victims weren’t killed by him at all but by a “follower” who’s been active since before the real Dollmaker was killed. Meaning there are likely several victims that haven’t been found.But if the follower existed during the original Dollmaker time period, then it can only mean someone privy to the full details of the Dollmaker’s work could be the killer. Harry is forced to investigate the very police he worked with on the case. His first hunch is a cop deep in the underbelly of the pornography world — Mora — who Harry believes has gone to the dark side.But when he breaks into Mora’s house to search for clues, he finds evidence not of murder but of a man warped by years spent too close to the seedy business practices of the porn industry. Mora confronts Harry, and, after a brief skirmish, surrenders and agrees to quit the force in exchange for Harry and his backup keeping quiet about his not-so-legal porn-related activities…and what Mora believes to be a real lead on the follower.Mora points to university psychology professor Locke, who helped Harry and the LAPD profile the original Dollmaker. However, Locke disappears before Harry can confront him, and with the verdict on the Dollmaker trial coming due, Harry is forced to wait for his comrades to track the man down.Except when Harry shows up for court after a long and harrowing weekend, he finds Honey Chandler has gone missing, too. He alerts the others to head to her home immediately…but it’s too late. Chandler was murdered by the follower long before Harry ever caught wind of the danger.Surprisingly, Locke resurfaces, having spent a weekend in Vegas with one of his college students. After realizing Locke is not the follower, Harry puts the pieces together — the follower can only be one person. One person who knew all the details about the Dollmaker case. One person who hasn’t been scrutinized yet.Bremmer. The very reporter who wrote the book on the Dollmaker. The reporter who’s been acquainted with Harry for years.Harry confronts Bremmer at his home, and after a standoff, where Harry coaxes Bremmer into admitting his guilt on tape, Bremmer is arrested and finally thrown in jail where he belongs.Harry, finally free of the Dollmaker case for good and only out two dollars thanks to an understanding jury, returns to his normal mode of life with girlfriend Sylvia (who we met in The Black Ice).The End.Cue Sequel._____ (hide spoiler)]
—Therin Knite
