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Harry Bosch #3
The Concrete Blonde
When maverick LAPD detective Harry Bosch shot and killed Norman Church, the police were convinced it marked the end of the hunt for the Dollmaker, the city's most bizarre serial killer. But now Norman Church's widow is accusing Bosch of killing the wrong man - and to make things worse, Bosch has just received a taunting note that appears to be from the Dollmaker himself. Same handwriting, same awful poetry.
Is the Dollmaker still alive? Or is this the work of a vicious copy-cat killer determined to repeat the Dollmaker's grisly feats and destroy Bosch's career in the process?
Is the Dollmaker still alive? Or is this the work of a vicious copy-cat killer determined to repeat the Dollmaker's grisly feats and destroy Bosch's career in the process?
411 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1994
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14751 people want to read
About the author
Michael Connelly
380 books35k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,511 reviews
December 23, 2025
All my love to Harry Bosch and his creator. I do not how, but the series is getting better and better with every new volume. And it was a 5* to begin with. True, I've seen all the episodes in the TV show so I already am a fan of the character but, still, these books are so remarkably well written that I discover and enjoy the stories all over again. Really, if you like a well written police procedural with a complex main character, do not look further than this series.
When I saw this novel deals with a serial killer, I was not overly enthusiastic. Of course, the author made me eat from his hand in only a few pages. I also thought I will not enjoy revisiting Bosch's civil trial which also features in the 1st season of the TV series. Wrong. There were enough details and twists to keep me hooked to that part as well.
When I saw this novel deals with a serial killer, I was not overly enthusiastic. Of course, the author made me eat from his hand in only a few pages. I also thought I will not enjoy revisiting Bosch's civil trial which also features in the 1st season of the TV series. Wrong. There were enough details and twists to keep me hooked to that part as well.
November 19, 2019
I'm not a big fan of novels about serial killers with distinctive M.O.'s who leave clues in notes sent to the lead detective, particularly when the supposed murderer has already been incarcerated or killed, and the possibility of a copycat--or an original injustice--emerges. Been there. Done that. Squared.
But Connelly's novel is so well-plotted and so well-written and features such believable characters and such realistic glimpses into the police detective's world that I was completely won over. Connelly does it right.
July 22, 2021
This was a wild ride. Connelly hit a home run on this one and ran in perfect stride. I enjoyed the first two books, but felt they needed tighter editing for a crisper story. This book had all that and more. I kept turning pages, loved the pace and I loved the action. Along with trying to find a killer who murdered numerous women, the side story included a courtroom drama where Bosch was accused of murdering the suspect in cold blood. Both storylines were great. As crusty as the Bosch character is, I enjoyed the fact Connelly let us into Bosch’s head and we could see that Bosch is a good guy and cares about justice. There was a love interest and thankfully, it wasn’t overdone.
In my smugness I was certain I knew who the killer was. So certain. However I was wrong. But that’s ok because I was even more surprised by who the killer really was. This book diverges from the TV show, which I also LOVE.
Recommended for crime lovers.
July 29, 2017
In book three of the Harry Bosch series, Connelly finally hits his stride. The preceding two books frequently referenced the lethal shooting of a serial killer, a career-changer that resulted in Harry being transferred out of the glamorous (?!) Robbery-Homicide Division and into the hinterlands in Hollywood. In The Concrete Blonde, the case is being tried in a civil court. Harry's refused to plead or settle, and is making do with a lawyer from the D.A.'s office against a top-notch civil rights attorney, Honey Chandler.
The tale opens with the very scene where it all began, Bosch and a streetwalker informant watching the apartment of a man who is possibly The Dollmaker, a serial killer who rapes and kills his victims, and then garishly applies makeup to their faces. Segue into the courtroom, where Harry's trial is about to begin. During recess, he gets a call from his lieutenant, asking him to come to a homicide scene. They were led there by a note echoing the handwriting and style of The Dollmaker, and the information in the rhyme has led detectives to a woman buried in concrete. Harry is sure in his gut that he shot the right man, so is this the work of a copycat or is Harry wrong?
It's an reasonably intriguing premise--aside from Harry's gut doing the detecting--made urgent by the trial. To add to the tension, it appears someone has leaked information to the prosecuting attorney, so it isn't long before Harry and his somewhat inept attorney are threatened with contempt of court. The back and forth from the courtroom to solving the mystery of the woman in concrete keep the pace moving. His relationship with Sylvia provides a counterpoint to the sordidness of the case and the trial.
One of the strange things about the series for me is the 80s setting. It's so odd to think of a time of pagers and public telephones. In-time information isn't quite as much of a lynch pin in this case, so it's easier to ignore. There's a couple of red herrings, the first quite obvious, the second less so, but the law of character conservation holds. I will note that it's a relief for a mystery-thriller to not feel the need to explore the serial-killer POV.
Although Connelly still has a rather flat, simplistic writing style, he seems to be improving stylistically, or at least allowing himself to drift away from the narrow confines of Harry's basic world-view. A couple of points was almost poetic, as Harry muses at various points about the nature of justice.
"The lack of hospitality exists because the federal government does not want its courthouse to give even the appearance that justice may be slow, or nonexistent... There is enough of that going on across Spring Street in the County Criminal Courts building. Every day the benches in the hallways of every floor are clogged with those who wait. Mostly they are women and children, their husbands or fathers or lovers held in lockup. Mostly they are black or brown. Mostly the benches look like crowded life rafts--women and children first--with people pressed together and cast adrift, waiting, always waiting, to be found."
A game changer for me as well. Fast-paced, I devoured it in one night. I'll definitely be moving on with the series.
The tale opens with the very scene where it all began, Bosch and a streetwalker informant watching the apartment of a man who is possibly The Dollmaker, a serial killer who rapes and kills his victims, and then garishly applies makeup to their faces. Segue into the courtroom, where Harry's trial is about to begin. During recess, he gets a call from his lieutenant, asking him to come to a homicide scene. They were led there by a note echoing the handwriting and style of The Dollmaker, and the information in the rhyme has led detectives to a woman buried in concrete. Harry is sure in his gut that he shot the right man, so is this the work of a copycat or is Harry wrong?
It's an reasonably intriguing premise--aside from Harry's gut doing the detecting--made urgent by the trial. To add to the tension, it appears someone has leaked information to the prosecuting attorney, so it isn't long before Harry and his somewhat inept attorney are threatened with contempt of court. The back and forth from the courtroom to solving the mystery of the woman in concrete keep the pace moving. His relationship with Sylvia provides a counterpoint to the sordidness of the case and the trial.
One of the strange things about the series for me is the 80s setting. It's so odd to think of a time of pagers and public telephones. In-time information isn't quite as much of a lynch pin in this case, so it's easier to ignore. There's a couple of red herrings, the first quite obvious, the second less so, but the law of character conservation holds. I will note that it's a relief for a mystery-thriller to not feel the need to explore the serial-killer POV.
Although Connelly still has a rather flat, simplistic writing style, he seems to be improving stylistically, or at least allowing himself to drift away from the narrow confines of Harry's basic world-view. A couple of points was almost poetic, as Harry muses at various points about the nature of justice.
"The lack of hospitality exists because the federal government does not want its courthouse to give even the appearance that justice may be slow, or nonexistent... There is enough of that going on across Spring Street in the County Criminal Courts building. Every day the benches in the hallways of every floor are clogged with those who wait. Mostly they are women and children, their husbands or fathers or lovers held in lockup. Mostly they are black or brown. Mostly the benches look like crowded life rafts--women and children first--with people pressed together and cast adrift, waiting, always waiting, to be found."
A game changer for me as well. Fast-paced, I devoured it in one night. I'll definitely be moving on with the series.
February 21, 2024
The third Harry Bosch book turned it up. In the first book, The Black Echo we're told Harry had been moved to his present department after he killed a prime serial killer suspect who was going for his toupee! This book features a court case brought by the man's wife and her artful lawyer. During the trial the serial killer appears to strike again, with the same MO with the added touch of putting the corpses in concrete! This, or appears to be, as I have only read three of this series, Harry Bosch at his best as he delves into a case that may jeopardise his own trial! A firm Four Star, 8 out of 12 read.
2024 read
2024 read
March 12, 2017
Four years ago, L. A. homicide detective, Harry Bosch, was part of a task force hunting a sadistic serial killer known as the Dollmaker. The killer preyed on vulnerable women and was blamed for taking the lives of eleven victims. Late one night, after the rest of the team had gone home, Bosch took a frantic call from a prostitute who said that she had just escaped from the Dollmaker. Harry assumed this was probably just another false lead and decided to meet the woman on his way home, without notifying anyone else.
Upon meeting the victim, though, Bosch concluded that she was credible, especially when she led him back to the small apartment where she said the killer had held her. Through the window, Bosch could see a man moving about in the apartment. He thought about calling for backup, but realized that the Dollmaker might have already lured another victim into the apartment and that he might kill her before reinforcements could arrive. Accordingly, Bosch kicked in the door and found a naked man standing across the floor. Bosch ordered him to freeze, but instead the man reached under a pillow, as if going for a weapon. Bosch fired once, killing the man instantly. Then, lifting up the pillow, he saw that the man had been reaching for a toupee.
Once Harry called it in, reinforcements arrived and found solid evidence linking the victim to nine of the eleven killings. The case was declared closed, and in spite of his role in bringing the case to a successful conclusion, Bosch was demoted from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division for failing to call for backup before entering the apartment.
Now, four years later, the family of the man Bosch killed is suing him and the department, claiming that Bosch acted recklessly and without cause in shooting the man he believed to be the killer. The trial has barely begun, however, when a new victim is discovered--a blonde who had been killed and encased in concrete. The killing bears all the signature touches of the Dollmaker, but this victim has only been dead for two years. Is it possible after all, that Bosch shot an innocent man?
