The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
by Michael Connelly
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Book Reviews of The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
Book Review: A very good yarn from Connelly's early days
Summary: 4 Stars
Connelly has been a popular writer of detective stories for awhile now, still cranking them out in several character series, but he seems to be coasting lately, not always investing sufficient time in his plots or in the bits of "business" that add verisimilitude to the story. It's a common hazard for a successful popular author. But the earlier stories, including this second one in the Harry Bosch series, are gold. Bosch, ex-tunnel rat in Vietnam and now an LAPD homicide detective, has been yanked from Parker Center and shuffled off to the Hollywood Division as punishment for his actions in the previous case. He's trying to close a couple of cases for the end-of-year statistics and gets caught up in the apparent suicide of a narcotics sergeant in a crappy motel room. Or maybe it's really a homicide. And then that death ties into one of his other cases, and then another one. And then he discovers yet another cop is involved. And it all ends up requiring Harry to make a journey down to Mexicali, where he finds himself in yet another kind of operation. Everything in the plot happens gradually and convincingly, dragging the reader along through the underside of Los Angeles and the barrios of Baja. Connelly has the atmosphere and the lingo down pat and we get into Harry's head and learn more about his background as the story progresses. It's absorbing and absolutely realistic. And there's a terrific twist ending that I admit I didn't see coming -- though the clues are there, in retrospect. If Connelly still wrote them this way he'd have the market sewed up.Book Review: Black Ice can send you skidding right off the road ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Having grown up in the upper Midwest (eastern Montana), I know all about black ice. It is deceptive - the road looks perfectly fine, but if you aren't very careful, and if you hit a patch just right (or wrong, I suppose, would be more correct), it can send you careening off in an unexpected direction. This idea is used to good effect in this very excellent novel by Michael Connelly.
Harry Bosch only knew about the killing because one of the transmissions happened to go out on the regular frequency. He was angry, because he was supposed to be on call that night for any murders, so he decided to go and crash the party, so to speak. When he arrived, it was to discover that one of the vice cops - Calexio Moore - had apparently taken a shotgun, propped himself against the bathtub, held it to his face and pulled both the triggers with his toe. There wasn't much left of his face. When the body is finally moved and searched, a note is found in his back pocket which reads "I found out who I was."
Harry is told in no uncertain terms that his help is not wanted on this case but because Harry is completely incapable of letting things go, he begins to investigate the matter anyway. What he discovers eventually leads him to the barrio Cal grew up in, in Calexico - right across the border from Mexicali. From bull fights to a castle on a hill, Harry's time spent in this area is vivid and beautifully described.
This is an amazing book. Fans of noir, thrillers, good mysteries and/or this series will love this Bosch story!
Book Review: A Weaker Sequel to The Black Echo
Summary: 4 Stars
Be sure you read The Black Echo before this book. The back story and characterizations rely a lot on these books being read in the order they were written.
The Black Ice has many things to recommend it. Harry Bosch is a modern "noir" detective working in LA's underbelly, the sleazy streets of Hollywood, who sees himself as an avenging angel with no room for anything else in his life. That characterization is tested in The Black Ice when Harry is affected to his toes by meeting the widow of a murder victim.
The descriptions of drug manufacture, distribution, and dealing are powerful and memorable. The book has lots of exciting action.
You'll also feel like you've been taken on a well-run tour of Hollywood and Mexicali . . . to see the tawdriest locales.
But the book does go wrong, tarnishing lots of good writing. Michael Connelly inexplicably and unnecessarily uses one of the oldest and least satisfying plot devices in the mystery author's filing cabinet. I won't say more, but you'll know what I mean when the book is over.
The effect of hitting that plot device is like going from a smooth ride in a jet to a kid's soap box derby crate rolling over potholes. The ride just isn't the same. Up until the plot device is triggered, the book is clearly a five-star effort.
But you have better things ahead. The Concrete Blonde, the third Harry Bosch mystery, is a much better and more rewarding book to read.
Book Review: A solid thriller in the series
Summary: 4 Stars
Black Ice, by Michael Connelly, is my second Harry Bosch novel after reading the Closers. In Black Ice, policeman Cal Moore is found dead in a dilapidated hotel room on New Years Eve. Moore worked on the narc squad. Harry Bosch is on call and hears the murder on the police scanner. He expects to be called in but isn't because the higher ups want to handle this one. Harry gets one part of the case, he gets to tell Mrs. Moore her husband is dead.
Bosch moves on. He's given some cases another detective was working on and told to try and close them before the end of the year to make the numbers look good. Bosch begins looking at a murder of a Mexican immigrant and sees the body was found by Cal Moore. Bosch looks further into Moore's past and soon finds three murder cases that are all interrelated. In what I gather is a theme of Bosch novels, the detective goes off on his own to try and solve the murder. The last third of the book is spent in the Mexico border town of Calexico. The DEA, Mexican police and drug lords are all part of the story. The story comes together nicely in the end as Bosch saves the day.
This novel is slow and methodical, perhaps the way a police prodecural should be. It never was boring though, as Connelly created good characters that held my interest. I'll definitely read more Connelly novels, but won't be in a hurry to read them as fast as I can like books by Harlen Coben or John Sandford.
Book Review: Glad it's over...
Summary: 2 Stars
This was my third Connelly novel (it's the second in the Bosch series), and I have to say reluctantly that it didn't work for me as well as the first two. At first I thought maybe I was just overdosed on his style, but on reflection I'm going to blame him and not me.
The plot moves police detective Harry Bosch back and forth between LA and Baja California -- and then back and forth uncountable times between the border towns of Mexicali and Calexico -- in his attempt to unravel the intricate (and stunningly implausible) story behind the suicide (or is it murder? or is it something else entirely?) of a fellow cop. I could never remember where I was in the story, literally or figuratively.
The book is too long (and tedious) to read in a couple of sittings, but if you stretch it out you are going to need an index to find the threads of the story required to keep your place. There are too many characters, too many changes of scene, too many emotional complications, too many babes, too many business fronts and drug deals, even too many murders. I think that Connelly lost his balance in this, his second book. Fortunately I hear that he gets his game back again later, so I'm not going to give up on him.
If like me you are starting the Bosch series, and want to read the books in order, I'd advise just skipping this one. Wish I had; life's too short.