The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
by Michael Connelly
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.34 You Save: $3.65 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.28 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
Book Review: Not as good as the first, but still fine
Summary: 4 Stars
"The black ice" is the second book in the Harry Bosch series, following "The black echo". Harry Bosch is still the same, lonely, bitter, determined and not giving a damn about what his superiors think. The plot of the book, however, is not as strong as in "The black echo". Connelly continues to develop his main character, and that's good, because Bosch can be read like a real person, full of flaws and weaknesses, but also with an incredible sense of duty.
This time, the apparent suicide of a fellow policeman triggers an investigation that leads to a powerful new drug, secrets from the past, and an investigation that will take Bosch to the mexican border, amid sterile insects and bullfights. Yes, it seems strange, but the book is solid... until a certain point. Similar to what happened in "The poet", the final "explanation" of the whole case is not very believable, and depends on too many assumptions to work. Anyway, I see "The black ice" as a good oportunity to know how Bosch live and work a little further.
I begun reading "The concrete blonde" as soon as I finished "The black ice" and, already halfway thorugh it, I can see it's more interesting then the second one. Like other reviewers stated, "The black ice" may be seen as a bridge between the first and the third book in the series.
Grade 7.2/10
Book Review: Great Second Harry Bosch Book (4.4 *s)
Summary: 4 Stars
Black Ice is another well-constructed Harry Bosch novel. Harry, an outsider detective within his own department, cannot accept convenient coincidences or inconsistencies. He is forever on the lookout for situations that are painted or constructed to be what they are not. This skepticism is exactly what is needed on Christmas night when Harry intercepts radio traffic about a death in a seedy motel room in his district while he is on call. But Assistant Chief Irving has rushed to the scene and quickly concludes, too quickly for Harry's liking, that the death of narcotics detective Cal Moore is a suicide - end of story.
But Harry finds several cases that seem to be much too conveniently attached to Moore, suggesting that Moore may have been a target. Bosch almost methodically pieces together the connections. The evidence in all the cases finally points to a drug operation involving black ice in Mexicali, Mexico. Harry has to use all of his expertise in surviving this case.
The Black Echo and The Black Ice are too very good entries into this genre. There are some references to the first book, but not overly so. With the creation of Bosch and his complex, well-paced stories, Connelly's success is unsurprising.
Book Review: Satisfying early work
Summary: 4 Stars
An apparent suicide of a narcotics officer, who leaves behind a brief note saying, "I found out who I was," sends Harry Bosch poking his nose where it doesn't belong or where his fellow cops choose not to go. Bosch refuses to believe this is an "open and shut" case, while his fellow officers prefer to bury it.
Black ice refers to a mixture of heroin, cocaine and PCP which originates from Mexico. Another dead body and a missing detective, who had abruptly retired, adds to the complexity. Although Bosch, never a team player, isn't "officially" on the case, he's tenacious in pursuing it. Of course, the case takes him to Mexico.
Almost halfway through the book, Connelly writes, "Bosch had parts of the whole. What he needed was the glue that would correctly hold them together. Facts weren't the most important part of the investigation, the glue was. The glue was made of instinct, imagination and sometimes guess work and most times just plain luck."
In the final 30 pages, Connelly reveals the glue that holds the case together. The Black Ice is one of Connelly's early Bosch novels. Like his other works, it's well written, thoughtfully plotted, interesting and entertaining.
Book Review: Okay Read, But Not Great
Summary: 3 Stars
This is Michael Connelly's second published novel. This story also started slowly and also started to build momentum, just like Black Echo (which I thought was excellent), but then it hit a narrative lull just before the DEA staged its raid. Police procedure detail suddenly switched to DEA procedural detail and it was distracting to me. I started skimming over a lot of paragraphs, searching for where the story regained momentum. The bull attacking the helicopter in the middle of the night was sort of a unbelievable laugher and I thought it was one-hundred phony. I was disappointed that I figured out the guy was still alive before Harry Bosch did. From the very beginning the one option that got little consideration was the possibility that Calexico Moore was still alive - and it was an obvious option that I would expect Harry Bosch to strongly consider. One of the things I liked about Black Echo was that Harry Bosch figured out the clues before I did, but not so in this story. The demise of the antagonist was a little too clichéd, not very creative - I saw in coming all the way from Los Angeles. Overall, an okay read but somewhat of a letdown after Black Ice.Book Review: Huh?
Summary: 1 Stars
I've been reading the Bosch series out of order and recently decided to go back and read everything from the begining. In The Black Ice, Bosch doesn't quite seem like the same man I read about in Black Echo or in later books. This story, at best, was boring and really didn't make sense. At the end Connelly just admits he has no idea why our corrupt cop turned. I'm sorry but this such a cop out. Plus-from the get go, I thought the cop crossed but then in the middle it was like some epiphany. I thought I miss something. Plus, the folder the cop made for Bosch didn't make sense. It's like Connelly started something that he later changed his mind on. There were a lot of holes and things that didn't make sense. Plus, am I to really believe all of this took place in a week? Going to the dry cleaners, the bank, and the grocery store takes all day for me, but Bosch can get what takes a normal cop months to do in a mere day. Plus, Bosch was a man-ho, sleeping with two different women within days a part. Who does he think he is: A NBA star? Since when did cops get so much booty? Okay, I'm nick-picking now. Over all, this wasn't a very good book.