Bosh insists that he did not, and that the new killer must be a copycat. The book thus proceeds along two tracks as Harry stands trial for his actions four years earlier while at the same time hunting a sadistic killer who may or may not have been the real Dollmaker all along. It's a riveting story on both fronts. The courtroom scenes are very well done and will appeal to readers who enjoy legal thrillers. Harry's adversary in court, a female attorney nicknamed "Money" Chandler is a great character in her own right. The hunt for the killer is also edge-of-your-seat stuff, and through it all, Harry is forced to examine the deep, inner darkness of his own soul. All in all, a very solid early entry in a great series.
Upon meeting the victim, though, Bosch concluded that she was credible, especially when she led him back to the small apartment where she said the killer had held her. Through the window, Bosch could see a man moving about in the apartment. He thought about calling for backup, but realized that the Dollmaker might have already lured another victim into the apartment and that he might kill her before reinforcements could arrive. Accordingly, Bosch kicked in the door and found a naked man standing across the floor. Bosch ordered him to freeze, but instead the man reached under a pillow, as if going for a weapon. Bosch fired once, killing the man instantly. Then, lifting up the pillow, he saw that the man had been reaching for a toupee.
Once Harry called it in, reinforcements arrived and found solid evidence linking the victim to nine of the eleven killings. The case was declared closed, and in spite of his role in bringing the case to a successful conclusion, Bosch was demoted from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division for failing to call for backup before entering the apartment.
Now, four years later, the family of the man Bosch killed is suing him and the department, claiming that Bosch acted recklessly and without cause in shooting the man he believed to be the killer. The trial has barely begun, however, when a new victim is discovered--a blonde who had been killed and encased in concrete. The killing bears all the signature touches of the Dollmaker, but this victim has only been dead for two years. Is it possible after all, that Bosch shot an innocent man?
Bosh insists that he did not, and that the new killer must be a copycat. The book thus proceeds along two tracks as Harry stands trial for his actions four years earlier while at the same time hunting a sadistic killer who may or may not have been the real Dollmaker all along. It's a riveting story on both fronts. The courtroom scenes are very well done and will appeal to readers who enjoy legal thrillers. Harry's adversary in court, a female attorney nicknamed "Money" Chandler is a great character in her own right. The hunt for the killer is also edge-of-your-seat stuff, and through it all, Harry is forced to examine the deep, inner darkness of his own soul. All in all, a very solid early entry in a great series.
March 12, 2023
The Harry Bosch franchise just gets better and better!
Four years ago, Harry Bosch was part of a task force assigned to find a brutal sexual serial killer known as "The Dollmaker". In the course of following a hot lead, faced with one of those terrifying life-or-death decisions that all police officers fear may eventually come their way, Bosch was forced to use lethal force and shot a completely naked, unarmed Norman Church. Despite subsequent forensic investigation having proved that Church was "The Dollmaker" and an internal police investigation that cleared the night's work as a "good shooting", Bosch is now stunned to find himself in court as the defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging improprieties from improper entry to excessive use of police force seeking millions of dollars in punitive damages. What's even worse is that his inept city-appointed defense attorney is squared off against the awesome court experienced power of well-known civil rights attorney "Money" Chandler, who has yet to meet the stone that she couldn't squeeze blood out of!
During Bosch's trial the police department receives a note that discloses the location of a body buried in the concrete foundation of a burned out pool hall. The nature of the note and the state of the buried blonde corpse seem to suggest that "The Dollmaker", far from being dead, is in fact alive and well and continuing to kill with sadistic sexual abandon. Faced with the possibility that Norman Church never was "The Dollmaker" and that Bosch shot an innocent unarmed bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, things are looking mighty bleak for the outcome of his trial. But - Bosch is Bosch, after all - and in the unwavering conviction that his actions that night were not only justified but completely correct, Bosch investigates the possibility of a copycat killer that he nicknames "The Follower". The hunt is on! If Bosch can't find the new killer before the jury begins deliberations on his trial, he'll almost certainly see the end of his career as a homicide detective in LAPD.
Michael Connelly is undoubtedly today's acknowledged master in the crafting of thrilling police procedural novels. And this provides the entrée, as it were, in THE CONCRETE BLONDE banquet. But Connelly serves up the gustatory delights of some cleverly conceived side dishes, aperitifs and deserts as well ... stirring courtroom drama, insight into the nature of internal police politics, a warmly realistic love story that exemplifies the difficulties and worries that must face the spouse of a police officer every single day of their lives, a down and dirty close up essay on the realities of the skin flick industry and, of course, a continuing character study on Hieronymus Bosch, who has to be one of the most interesting literary characters for whom pen was ever put to paper.
If there's any weakness in Connelly's Harry Bosch series yet, I certainly don't know what it might be! Highly recommended!
Paul Weiss
Four years ago, Harry Bosch was part of a task force assigned to find a brutal sexual serial killer known as "The Dollmaker". In the course of following a hot lead, faced with one of those terrifying life-or-death decisions that all police officers fear may eventually come their way, Bosch was forced to use lethal force and shot a completely naked, unarmed Norman Church. Despite subsequent forensic investigation having proved that Church was "The Dollmaker" and an internal police investigation that cleared the night's work as a "good shooting", Bosch is now stunned to find himself in court as the defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging improprieties from improper entry to excessive use of police force seeking millions of dollars in punitive damages. What's even worse is that his inept city-appointed defense attorney is squared off against the awesome court experienced power of well-known civil rights attorney "Money" Chandler, who has yet to meet the stone that she couldn't squeeze blood out of!
During Bosch's trial the police department receives a note that discloses the location of a body buried in the concrete foundation of a burned out pool hall. The nature of the note and the state of the buried blonde corpse seem to suggest that "The Dollmaker", far from being dead, is in fact alive and well and continuing to kill with sadistic sexual abandon. Faced with the possibility that Norman Church never was "The Dollmaker" and that Bosch shot an innocent unarmed bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, things are looking mighty bleak for the outcome of his trial. But - Bosch is Bosch, after all - and in the unwavering conviction that his actions that night were not only justified but completely correct, Bosch investigates the possibility of a copycat killer that he nicknames "The Follower". The hunt is on! If Bosch can't find the new killer before the jury begins deliberations on his trial, he'll almost certainly see the end of his career as a homicide detective in LAPD.
Michael Connelly is undoubtedly today's acknowledged master in the crafting of thrilling police procedural novels. And this provides the entrée, as it were, in THE CONCRETE BLONDE banquet. But Connelly serves up the gustatory delights of some cleverly conceived side dishes, aperitifs and deserts as well ... stirring courtroom drama, insight into the nature of internal police politics, a warmly realistic love story that exemplifies the difficulties and worries that must face the spouse of a police officer every single day of their lives, a down and dirty close up essay on the realities of the skin flick industry and, of course, a continuing character study on Hieronymus Bosch, who has to be one of the most interesting literary characters for whom pen was ever put to paper.
If there's any weakness in Connelly's Harry Bosch series yet, I certainly don't know what it might be! Highly recommended!
Paul Weiss
May 25, 2015
I'm giving this five stars because I totally raced through it and enjoyed every minute! Harry Bosch is a really captivating main character who always manages to rise above his problems - just. Much of this book takes place in a court room which is a setting I normally do not much enjoy. However this was written so well that even I got drawn in to the awfulness of the process of law. The ending was a total surprise to me . I was completely unaware of whodunnit until the author let me know. Another excellent book by Michael Connelly and I am so glad I still have many more to read.
June 27, 2021
As research for a novel I'm writing, I've been reading detective fiction and stealing everything of value. My story takes place in L.A. of the early '90s and burgling Michael Connelly turned out to be a bonanza. Not only has Connelly written 22 Harry Bosch novels--basis for the Amazon series Bosch, which in its sixth season, combines one or more books, updated to present day, per season--but the literary Harry Bosch, LAPD homicide detective, begins in Los Angeles of the early '90s. I jumped over the second Bosch novel The Black Ice for the third, The Concrete Blonde, which is set exclusively in L.A.
Publish date: June 1, 1994
Story: Detective Harry Bosch is being sued in U.S. District Court by the widow of Norman Church, an aerospace worker who Bosch shot while investigating the Dollmaker serial murders which preceded the first novel. The widow is represented by civil rights attorney Honey Chandler, a feared trial lawyer who looks poised to destroy Bosch's city-appointed defense attorney even before new developments in the Dollmaker case. The police receive a note similar to the ones of the Dollmaker's killing spree which directs them to the ashes of a pool hall on Hollywood and Western, burned to the ground in the L.A. Riots the year previous.
Police find a remains of a woman entombed in concrete, strangled and presented in the same manner of the Dollmaker killings, suggesting that Bosch might have shot the wrong man. While his defense is getting pounded in civil court, Bosch begins making inquiries that lead him to discover the victim's identity, an adult film player and prostitute who went missing three years ago. Bosch's work land him a spot in the Robbery-Homicide Division task force which presumes that two of the victims attributed to the Dollmaker were actually the work of a copycat they dub the Follower, whose expertise with the investigation suggests he could be another cop and is still out there.
L.A. scenery: Much of the novel takes place in the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown L.A. as Bosch and the LAPD are sued for damages. Bosch still lives up on Mulholland Drive in his small house dangling over the Hollywood Hills. His investigation briefly takes him to the San Fernando Valley to a mob-operated adult videostore, the home of a psychologist on Lookout Mountain Drive in Laurel Canyon and to North Hollywood in a sleazy area where prostitutes can work a day shift.
