The Black Ice

by Michael Connelly

The Narrows: Harry Bosch is a adjusting to life in Las Vegas as a private investigator and a new father. Then he gets a call from the widow of a friend who died recently. A friend who worked on the famous case tracking the killer known as The Poet, which makes his death doubly suspicious. Now Bosch is heading straight into the path of the most ruthless and inventive murderer he has ever encountered...

The Closers: Three years after leaving the LAPD, Harry is back, working with his former cop ally and partner, Kizmin Rider. Assigned to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, Harry and Kiz are immediately thrown into a politically sensitive and dangerous case when a DNA match connects a white supremacist to the 1988 murder of a mixed race 16-year-old girl. But there are some people who want the case to remain unsolved...

Echo Park: In 1993, Harry Bosch was assigned the case of a missing person, Marie Gesto. The young woman was never found and the case has haunted Bosch ever since. Thirteen years later, a man accused of two heinous killings is willing to confess to several other murders, including that of Gesto. Bosch's whole being as a cop begins to crack when he comes to realize that he missed a clue that could have led him to the killer and prevented the nine murders that followed...

Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller, Crime

Paperback

First published February 28, 2009

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Glynda Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story. Highly recommend.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Bosch is a retired police detective now private investigator.
The wife of a friend who recently died contacts Harry to ask him to find her husbands killer.
Harry is confused because the death was ruled natural causes.
But, the wife proves that the medicine his friend took was tampered with.
Now Harry is one he hunt for a serial killer who is presumed dead, and the FBI wants Harry to stay out of it.

[Mike Orta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though not necessary you might want to read the poet and bloodwork first before you read the narrows. I am reading the Bosch novels in order and I find this to be satisfying. Good reading and have fun!

[Mary Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the three books. I think I may be officially addicted to the books, the series and legacy. Thanks Michael Connelly for so much entertainment!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[kenzimone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Narrows — 4 stars

The Narrows is a kind of unofficial sequel to The Poet , the first book in the Jack McEvoy series, and introduces the characters of Rachel Walling and Bob Backus into the Harry Bosch 'verse. That said, one mustn't necessary have read The Poet to enjoy this book (I, for one, hadn't); Connelly manages to neatly slip the relevant backstory neatly into the plot, at the same time without giving too much of the original book away. Even with the rather large spoiler re: the identity of the Poet, if I ever was on the fence about reading the book I've now made up my mind to definitely check The Poet out in the future.

Although a bit saddened by McCaleb's death, I really enjoyed the main plot of The Narrows. The hunt for a serial killer whose identity was already known was a nice break from the good ol' whodunit crime plot, and I liked seeing more of Buddy Lockridge, as well as the new addition of Rachel Walling. Harry Bosch's growth as a father is always a welcome plot point, and while the shifting 3rd person to 1st person perspectives were a bit disorienting at first, they made sense once one got used to them.

All in all it's a solid, entertaining thriller; classic Connelly, down to the last minute plot twist. Definitely worth the read.



The Closers — 3 stars

The Closers switches back to a 3rd person POV after Lost Light and The Narrows, and I have to say that it threw me off (even though I thought I preferred 3rd person to 1st person). Another thing that startled me was the main murder mystery, because I can honestly say that this is the first Michael Connelly book where I was able to see the Bad Guy Reveal coming. I'm usually good at playing whodunnit, but Connelly's dodged me every turn so far, so I guess it was only a matter of time. The mini-twist at the end kind of made up for it, though.

As far as plot goes, it's not one of Connelly's best. That's not to say that it's not entertaining, though; despite dragging its feet and seeming slightly unenthusiastic about itself, I did enjoy reading it. As far as low points go, I'd say that's pretty good.



Echo Park — 5 stars

After finding The Closers somewhat disappointing (compared to the usual Connelly standards), I have to say that Echo Park was an awesome read. It's classic Connelly, and everything I want in a Harry Bosch novel; a cold case, a serial killer, Rachel Walling (who I'm quite warming up to), bad dog Bosch, a dash of Jerry Edgar, a slimy lawyer, dirty cops, and a whole lot of mystery.

Connelly always goes all the way when he writes his novels; the main story line is more often than not intricately and carefully plotted, and it does a great deal for the reading experience because it keeps the reader in the now - I can never look ahead and predict the outcome of his books, because most of the time I honestly have no clue where he's going with them. I'm as surprised as the main character whenever a major plot twist comes around, and for me that's a rare experience to have when reading murder mysteries. I've read a whole lot of 'em, and I can definitely say that being able to tell the murderer from page twenty five doesn't hold a candle to frantically reading the last ten pages of a three hundred page book because you honestly can't figure out how on earth this thing could possibly be wrapped up.

[Alice Albu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been said that the people we interact with/meet are more interconnected to the development of our character and personal lives then we could imagine. Even after years go by, paths tend to cross between past relationships or acquaintances for one reason or another. Michael Connelly, eloquently demonstrates this cycle in this book. The overlapping of "random" events become the foundation for the heart of this novel. I am glad I took a step back and read this novel. It was a great read. It definitely kept me engaged to see how the book would end.

[Cheryl Moneti · Rating 3 out of 5]

cop book

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you say Intense, that is the best word that describe this book. According to Goodreads I have read this book before. Honestly I don't remember. This book was very good and Intense.