1990s nostalgia: Who remembers VCRs and videostores? Both play key roles in Bosch unraveling the mystery. You see, it used to be when you watched physical media, it was on a reel to reel product encased in plastic called a "videotape." Some people recording video on their phones still refer to what they're doing as "taping," even though there's no tape inside our phones. To identify a murder victim, Bosch can't use the Internet or Pornhub, but has to visit an adult videostore to browse videotape boxes. Most adult videostores were not operated by the mob. Connelly just throws that in here for added tension.
Opening paragraph: There are no benches in the hallways of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. No place to sit. Anybody who slides down the wall to sit on the cold marble floor will get rousted by the first deputy marshal who walks by. And the marshals are always out in the halls, walking by.
Title in text: His mind wandered to the statue at the courthouse steps. He still couldn't think of her name. A concrete blonde, Chandler had called her. Bosch wondered what Chandler had thought about justice at the end. At her end. He knew there was no justice without hope. Did she still have any left at the end? He believed that she did. Like the pure blue flame dimming to nothing, it was still there. Still hot. It was what allowed her to beat Bremmer.
Select prose: Terry Lloyd took the witness stand like a man who was as familiar with it as the recliner chair he got drunk in every night in front of the TV set. He even adjusted the microphone in front of him without any help from the clerk. Lloyd had a drinker's badge of a nose and unusually dark brown hair for a man his age, which was pushing sixty. That was because it was obvious to everyone who looked at him, except maybe himself, that he wore a rug. Chandler went through some preliminary questions, establishing that he was a lieutenant in the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
Closing paragraph: "I didn't know, Sylvia," he said. "I hoped."
Thoughts: I've seen every variation on the "stop the psycho" genre but was tremendously impressed by The Concrete Blonde. Good band, better book. I think the Bosch novels are too long, but the detail on civil court proceedings or the RHD make this much more than another "stop the psycho" variation and I appreciated that. Because I'm drawn to whatever female character is in a book, I also loved what Connelly did with Honey Chandler. She could've been written as a bad guy or everything corrupt with the legal system and though Bosch gets his editorial asides in at the expense of the system, he respects Chandler's game. Amid Connelly's voluminous research, there's Bosch and I felt a strong sense of wanting to see him solve the mystery.
Word count: 176,702 words
Publish date: June 1, 1994
Story: Detective Harry Bosch is being sued in U.S. District Court by the widow of Norman Church, an aerospace worker who Bosch shot while investigating the Dollmaker serial murders which preceded the first novel. The widow is represented by civil rights attorney Honey Chandler, a feared trial lawyer who looks poised to destroy Bosch's city-appointed defense attorney even before new developments in the Dollmaker case. The police receive a note similar to the ones of the Dollmaker's killing spree which directs them to the ashes of a pool hall on Hollywood and Western, burned to the ground in the L.A. Riots the year previous.
Police find a remains of a woman entombed in concrete, strangled and presented in the same manner of the Dollmaker killings, suggesting that Bosch might have shot the wrong man. While his defense is getting pounded in civil court, Bosch begins making inquiries that lead him to discover the victim's identity, an adult film player and prostitute who went missing three years ago. Bosch's work land him a spot in the Robbery-Homicide Division task force which presumes that two of the victims attributed to the Dollmaker were actually the work of a copycat they dub the Follower, whose expertise with the investigation suggests he could be another cop and is still out there.
L.A. scenery: Much of the novel takes place in the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown L.A. as Bosch and the LAPD are sued for damages. Bosch still lives up on Mulholland Drive in his small house dangling over the Hollywood Hills. His investigation briefly takes him to the San Fernando Valley to a mob-operated adult videostore, the home of a psychologist on Lookout Mountain Drive in Laurel Canyon and to North Hollywood in a sleazy area where prostitutes can work a day shift.
1990s nostalgia: Who remembers VCRs and videostores? Both play key roles in Bosch unraveling the mystery. You see, it used to be when you watched physical media, it was on a reel to reel product encased in plastic called a "videotape." Some people recording video on their phones still refer to what they're doing as "taping," even though there's no tape inside our phones. To identify a murder victim, Bosch can't use the Internet or Pornhub, but has to visit an adult videostore to browse videotape boxes. Most adult videostores were not operated by the mob. Connelly just throws that in here for added tension.
Opening paragraph: There are no benches in the hallways of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. No place to sit. Anybody who slides down the wall to sit on the cold marble floor will get rousted by the first deputy marshal who walks by. And the marshals are always out in the halls, walking by.
Title in text: His mind wandered to the statue at the courthouse steps. He still couldn't think of her name. A concrete blonde, Chandler had called her. Bosch wondered what Chandler had thought about justice at the end. At her end. He knew there was no justice without hope. Did she still have any left at the end? He believed that she did. Like the pure blue flame dimming to nothing, it was still there. Still hot. It was what allowed her to beat Bremmer.
Select prose: Terry Lloyd took the witness stand like a man who was as familiar with it as the recliner chair he got drunk in every night in front of the TV set. He even adjusted the microphone in front of him without any help from the clerk. Lloyd had a drinker's badge of a nose and unusually dark brown hair for a man his age, which was pushing sixty. That was because it was obvious to everyone who looked at him, except maybe himself, that he wore a rug. Chandler went through some preliminary questions, establishing that he was a lieutenant in the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
Closing paragraph: "I didn't know, Sylvia," he said. "I hoped."
Thoughts: I've seen every variation on the "stop the psycho" genre but was tremendously impressed by The Concrete Blonde. Good band, better book. I think the Bosch novels are too long, but the detail on civil court proceedings or the RHD make this much more than another "stop the psycho" variation and I appreciated that. Because I'm drawn to whatever female character is in a book, I also loved what Connelly did with Honey Chandler. She could've been written as a bad guy or everything corrupt with the legal system and though Bosch gets his editorial asides in at the expense of the system, he respects Chandler's game. Amid Connelly's voluminous research, there's Bosch and I felt a strong sense of wanting to see him solve the mystery.
Word count: 176,702 words
November 13, 2024
5★
“Just then the screen went back to the directory. Bosch’s two dollars were up. As he walked out, he heard Magna Cum Loudly yelling in false joy from the other booths.
Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch is impossible to ignore, although some of the other cops would like to. In this third book of the series, it’s not just the two dollar sex tape loop that he’s watching to find pictures of his victim. He has to deal with the local porn industry and the cops who specialise in it. Whole neighbourhoods seem to be full of vans and film equipment to satisfy an endless appetite for more adult entertainment.
Through the fug of cigarette smoke that follows Bosch everywhere, works the clear mind of a man who has every right to be unable to think straight. His childhood, his history, his Vietnam War, his colourful career with the LAPD – any one of these would have flattened a less determined man, let alone a Los Angeles homicide detective.
“He sometimes believed that looking at bodies was his life’s work. He had ID’d his mother’s body for the cops when he wasn’t yet twelve years old, he had seen countless dead in Vietnam, and in nearly twenty years with the cops the bodies had become too many to put a number to. It had left him, most times, as detached from what he saw as a camera. As detached, he knew, as a psychopath.”
As he takes a smoke break outside the courthouse, a homeless man ambles by, foraging through the smokers’ ash can for unfinished cigarette butts. When Bosch’s pager goes off, the man backs away with his hand raised, to ward off danger.
“Bosch saw the look of deranged panic spread on his face. It was the look of a man whose brain synapses were spread too far apart, the connections dulled.”
He looks a little familiar to Bosch, who later recognises him as a former lawyer.
“ ‘My name was Thomas Faraday. But now I prefer Tommy Faraway.’”
What a job, what a life, what a city. (What a future to look forward to, perhaps?)
Bosch is facing a civil rights trial for the wrongful killing of a man known as the Dollmaker, a man who used to leave poems and notes about his killings, and leave the bodies displayed, made up like dolls.
That guy has been dead for four years, but the cops have just received another anonymous note, indicating they got the wrong guy, and the Dollmaker is still at work, but having buried his latest victim under the concrete.
Impossible. But Harry goes to the site in an area where buildings are constantly destroyed and burned down in riots.
“Bosch looked at it as a cycle. Every twenty-five years or so the city had its soul torched by the fires of reality. But then it drove on. Quickly, without looking back. Like a hit-and-run. “
It’s not impossible. The body, or what’s left of it is found, and that really throws a spanner in the works for Bosch, because it will make it look to the jury as if the unarmed man he killed was not the Dollmaker after all.
Meanwhile, he has a love interest in Sylvia, a teacher and widow of a cop, so she understands all too well what his job entails and what it means to him - and therefore to a possible 'them'.
“Late that afternoon, he stood on the back deck, leaning forward on his new oak railing, looking out into the pass and thinking about the black heart. Its rhythm was so strong it could set the beat of a whole city. He knew it would always be the background beat, the cadence, of his own life.”
He and Sylvia both have a lot of baggage, so there is some awkward tip-toeing around issues, urgent phone calls that make him a no-show for dinners, but there are also some very tender moments, and I had my fingers crossed for them.
I was totally absorbed through the whole story, and whatever suspicions I had were proved wrong, step by step. The court case was interesting, but it is really only background to the investigation and the thriller. I do want to mention one small bit that amused me, where the lawyers gather to speak to the judge..
“They had to drag a couple of chairs in from the courtroom, then they all took places around the judge’s huge desk. It was dark mahogany and looked like a box a small foreign car could have come in.”
It’s a great read with very human characters, so I’m glad I chose this as a series to read some of this year. Here are my reviews of the first two.
(#1) My review of The Black Echo
(#2) My review of The Black Ice
I think these can be enjoyed on their own. I'm sure I forgot details from the first two books when I read this, but Connelly makes it easy to catch up, if any catching up is required. Just enjoy whichever one you find.
“Just then the screen went back to the directory. Bosch’s two dollars were up. As he walked out, he heard Magna Cum Loudly yelling in false joy from the other booths.
Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch is impossible to ignore, although some of the other cops would like to. In this third book of the series, it’s not just the two dollar sex tape loop that he’s watching to find pictures of his victim. He has to deal with the local porn industry and the cops who specialise in it. Whole neighbourhoods seem to be full of vans and film equipment to satisfy an endless appetite for more adult entertainment.
Through the fug of cigarette smoke that follows Bosch everywhere, works the clear mind of a man who has every right to be unable to think straight. His childhood, his history, his Vietnam War, his colourful career with the LAPD – any one of these would have flattened a less determined man, let alone a Los Angeles homicide detective.
“He sometimes believed that looking at bodies was his life’s work. He had ID’d his mother’s body for the cops when he wasn’t yet twelve years old, he had seen countless dead in Vietnam, and in nearly twenty years with the cops the bodies had become too many to put a number to. It had left him, most times, as detached from what he saw as a camera. As detached, he knew, as a psychopath.”
As he takes a smoke break outside the courthouse, a homeless man ambles by, foraging through the smokers’ ash can for unfinished cigarette butts. When Bosch’s pager goes off, the man backs away with his hand raised, to ward off danger.
“Bosch saw the look of deranged panic spread on his face. It was the look of a man whose brain synapses were spread too far apart, the connections dulled.”
He looks a little familiar to Bosch, who later recognises him as a former lawyer.
“ ‘My name was Thomas Faraday. But now I prefer Tommy Faraway.’”
What a job, what a life, what a city. (What a future to look forward to, perhaps?)
Bosch is facing a civil rights trial for the wrongful killing of a man known as the Dollmaker, a man who used to leave poems and notes about his killings, and leave the bodies displayed, made up like dolls.
That guy has been dead for four years, but the cops have just received another anonymous note, indicating they got the wrong guy, and the Dollmaker is still at work, but having buried his latest victim under the concrete.
Impossible. But Harry goes to the site in an area where buildings are constantly destroyed and burned down in riots.
“Bosch looked at it as a cycle. Every twenty-five years or so the city had its soul torched by the fires of reality. But then it drove on. Quickly, without looking back. Like a hit-and-run. “
It’s not impossible. The body, or what’s left of it is found, and that really throws a spanner in the works for Bosch, because it will make it look to the jury as if the unarmed man he killed was not the Dollmaker after all.
Meanwhile, he has a love interest in Sylvia, a teacher and widow of a cop, so she understands all too well what his job entails and what it means to him - and therefore to a possible 'them'.
“Late that afternoon, he stood on the back deck, leaning forward on his new oak railing, looking out into the pass and thinking about the black heart. Its rhythm was so strong it could set the beat of a whole city. He knew it would always be the background beat, the cadence, of his own life.”
He and Sylvia both have a lot of baggage, so there is some awkward tip-toeing around issues, urgent phone calls that make him a no-show for dinners, but there are also some very tender moments, and I had my fingers crossed for them.
I was totally absorbed through the whole story, and whatever suspicions I had were proved wrong, step by step. The court case was interesting, but it is really only background to the investigation and the thriller. I do want to mention one small bit that amused me, where the lawyers gather to speak to the judge..
“They had to drag a couple of chairs in from the courtroom, then they all took places around the judge’s huge desk. It was dark mahogany and looked like a box a small foreign car could have come in.”
It’s a great read with very human characters, so I’m glad I chose this as a series to read some of this year. Here are my reviews of the first two.
(#1) My review of The Black Echo
(#2) My review of The Black IceI think these can be enjoyed on their own. I'm sure I forgot details from the first two books when I read this, but Connelly makes it easy to catch up, if any catching up is required. Just enjoy whichever one you find.
June 16, 2021
4/5 Estrellas
Tercera inmersión en el Universo Harry Bosch. La experiencia sigue siendo totalmente satisfactoria.
Resumiendo:
-¿Donde se sitúa la acción?: En esta entrega nuestro protagonista no sale de Los Ángeles.
-¿Cuando suceden los hechos?: Se hace referencia a los graves disturbios que ocurrieron en LA a raíz de la detención y paliza a Rodney King. Los disturbios ocurrieron en 1992, así que estamos en este espacio temporal.
-¿De qué va la trama (sin spoilers)?: Estamos en una mezcla de thriller judicial y policiaco. El caso de un asesino en serie (El maquillador o del Fabricante de muñecas), que ya ocasionó el traslado y degradación de Harry Bosch del Departamento de Robos y Homicidios de la policía de LA, al departamento de Homicidios de la división de Hollywood, persigue a nuestro protagonista. 4 años atrás, Bosch había matado a un sospechoso durante la investigación del caso (todo esto está en las entregas anteriores) y a posteriori se había demostrado que se trataba del asesino en serie. Las irregularidades relacionadas con este suceso habían ocasionado su traslado y una demanda por parte de la familia del presunto asesino. Justo antes del inicio del juicio, aparece otro cadáver con las mismas características que presentaban las víctimas del maquillador......y hasta aquí puedo leer.
La trama también nos lleva al submundo del porno y la prostitución en una ciudad convertida en la meca de este turbio negocio.
-¿Quién investiga?: Nuestro protagonista está en un periodo de su vida más tranquilo, ayudado por su nueva pareja sentimental, a la que no quiere perder por nada del mundo. Sin embargo, de la noche a la mañana, va a tener que luchar a brazo partido en un triple frente: por su vida personal, y por su carrera y su prestigio en el frente judicial y policial. Del juicio a la investigación, de la investigación a sus fantasmas personales y su incapacidad para la empatía emocional y vuelta al juicio.
-¿Quien le pone palos en las ruedas?: Una abogada muy capaz lo va a poner contra las cuerdas. La traición acecha entre los pocos en los que aún confía. Su propia incapacidad para manifestar sus emociones también va a jugar en su contra.
-Puntos negativos (desde mi punto de vista claro): Siempre me han repelido los thriller judiciales, en el cine y en los libros, con toda su parafernalia de jurados, alegatos y todo el rollo. Contra todo pronóstico aquí lo he llevado bien, supone en torno a 1/3 del libro, e incluso me ha gustado por momentos. La trama es bastante previsible, y aunque te intenta tender un par de trampas, al final no hay demasiadas opciones.
A por el siguiente........
Tercera inmersión en el Universo Harry Bosch. La experiencia sigue siendo totalmente satisfactoria.
Resumiendo:
-¿Donde se sitúa la acción?: En esta entrega nuestro protagonista no sale de Los Ángeles.
-¿Cuando suceden los hechos?: Se hace referencia a los graves disturbios que ocurrieron en LA a raíz de la detención y paliza a Rodney King. Los disturbios ocurrieron en 1992, así que estamos en este espacio temporal.
-¿De qué va la trama (sin spoilers)?: Estamos en una mezcla de thriller judicial y policiaco. El caso de un asesino en serie (El maquillador o del Fabricante de muñecas), que ya ocasionó el traslado y degradación de Harry Bosch del Departamento de Robos y Homicidios de la policía de LA, al departamento de Homicidios de la división de Hollywood, persigue a nuestro protagonista. 4 años atrás, Bosch había matado a un sospechoso durante la investigación del caso (todo esto está en las entregas anteriores) y a posteriori se había demostrado que se trataba del asesino en serie. Las irregularidades relacionadas con este suceso habían ocasionado su traslado y una demanda por parte de la familia del presunto asesino. Justo antes del inicio del juicio, aparece otro cadáver con las mismas características que presentaban las víctimas del maquillador......y hasta aquí puedo leer.
La trama también nos lleva al submundo del porno y la prostitución en una ciudad convertida en la meca de este turbio negocio.
-¿Quién investiga?: Nuestro protagonista está en un periodo de su vida más tranquilo, ayudado por su nueva pareja sentimental, a la que no quiere perder por nada del mundo. Sin embargo, de la noche a la mañana, va a tener que luchar a brazo partido en un triple frente: por su vida personal, y por su carrera y su prestigio en el frente judicial y policial. Del juicio a la investigación, de la investigación a sus fantasmas personales y su incapacidad para la empatía emocional y vuelta al juicio.
-¿Quien le pone palos en las ruedas?: Una abogada muy capaz lo va a poner contra las cuerdas. La traición acecha entre los pocos en los que aún confía. Su propia incapacidad para manifestar sus emociones también va a jugar en su contra.
-Puntos negativos (desde mi punto de vista claro): Siempre me han repelido los thriller judiciales, en el cine y en los libros, con toda su parafernalia de jurados, alegatos y todo el rollo. Contra todo pronóstico aquí lo he llevado bien, supone en torno a 1/3 del libro, e incluso me ha gustado por momentos. La trama es bastante previsible, y aunque te intenta tender un par de trampas, al final no hay demasiadas opciones.
A por el siguiente........
February 26, 2023
Bosch is such a great character. Even this book focused on a serial killer and copycat, takes grisly murders, victims, suspects, lawyers, reporters, cops and vividly humanizes them. The setting in Los Angeles a place of both beauty and darkness. I loved the last two words of the book. "I hoped."
September 4, 2016
Best cop thriller series I've read, and this is the best book in the series so far.
What makes this series so great? Bosch. An intriguing character who Connelly writes very well and builds upon book by book.
This series is equal parts cop procedural stuff and character driven greatness. The latter often gets missed in the genre.
He's a vulnerable, and therefore, realistic character. He makes mistakes and he has a chequered past (although not overly so).
I look forward to grabbing the next book soon!
(Series) Recommended for: Those looking to check out cop thrillers who don't know where to start.
What makes this series so great? Bosch. An intriguing character who Connelly writes very well and builds upon book by book.
This series is equal parts cop procedural stuff and character driven greatness. The latter often gets missed in the genre.
He's a vulnerable, and therefore, realistic character. He makes mistakes and he has a chequered past (although not overly so).
I look forward to grabbing the next book soon!
(Series) Recommended for: Those looking to check out cop thrillers who don't know where to start.
January 9, 2015
Four years ago, Harry Bosch shot and killed Norman Church who was believed to be the infamous serial killer, The Dollmaker. Now, his widow is suing Harry for wrongful death and his career is on the line. It gets even more complicated when another body is discovered during the trial, supposedly killed by The Dollmaker after Church's death.
A significant part of the story covers the trial, which really serves as the anchor for all else going on as Harry and the original task force try to investigate the new murder. My list of primary suspects changed so much I lost count as there were quite a few surprises, twists and red herrings (even Harry gets sidetracked). I'm still crazy about Harry and this is another fine installment in the series. Dick Hill's narration continues to be spot on for Harry and I'm grateful there're so many books ahead of me.
A significant part of the story covers the trial, which really serves as the anchor for all else going on as Harry and the original task force try to investigate the new murder. My list of primary suspects changed so much I lost count as there were quite a few surprises, twists and red herrings (even Harry gets sidetracked). I'm still crazy about Harry and this is another fine installment in the series. Dick Hill's narration continues to be spot on for Harry and I'm grateful there're so many books ahead of me.
April 15, 2018
Very good.
Crime fiction fans took notice of writer Michael Connelly and his hero detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch after the strong first and second books featuring Bosch, The Black Echo and The Black Ice. The two “Black” books were solid, but also had some sophomoric problems that held them back from being truly exceptional.
Connelly’s 1994 Bosch book, and third in the series, shows him writing with confidence and flair – this is a writer hitting his stride and stepping up his game. Not only was this a riveting page turner and a model for the mystery / thriller genre; this went a long way to demonstrate some candid and accessible characterization and backstory for the charismatic but complicated protagonist. Whereas Black Echo devolved sometimes into kitsch cliché and Black Ice may have been overly ambitious, The Concrete Blonde has a quick pace and a relentless plot.
Connelly’s writing is like Dave Chappelle’s humor – edgy and uncomfortable, but also with credence and thought provoking. And entertaining as hell. Connelly goes further than to just spin a cool story, he explores themes of justice, civil rights, and the nature of law enforcement as well as the psychology of killers and the police and what motivates both to act.
Four years earlier, Bosch had shot a suspect when the man chose not to FREEZE! when Harry confronted him. Though the man was tied to several murders, Bosch’ handling of the arrest was criticized and now Harry and the LAPD are facing a civil rights trial with the killer’s widow sitting at the plaintiff’s table next to high priced shark lawyer Honey “Money” Chandler. Chandler, a seasoned and talented litigator, is looking to make a fortune and even casts shadows of doubt on whether her client’s late husband was even the right man. This looks to blow up out of control when a new body is found – murdered AFTER Harry killed the killer.
Tightly wound, this keeps a frenetic stride though the seedy sex industry of LA as the police try to solve the newly discovered murder while the civil trial is ongoing and then as we wait for a verdict. Most alarming is that it appears the killer may have been an insider. The police procedural aspects of the book and the group dynamic Connelly describes with the investigation team further heightens what is already a great book.
Not just for Connelly – Bosch fans, this is well written, first rate crime fiction. Highly recommended.
Crime fiction fans took notice of writer Michael Connelly and his hero detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch after the strong first and second books featuring Bosch, The Black Echo and The Black Ice. The two “Black” books were solid, but also had some sophomoric problems that held them back from being truly exceptional.
Connelly’s 1994 Bosch book, and third in the series, shows him writing with confidence and flair – this is a writer hitting his stride and stepping up his game. Not only was this a riveting page turner and a model for the mystery / thriller genre; this went a long way to demonstrate some candid and accessible characterization and backstory for the charismatic but complicated protagonist. Whereas Black Echo devolved sometimes into kitsch cliché and Black Ice may have been overly ambitious, The Concrete Blonde has a quick pace and a relentless plot.
Connelly’s writing is like Dave Chappelle’s humor – edgy and uncomfortable, but also with credence and thought provoking. And entertaining as hell. Connelly goes further than to just spin a cool story, he explores themes of justice, civil rights, and the nature of law enforcement as well as the psychology of killers and the police and what motivates both to act.
Four years earlier, Bosch had shot a suspect when the man chose not to FREEZE! when Harry confronted him. Though the man was tied to several murders, Bosch’ handling of the arrest was criticized and now Harry and the LAPD are facing a civil rights trial with the killer’s widow sitting at the plaintiff’s table next to high priced shark lawyer Honey “Money” Chandler. Chandler, a seasoned and talented litigator, is looking to make a fortune and even casts shadows of doubt on whether her client’s late husband was even the right man. This looks to blow up out of control when a new body is found – murdered AFTER Harry killed the killer.
Tightly wound, this keeps a frenetic stride though the seedy sex industry of LA as the police try to solve the newly discovered murder while the civil trial is ongoing and then as we wait for a verdict. Most alarming is that it appears the killer may have been an insider. The police procedural aspects of the book and the group dynamic Connelly describes with the investigation team further heightens what is already a great book.
Not just for Connelly – Bosch fans, this is well written, first rate crime fiction. Highly recommended.
January 1, 2024
I am excited to have my first review for 2024 a Michael Connelly Bosch book!
I don’t know how I missed this classic Bosch. Especially the Dollmaker. For anyone who has been following Bosch, this was a significant case of his…
In which…
This was a serial killer that he supposedly found, killed, and then was taken to trial for killing as the “wrong man…”
Especially…
When another body is found 4 years later, making it appear that the Dollmaker was still active.
So…
Did he kill the wrong person?
In typical Connelly fashion he interweaves the intricacies of the court case, with the investigation into the death of the victim uncovered.
This is…
A true police procedural with good old fashioned police work through pagers and public telephones, paper files, fingerprints and manual searches.
And of course…
Then there is Bosch.
Your atypical Bosch.
Doing it his way. He’s a one-man show. Tenacious with a strong personal code that drives him to seek justice for murder victims. Often misunderstood.
And…
To be honest. I like him that way.
May 18, 2020
Well her is Harry Bosch again this time he is in court having to to account his actions in killing the supposed killer the Dollmaker the family of the deceased is not convinced that their husband and father was a killer. During the lawsuit it turns out that there was not one but a second killer disguising his kills, and that seems to become a problem for Bosch in this new court-case with Honey Chandler leading the defense of the family who feels that Bosch did the wrong thing.
Another serial killer another book, you get tired of the serial killer story, but somehow Connelly managed to make it a very readable story in which you follow Bosch through his lawsuit and chase of the second killer. Connelly does give the story some grounding and also shows that police work Bosch style is grinding away until you get it right.
This time Bosch has a lady in his life who does matter and does play a role in life of importance and she also gets caught up in his life.
The blonde in title is a death body that starts the suspicion that the original serial killer was not alone and her dead does lead to a correction in assumptions.
This book had some stuff being used in the TV series that is called Bosch on Amazon Prime the lawsuit started season 1 with Honey Chandler, but the book is totally different. The more you read the books the less it looks like the TV series. And Mimi Rogers as Honey Chandler is certainly no Blond and is still playing her part in the show by season 6.
A great book that is well deserved in its reread. Onward to the next.
Another serial killer another book, you get tired of the serial killer story, but somehow Connelly managed to make it a very readable story in which you follow Bosch through his lawsuit and chase of the second killer. Connelly does give the story some grounding and also shows that police work Bosch style is grinding away until you get it right.
This time Bosch has a lady in his life who does matter and does play a role in life of importance and she also gets caught up in his life.
The blonde in title is a death body that starts the suspicion that the original serial killer was not alone and her dead does lead to a correction in assumptions.
This book had some stuff being used in the TV series that is called Bosch on Amazon Prime the lawsuit started season 1 with Honey Chandler, but the book is totally different. The more you read the books the less it looks like the TV series. And Mimi Rogers as Honey Chandler is certainly no Blond and is still playing her part in the show by season 6.
A great book that is well deserved in its reread. Onward to the next.
June 12, 2025
Перфектна криминална история, която друг автор на драго сърце би разводнил в няколко книги.
Лош превод на български и огромен спойлер в описанието на корицата показват, че и преди двайсетина години някои хора в книгоиздаването не са намирали за нужно да си вършат работата добре…
Четири години след като Хари Бош е застрелял сериен убиец на жени, вдовицата е наела за адвокат известната Хъни Чандлър и съди детективът от ЛА за неправомерно използване на служебното положение и за огромно парично обещетение.
Но кошмарът за него започва, едва когато на полицията е подхвърлена информация за още една жертва на маниака. Която обаче се оказва убита две години след смъртта му…
Един от най-добрите романи в серията!
Лош превод на български и огромен спойлер в описанието на корицата показват, че и преди двайсетина години някои хора в книгоиздаването не са намирали за нужно да си вършат работата добре…
Четири години след като Хари Бош е застрелял сериен убиец на жени, вдовицата е наела за адвокат известната Хъни Чандлър и съди детективът от ЛА за неправомерно използване на служебното положение и за огромно парично обещетение.
Но кошмарът за него започва, едва когато на полицията е подхвърлена информация за още една жертва на маниака. Която обаче се оказва убита две години след смъртта му…
Един от най-добрите романи в серията!
July 23, 2025
Four years ago, Harry Bosch shot and killed the serial killer known as the Dollmaker. He had not set out to do so. He was following a lead, and he found himself, late one night, alone and with no time to call for back-up, suddenly confronting the killer in the man's bedroom. Surprised, the man reached for something under his pillow, after Bosch had told him several times to show him his hands. Bosch fired a kill-shot. To Bosch's horror, he realized the man was going for his toupee.
After an extensive investigation, Bosch's shot was determined to be a "clean" one, meaning that he had followed police protocol. The evidence found at the man's house also confirmed that he was the serial killer.
Four years later, the man's widow is suing Bosch and the LAPD in a civil case, claiming that her husband had not been the killer, that Bosch had planted evidence on the scene, that the LAPD was covering up Bosch's crime because they wanted to close the case. Bosch knows he did the right thing by killing Norman Church, but he also wishes the incident had gone differently.
This is the set-up for Michael Connelly's third book in his long-running Harry Bosch series, "The Concrete Blonde". The title refers to the recent discovery of another body that may have been done by the Dollmaker. Police discover it based on a note sent to the police department, alluding to the fact that Bosch did, indeed, kill the wrong guy. Bad timing, considering the most-hyped court case since the Rodney King trial has just begun.
Alternating deftly between riveting court-room drama and a race to investigate whether the Dollmaker is still at large or whether a copycat is on the loose, "The Concrete Blonde" is brilliant suspense writing and police procedural at its best.
After an extensive investigation, Bosch's shot was determined to be a "clean" one, meaning that he had followed police protocol. The evidence found at the man's house also confirmed that he was the serial killer.
Four years later, the man's widow is suing Bosch and the LAPD in a civil case, claiming that her husband had not been the killer, that Bosch had planted evidence on the scene, that the LAPD was covering up Bosch's crime because they wanted to close the case. Bosch knows he did the right thing by killing Norman Church, but he also wishes the incident had gone differently.
This is the set-up for Michael Connelly's third book in his long-running Harry Bosch series, "The Concrete Blonde". The title refers to the recent discovery of another body that may have been done by the Dollmaker. Police discover it based on a note sent to the police department, alluding to the fact that Bosch did, indeed, kill the wrong guy. Bad timing, considering the most-hyped court case since the Rodney King trial has just begun.
Alternating deftly between riveting court-room drama and a race to investigate whether the Dollmaker is still at large or whether a copycat is on the loose, "The Concrete Blonde" is brilliant suspense writing and police procedural at its best.
October 14, 2023
»“I didn’t know, Sylvia,” he said. “I hoped.”«
I didn’t know either but had hoped for a good Bosch novel and got even more than I expected.
In Michael Connelly’s “The Concrete Blonde” we’re revisiting Harry’s “white whale” case, which is, of course, “The Dollmaker”’s. Harry shot that guy in self-defence four years ago but it left an ugly stain on his already rather grey vest. Harry was de facto demoted and at the time of the “Concrete Blonde” he’s being sued over that shooting when another body is found that has all the marks of a Dollmaker victim…
What ensues from this point on is part courtroom drama but, to a much larger extent, a very suspenseful, exciting and smart police procedural which managed to fool me at every turn. As always, Harry investigates this at high stakes and takes great risk and, thus, we sometimes cross over into the realm of thrillers which is a very welcome aspect here.
As implied by the opening quote (which is the final sentence of the novel), we get to know Bosch a lot better yet: His budding relationship with Sylvia from the last novel goes to full bloom here - and keeps evolving. It’s unusual to read this much personal information in a non-”cosy” police procedural but it’s just one more way in which this novel works brilliantly: By not only showing Harry’s professional rough cop side but also his convictions and ethical values, he becomes much more of a believable, sensitive person.
»The anchor christened the killer the Dollmaker. After that, the killer was called that by everybody, even the cops.
But Bosch always hated that name. It said something about the victims as well as the killer. It depersonalized them, made it easier for the Dollmaker stories that were broadcast to be entertaining instead of horrifying.«
Harry even knows his Nietzsche and sees and recognises the danger he’s in of becoming as bad - or worse - than the people he’s hunting.
»‘Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you….’«
That Harry is aware of this danger, though, as well as his “moral compass” prevent him from becoming a monster.
»Bosch drove over to Central Division and found an open parking space at the front curb. For a while, he sat in his car looking at two trustees from the lockup washing the painted enamel mural that stretched along the front wall of the bunkerlike station. It was a depiction of a nirvana where black and white and brown children played together and smiled at friendly police officers. It was a depiction of a place where the children still had hope. In angry black spray paint along the bottom of the mural someone had written, “This is a damnable lie!”
Bosch wondered whether someone from the neighborhood or a cop had done it.«
Everyone keeps growing in this one - even Irving, now promoted, comes around and grows a personality beyond just gnashing his teeth to cow his detectives. He even starts respecting Bosch both as a cop and a human being. Shockingly, Irving even has a sense of humour…
»“Somebody put a cigarette butt in my pot,” he said. “That yours, Harry?”«
Some fresh blood, Hans “Hans Off” Rollenberger, is also around and Honey “Money” Chandler makes an appearance as one of Bosch’s adversary’s (albeit cut short by an event I wasn’t prepared for after seeing the TV show…).
Ultimately, I very much enjoyed this novel and will undoubtedly read on in this series.
Five out of five stars.
»Bosch drove over to Central Division and found an open parking space at the front curb. For a while, he sat in his car looking at two trustees from the lockup washing the painted enamel mural that stretched along the front wall of the bunkerlike station. It was a depiction of a nirvana where black and white and brown children played together and smiled at friendly police officers. It was a depiction of a place where the children still had hope. In angry black spray paint along the bottom of the mural someone had written, “This is a damnable lie!”
Bosch wondered whether someone from the neighborhood or a cop had done it.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
I didn’t know either but had hoped for a good Bosch novel and got even more than I expected.
In Michael Connelly’s “The Concrete Blonde” we’re revisiting Harry’s “white whale” case, which is, of course, “The Dollmaker”’s. Harry shot that guy in self-defence four years ago but it left an ugly stain on his already rather grey vest. Harry was de facto demoted and at the time of the “Concrete Blonde” he’s being sued over that shooting when another body is found that has all the marks of a Dollmaker victim…
What ensues from this point on is part courtroom drama but, to a much larger extent, a very suspenseful, exciting and smart police procedural which managed to fool me at every turn. As always, Harry investigates this at high stakes and takes great risk and, thus, we sometimes cross over into the realm of thrillers which is a very welcome aspect here.
As implied by the opening quote (which is the final sentence of the novel), we get to know Bosch a lot better yet: His budding relationship with Sylvia from the last novel goes to full bloom here - and keeps evolving. It’s unusual to read this much personal information in a non-”cosy” police procedural but it’s just one more way in which this novel works brilliantly: By not only showing Harry’s professional rough cop side but also his convictions and ethical values, he becomes much more of a believable, sensitive person.
»The anchor christened the killer the Dollmaker. After that, the killer was called that by everybody, even the cops.
But Bosch always hated that name. It said something about the victims as well as the killer. It depersonalized them, made it easier for the Dollmaker stories that were broadcast to be entertaining instead of horrifying.«
Harry even knows his Nietzsche and sees and recognises the danger he’s in of becoming as bad - or worse - than the people he’s hunting.
»‘Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you….’«
That Harry is aware of this danger, though, as well as his “moral compass” prevent him from becoming a monster.
»Bosch drove over to Central Division and found an open parking space at the front curb. For a while, he sat in his car looking at two trustees from the lockup washing the painted enamel mural that stretched along the front wall of the bunkerlike station. It was a depiction of a nirvana where black and white and brown children played together and smiled at friendly police officers. It was a depiction of a place where the children still had hope. In angry black spray paint along the bottom of the mural someone had written, “This is a damnable lie!”
Bosch wondered whether someone from the neighborhood or a cop had done it.«
Everyone keeps growing in this one - even Irving, now promoted, comes around and grows a personality beyond just gnashing his teeth to cow his detectives. He even starts respecting Bosch both as a cop and a human being. Shockingly, Irving even has a sense of humour…
»“Somebody put a cigarette butt in my pot,” he said. “That yours, Harry?”«
Some fresh blood, Hans “Hans Off” Rollenberger, is also around and Honey “Money” Chandler makes an appearance as one of Bosch’s adversary’s (albeit cut short by an event I wasn’t prepared for after seeing the TV show…).
Ultimately, I very much enjoyed this novel and will undoubtedly read on in this series.
Five out of five stars.
»Bosch drove over to Central Division and found an open parking space at the front curb. For a while, he sat in his car looking at two trustees from the lockup washing the painted enamel mural that stretched along the front wall of the bunkerlike station. It was a depiction of a nirvana where black and white and brown children played together and smiled at friendly police officers. It was a depiction of a place where the children still had hope. In angry black spray paint along the bottom of the mural someone had written, “This is a damnable lie!”
Bosch wondered whether someone from the neighborhood or a cop had done it.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
January 7, 2012
When I began the Bosch series, mention on the Dollmaker case and its resultant banishment of the detective led me to wonder if we'd get a flashback book that would cover this major case. Connelly did one better, mixing the Dollmaker case with new developments and a qausi-legal thriller. Connelly at his best.
While Bosch is in civil court, dealingy with the fallout of killing the apparent Dollmaker, a new body surfaces and opens the case wide open. How could the killings keep going on 4 years after the death of the apparent murderer? Bosch investigates, while also on trial for the apparent serial killer's murdering ways. Connelly layers great Bosch detective work with his legal thriller abilities; drawing flashbacks and Bosch's guilt with an ongoing investigation into similar murders.
Taking the reader into the dark side of the adult film industry, the inner thoughts of Harry Bosch, and a list of potential copycat murderers, Connelly creates an excellent story and keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. This is the Connelly I came to like in his LINCOLN LAWYER series.
Kudos Mr. C. Keep 'em coming!
While Bosch is in civil court, dealingy with the fallout of killing the apparent Dollmaker, a new body surfaces and opens the case wide open. How could the killings keep going on 4 years after the death of the apparent murderer? Bosch investigates, while also on trial for the apparent serial killer's murdering ways. Connelly layers great Bosch detective work with his legal thriller abilities; drawing flashbacks and Bosch's guilt with an ongoing investigation into similar murders.
Taking the reader into the dark side of the adult film industry, the inner thoughts of Harry Bosch, and a list of potential copycat murderers, Connelly creates an excellent story and keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. This is the Connelly I came to like in his LINCOLN LAWYER series.
Kudos Mr. C. Keep 'em coming!
April 5, 2014
I have read mystery thrillers most of my life, but my husband is lukewarm on a lot of detective type books. He enjoys fantasy/ Sci-fi/horror stuff. But, I talked him into reading this one with me as a "buddy" read.
The truth is I couldn't remember if I had read this one or not. I had not.
I can't add more to the comments and reviews that have already been posted about his novel. It was just plain awesome. A+ all the way!
There is a serial killer, a courtroom drama, Harry's personal life and history all pulled together to make on of the best mystery thrillers ever.
If you haven't read this one or any other Connelly novels ,( I can't imagine anyone who hasn't), I highly recommend him. I would though try to read them in order if you can. I didn't, and wish now that I had.
The truth is I couldn't remember if I had read this one or not. I had not.
I can't add more to the comments and reviews that have already been posted about his novel. It was just plain awesome. A+ all the way!
There is a serial killer, a courtroom drama, Harry's personal life and history all pulled together to make on of the best mystery thrillers ever.
If you haven't read this one or any other Connelly novels ,( I can't imagine anyone who hasn't), I highly recommend him. I would though try to read them in order if you can. I didn't, and wish now that I had.
May 30, 2018
I am really enjoying this series. I'm only on book three, but I think that the style and no-nonsense aspect of the writing, combined with a main character that is both weirdly in tune with himself and his emotions, while still being the stereotypical closed off, masculine type, it's just working for me right now. I really loved one scene where, after a separation from his girlfriend, he acknowledges to himself that he can feel his brain separating from her, and that the longer she takes to decide about them, the more he will think it's for the best - that she is a distraction, she is a weakness, a target. This kind of thing is, sure, maybe a bit of toxic masculinity masquerading as practicality... but I can also see the true practicality of it, considering what had just happened in the story, and his own sort of protection of her, as well as self-protection. This sort of intuitive knowledge about himself is really interesting and I love that Connelly includes it, because it makes Bosch much more real to me than just the hard, detached detective type. I love that Bosch feels deeply, even if he has trouble showing it all the time.
Add to that the fact that the story in this book was just damn good, and I'm super happy that I'm finally getting around to this series after having it sit on my shelves (physically and virtual) for far too long.
Compared to the first and second books of the series, this one was by far my favorite. The plot was more where I thought that this series would take me, I guess. Not that the plots in the first two books were BAD, that's not the case at all, it's just that it's not what I expected from an LA detective to be involved in. First we had a bank heist story that spanned continents and time all the way back to Vietnam, and then we have a drug-runner type story... and though I enjoyed both books, I'm glad that this book stuck to LA, and was... more focused, I guess.
Ehh, I actually don't know if that's what I want to say, because I don't really think that Books 1 & 2 were UNFOCUSED... it's just that I prefer the serial killer investigation and more PERSONAL story of this book to the sort of "outside" stories of the first two. I liked how Harry was tied up in it, from childhood, in a way, through to now. I liked that it felt like he had a real stake in it. The previous books, of course, put his career, reputation, and life on the line, but it never felt PERSONAL like this did. And I think that's what made this book so much more enjoyable for me, even though in the end, I'm giving it the same rating.
I really like how much of Harry's history we're finally learning (even though from the show I knew it from the outset, thanks for that, AMAZON. O_O) and I like how nuanced this story was, and how details from the events referenced in the first two books are finally coming out and being told. The trial especially brought that out, because it's quite easy to see how this could be a vigilante cop trying to clean the streets of people that he perceives as being the type who murder women like his mother.
Harry isn't a reliable character, and who knows where and how he might go, but right now I love him for it. He is flawed, and he tends to go against protocol and reaches for the vinegar before the honey, but I feel that he does all of it with the best of intentions. It's the little things that make me side with him, and it's ONLY because of the perspective that we get from omnisciently being privy to his thoughts and feelings. Were I an outsider, I don't know that I wouldn't agree with the charges that he used excessive deadly force without cause. But the little things, like valuing families getting closure for their loved ones, even if those loved ones have little value in society, over capital punishment for the one who did such horrendous deeds, is enough for me to know he's one of the good guys. He might be unorthodox, but I would much rather have him out there than not.
I thought that I had the whodunnit figured out 3 or 4 different times, and I was... mostly wrong. I had a fleeting thought about getting it right, but dismissed it. And I love that. I hate when it's too predictable. Make me work and wait for it! :D
One other thing that I loved loved loved about this book was the subtle humor running through it. I loved the relationships between the members of the task force, and the way that they interacted with the new stick-in-the-mud Team Leader, making fun of him right under his nose, and him being suspicious but not really able to understand just what happened... it just struck me as funny. (Even though it's a little mean-spirited, but given the situation, sometimes one must find levity and laughter where one can.)
This scene in particular made me laugh quite hard... It's a scene where Bosch is calling to check in with the Team Leader.
I'm really looking forward to the next book!
Add to that the fact that the story in this book was just damn good, and I'm super happy that I'm finally getting around to this series after having it sit on my shelves (physically and virtual) for far too long.
Compared to the first and second books of the series, this one was by far my favorite. The plot was more where I thought that this series would take me, I guess. Not that the plots in the first two books were BAD, that's not the case at all, it's just that it's not what I expected from an LA detective to be involved in. First we had a bank heist story that spanned continents and time all the way back to Vietnam, and then we have a drug-runner type story... and though I enjoyed both books, I'm glad that this book stuck to LA, and was... more focused, I guess.
Ehh, I actually don't know if that's what I want to say, because I don't really think that Books 1 & 2 were UNFOCUSED... it's just that I prefer the serial killer investigation and more PERSONAL story of this book to the sort of "outside" stories of the first two. I liked how Harry was tied up in it, from childhood, in a way, through to now. I liked that it felt like he had a real stake in it. The previous books, of course, put his career, reputation, and life on the line, but it never felt PERSONAL like this did. And I think that's what made this book so much more enjoyable for me, even though in the end, I'm giving it the same rating.
I really like how much of Harry's history we're finally learning (even though from the show I knew it from the outset, thanks for that, AMAZON. O_O) and I like how nuanced this story was, and how details from the events referenced in the first two books are finally coming out and being told. The trial especially brought that out, because it's quite easy to see how this could be a vigilante cop trying to clean the streets of people that he perceives as being the type who murder women like his mother.
Harry isn't a reliable character, and who knows where and how he might go, but right now I love him for it. He is flawed, and he tends to go against protocol and reaches for the vinegar before the honey, but I feel that he does all of it with the best of intentions. It's the little things that make me side with him, and it's ONLY because of the perspective that we get from omnisciently being privy to his thoughts and feelings. Were I an outsider, I don't know that I wouldn't agree with the charges that he used excessive deadly force without cause. But the little things, like valuing families getting closure for their loved ones, even if those loved ones have little value in society, over capital punishment for the one who did such horrendous deeds, is enough for me to know he's one of the good guys. He might be unorthodox, but I would much rather have him out there than not.
I thought that I had the whodunnit figured out 3 or 4 different times, and I was... mostly wrong. I had a fleeting thought about getting it right, but dismissed it. And I love that. I hate when it's too predictable. Make me work and wait for it! :D
One other thing that I loved loved loved about this book was the subtle humor running through it. I loved the relationships between the members of the task force, and the way that they interacted with the new stick-in-the-mud Team Leader, making fun of him right under his nose, and him being suspicious but not really able to understand just what happened... it just struck me as funny. (Even though it's a little mean-spirited, but given the situation, sometimes one must find levity and laughter where one can.)
This scene in particular made me laugh quite hard... It's a scene where Bosch is calling to check in with the Team Leader.
"Hello, this is Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Irvin Irving's office, Lieutenant Hans Rollenberger speaking, how can I help you?"LOL
Bosch figured Hans Off must be expecting Irving himself to call in and therefore trotted out the full-count official telephone greeting that was in the officer's manual but was roundly ignored by most of the people who answered phones in the department.
Bosch hung up without saying anything and redialed so the lieutenant could go through the whole spiel again.
I'm really looking forward to the next book!
June 3, 2022
(Read May 2018; Reviewed in May 2022)
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
With his third book Michael Connelly gives us a third iteration of Harry Bosch. The man we first met in The Black Echo was a surly individual who easily alienated people and needed to trade favors to get any consideration--from any one--that went even a fraction beyond the expectation of their job. With his second appearance in The Black Ice Connelly had shaved some of the rough edges away from his Los Angeles police detective. He was still driven and was on occasion unnecessarily rude, but you could see people helping him in his causes, even if they still did not particularly like him. Now we get a Harry Bosch that is respected and, in some cases, even liked.
Or not.
Maybe Michael Connelly is just that good. Maybe he was the same character all along. We’d been introduced to Bosch at a low point in his life, busted as far down as possible without loss of job or rank. We were given few details of the event itself. Connelly chose instead to focus its aftermath: the psychological evaluation, the loss of status, how he disgraced the LAPD in the eyes of many. Perhaps Harry Bosch had a right to some antisocial tendencies. Whether planned from the beginning or as a result of Connelly deciding to clean up some inconsistencies, The Concrete Blonde tackles the matter from word one.
We open with Harry in a situation needing an immediately decision. Following up on a tip he presumably did not expect to lead anywhere, he finds himself outside a one-room apartment above a garage. Cell phones were not readily available in the early nineties, which left Harry with no means to call for backup. It had been more than an hour since the hooker (this serial killer’s victim of choice) had bolted, and he decides he has to go in now, alone. In short, Harry shoots the man when reaches for something out of sight. It was not a gun.
Turn the page. Chapter 1. There are no benches in the hallways of the U.S. District Courthouse . . .
That’s right. The preceding was a prologue, wisely not labeled as such. It had taken place four years earlier. By not telling the reader, we accepted the Harry we saw as the Harry we knew. Yet he was not the gruff loner with whom we are so familiar. He wanted to call for backup. And when he’d learned how much time had passed, he was frustrated but not angry. It told us a lot without telling us directly. It also began to tell why Harry had become the target of then-Deputy Chief Irving and Internal Affairs. And why they didn’t fire him outright. It was a good shoot. Harry would have sued. Having things publicly drag on was the last thing the Department wanted. And Harry would have won. And he would not have settled.
We know that because he will not settle now. The novel opens proper with Harry the defendant in a wrongful death suit filed by the wife of the man he killed that night. The Department would prefer to settle. As the incident happened in the line of duty, the city would be responsible for any judgment. Harry can’t. Not when he knows he was in the right. But the trial allows Connelly not only to fill in the details of the “Dollmaker” incident--as this particular serial killer had been named--but to also explore Harry’s past from multiple angles.
Exploration of the present comes in the form of a copycat whose appearance coincides with the start of the trial. Bad timing. It puts the pressure on Harry. While his entire life is being dissected in open court in an attempted to prove he was predisposed to kill his victim, guilty or not, the presence of the copycat could cast doubt as to on whether he had killed the right man regardless. It sets the stage for all that is expected of Michael Connelly: complexity of plot that allows examination of the complexities of life. The only thing missing this time is the surprise reveal near the end. There is a reveal but the structure of the story keeps it from being a surprise. That is not a detriment. There are plenty of clues and the meaning of some of them will surprise. More importantly, with some twenty pages to come following the reveal, clearly the author had no qualms with how he exposed the villain. And, as has been well established only three books in, Michael Connelly is just that good.
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
With his third book Michael Connelly gives us a third iteration of Harry Bosch. The man we first met in The Black Echo was a surly individual who easily alienated people and needed to trade favors to get any consideration--from any one--that went even a fraction beyond the expectation of their job. With his second appearance in The Black Ice Connelly had shaved some of the rough edges away from his Los Angeles police detective. He was still driven and was on occasion unnecessarily rude, but you could see people helping him in his causes, even if they still did not particularly like him. Now we get a Harry Bosch that is respected and, in some cases, even liked.
Or not.
Maybe Michael Connelly is just that good. Maybe he was the same character all along. We’d been introduced to Bosch at a low point in his life, busted as far down as possible without loss of job or rank. We were given few details of the event itself. Connelly chose instead to focus its aftermath: the psychological evaluation, the loss of status, how he disgraced the LAPD in the eyes of many. Perhaps Harry Bosch had a right to some antisocial tendencies. Whether planned from the beginning or as a result of Connelly deciding to clean up some inconsistencies, The Concrete Blonde tackles the matter from word one.
We open with Harry in a situation needing an immediately decision. Following up on a tip he presumably did not expect to lead anywhere, he finds himself outside a one-room apartment above a garage. Cell phones were not readily available in the early nineties, which left Harry with no means to call for backup. It had been more than an hour since the hooker (this serial killer’s victim of choice) had bolted, and he decides he has to go in now, alone. In short, Harry shoots the man when reaches for something out of sight. It was not a gun.
Turn the page. Chapter 1. There are no benches in the hallways of the U.S. District Courthouse . . .
That’s right. The preceding was a prologue, wisely not labeled as such. It had taken place four years earlier. By not telling the reader, we accepted the Harry we saw as the Harry we knew. Yet he was not the gruff loner with whom we are so familiar. He wanted to call for backup. And when he’d learned how much time had passed, he was frustrated but not angry. It told us a lot without telling us directly. It also began to tell why Harry had become the target of then-Deputy Chief Irving and Internal Affairs. And why they didn’t fire him outright. It was a good shoot. Harry would have sued. Having things publicly drag on was the last thing the Department wanted. And Harry would have won. And he would not have settled.
We know that because he will not settle now. The novel opens proper with Harry the defendant in a wrongful death suit filed by the wife of the man he killed that night. The Department would prefer to settle. As the incident happened in the line of duty, the city would be responsible for any judgment. Harry can’t. Not when he knows he was in the right. But the trial allows Connelly not only to fill in the details of the “Dollmaker” incident--as this particular serial killer had been named--but to also explore Harry’s past from multiple angles.
Exploration of the present comes in the form of a copycat whose appearance coincides with the start of the trial. Bad timing. It puts the pressure on Harry. While his entire life is being dissected in open court in an attempted to prove he was predisposed to kill his victim, guilty or not, the presence of the copycat could cast doubt as to on whether he had killed the right man regardless. It sets the stage for all that is expected of Michael Connelly: complexity of plot that allows examination of the complexities of life. The only thing missing this time is the surprise reveal near the end. There is a reveal but the structure of the story keeps it from being a surprise. That is not a detriment. There are plenty of clues and the meaning of some of them will surprise. More importantly, with some twenty pages to come following the reveal, clearly the author had no qualms with how he exposed the villain. And, as has been well established only three books in, Michael Connelly is just that good.
August 8, 2022
A true page turner! I devoured this book in a lazy Sunday afternoon.
This story takes place in sunny California. One event that caught me by surprise was when Bosch and Sylvia turn the AC down to 60-degrees and set a fire going in the grate for a romantic night in. How times have changed! This seems contrary in these days of concern about global warming. This book was first published in 1994.
Favorite quotes:
Regarding Harry Bosch and Sylvia and the tenderness they share for one another:
"He was in the temple of home, he thought but did not say. I love you, he thought but did not say."
"Almost from the start, Bosch had been hooked deeply in the heart by her."
About catching serial killers:
"they kill so many victims before being caught, and then it is usually only because of a small mistake."
Life as a homicide detective:
"When [Bosch] was drunk he went through a stage where he said almost nothing, just vegetated in his own juices and listened."
"The darkness came up on [Bosch] then like a wave and pulled him down. He was there with the monsters."
This story takes place in sunny California. One event that caught me by surprise was when Bosch and Sylvia turn the AC down to 60-degrees and set a fire going in the grate for a romantic night in. How times have changed! This seems contrary in these days of concern about global warming. This book was first published in 1994.
Favorite quotes:
Regarding Harry Bosch and Sylvia and the tenderness they share for one another:
"He was in the temple of home, he thought but did not say. I love you, he thought but did not say."
"Almost from the start, Bosch had been hooked deeply in the heart by her."
About catching serial killers:
"they kill so many victims before being caught, and then it is usually only because of a small mistake."
Life as a homicide detective:
"When [Bosch] was drunk he went through a stage where he said almost nothing, just vegetated in his own juices and listened."
"The darkness came up on [Bosch] then like a wave and pulled him down. He was there with the monsters."
August 23, 2023
Cada vez me gusta más. Entramos de lleno en el caso del maquillador del que llevan hablando los 2 libros anteriores y hay sorpresas, vaya que sí. No me gusta la ficción de juicios en minguna de sus vertientes, es soportable, incluida la definición de justicia. Muchos sospechosos, y sorpresa con el culpable. A seguir
August 17, 2020
I love this series, both the books and the TV show. It's interesting to see the differences in storyline between the two. It's a shame that the show is ending after season 7 next year. At least I have about 27 more books or so to read in the series to keep me entertained!
October 19, 2018
Hallelujah!
After the disaster that is The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde restores my faith in Bosch.
It is an excellent book with great detective work as well as tons of red herrings that kept me guessing till the end. Woohoo! Season 1 of the TV series borrows some of the plot from this book. But, while what is kept in the TV series is captivating, the stuff that did not make the cut is even better. The rest of the plot is about figuring out who the serial killer actually is.
The book also does an excellent job of throwing suspicion on a character which made me fall for it. When I discovered that I was wrong, I was elated since this does not happen often.
The Concrete Blonde also has excellent pacing as well as a satisfying ending. So, in conclusion, woohoo!
After the disaster that is The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde restores my faith in Bosch.
It is an excellent book with great detective work as well as tons of red herrings that kept me guessing till the end. Woohoo! Season 1 of the TV series borrows some of the plot from this book. But, while what is kept in the TV series is captivating, the stuff that did not make the cut is even better. The rest of the plot is about figuring out who the serial killer actually is.
The book also does an excellent job of throwing suspicion on a character which made me fall for it. When I discovered that I was wrong, I was elated since this does not happen often.
The Concrete Blonde also has excellent pacing as well as a satisfying ending. So, in conclusion, woohoo!
October 20, 2013
9/10
This 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
This 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
January 24, 2023
কনেলির লেখা দারুণ একটা বই পড়লাম, শুরু থেকেই আমার কাছে বইটা অসম্ভব ভালো লেগেছে। দ্য পোয়েট পড়ে লেখকের ফ্যান এবং যে বইগুলোই পড়লাম দুর্দান্ত ছিল সবগুলো। হ্যারি বশ সিরিজের এই বইটি অসম্ভব ফাস্ট। সায়েম সোলায়মান এর বরাবরের মতই সাবলীল এবং দুর্দান্ত অনুবাদের কারনেই পড়তে আরো বেশি ভালো লেগেছে। শুরু থেকে শেষ পর্যন্ত ভালো লাগার প্যাকেজে পরিপূর্ণ এই বইটি।
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