Jenn's Review: The Black Echo

Summary:  For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch — hero, maverick, nighthawk — the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland dam is more than another anonymous statistic.  This one is personal.

The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam “tunnel rat” who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell.  Now, Bosch is about to relive the horrors of Nam.  From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city to the tortuous link that must be uncovered, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit.

Joining with an enigmatic female FBI agent, pitted against enemies within his own department, Bosch must make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, as he tracks down a killer whose true face will shock him.

Review:  Up until now, my only contact with Michael Connelly's work has been through Julie's reviews and his guest appearances on ABC's Castle. I've been meaning to get around to trying his novels for years, so between a low e-book price and the 2012 Criminal Plots Challenge, this was the perfect opportunity. 

The Black Echo is the first novel in the Harry Bosch series and was written in 1992. I only point this out because you can't get through this novel without marveling at how much has changed in the last twenty years.  One rarely reflect on how much evolving technology has affected the way things are done. With, detectives and agents alike checking their pagers and constantly using pay phones to check in, it's amazing anything was accomplished!  Also, the plot revolved around Vietnam vets which was a constant reminder that Detective Bosch is my father's age, which gave things a skewed perspective for me.  So many fictional detectives are timeless, that it was a unusual to have the reality anchor thrown in. 

Connelly has a clinical style of writing, but it isn't off putting.  Nor is it heavy or full of a jargon.  I found it easily accessible and more than compelling.  As for the characters, I don't know if I ever truly connected with any of them.  Harry Bosch is not an easy character to like, I was certainly routing for him, but he is so rough around the edges that I kept waiting for a glance of a soft inner center... perhaps Bosch just doesn't have one.  I love that he doesn't stick to the book or the party line, and I understand why that could be an issue, but with his results I don't understand why it's as much of an issue as it is... maybe it's generational.  The murder-bank heist plot was good and twisty.  I guessed part of the solution, but not all of it and Connelly definitely threw in enough curve balls to have me second guessing myself and formulating wild theories.   

I would like to continue reading the Harry Bosch novels, though the sheer volume of the series is a little daunting.  It will be interesting to see the character develop and change with the times.  I hope I will be able to shift the The Black Ice closer to the top of my TBR pile. 

Final Take:  3.75/5

Book to Movie: The Lincoln Laywer

Summary: In the gripping thriller “The Lincoln Lawyer,” Matthew McConaughey stars as Michael “Mick” Haller, a slick, charismatic Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Having spent most of his career defending petty, gutter- variety criminals, Mick unexpectedly lands the case of a lifetime: defending a rich Beverly Hills playboy (Ryan Phillippe) who is accused of attempted murder. However, what initially appears to be a straightforward case with a big money pay-off swiftly develops into a deadly match between two masters of manipulation and a crisis of conscience for Haller. ~amazon.com

Review: It's a distant memory I have of reading The Lincoln Lawyer, but I definitely remember not liking Mickey Haller. So, when I heard Matthew McConaughey was playing him I thought it was solid cast since for me he has a bit of a slime ball aspect to him. I don't remember the details of the story from the book but I thought there were some changes to the plot. For instance, I don't recall Mick and Maggie getting along so well; in fact I think it was pretty much the opposite. They only thing they agreed about was their daughter and even then they fought. I definitely remember the biker gang and was happy that they kept that in the movie.

Ryan Phillippe is perfectly cast as Louis and plays the part extremely well. Marisa Tomei is a great casting job as Maggie McPhearson and I enjoyed William H. Macy as Frank Levine.

Perhaps it is because I've gone deeper into the Lincoln Lawyer books but now I can see past Mick's facade and I know there's more to him than just getting his clients off whether or not he believes in their innocence or not. I'm guessing that's what makes a great defense lawyer, the ability to get a client off regardless of the case stacked against them.

It wasn't until mid-way through the movie that I thought it picked up but before that I thought it was a bit slow going.

I am wondering if this will be the first of Mickey Haller movies since there are more books. I'd love to see them add Harry Bosch to the cast!

Final Take: 3/5

Julie's Review: The Reversal

Summary: Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change sides and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.  Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again. ~michaelconnelly.com

Review: Another great novel by Michael Connelly. This time Mickey Haller is on the opposite side of the courtroom...Prosecutor. Mickey is asked to be a special Prosecutor in the re-trial of a child murderer Jason Jessup. Among many one of his appeals they found DNA evidence that would supposedly exonerate him.

This book brought Mickey together to with his ex-wife Maggie to prosecute Mr. Jessup. Since he's independent from the D.A.'s office, he gets to pick his team. This means he brings in Harry Bosch as the investigator. Harry is the best at finding witnesses and digging up dirt on the defendant.

What I found interesting about this book was the fact that in a re-trial, the new jury can't not know that the defendant was tried before. They can present testimony from the first trial but it has to be done in such a way that it is not evident. This makes for an interesting burden of proof for the prosecution.

I will say that Mickey Haller is growing on me. He seems to be maturing and isn't as careless as I remember him being from The Lincoln Lawyer. Harry Bosch is still one of my favorite detectives. I love reading about him trying to figure out how to live with his daughter. The relationship between him and Mickey is also starting to slowly unfold as they work together and get to know each other better.

The Reversal (Harry Bosch) is definitely fast-paced crime novel that will keep you turning the pages until the end. For a Michael Connelly novel the ending it left somewhat open for the reader to draw conclusions or maybe to be brought up in another book.

It will be a little while longer until I can get to The Fifth Witness. Plus his newest Harry Bosch novel, The Drop, will be released on November 28, 2011.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Julie's Review: The Brass Verdict

Summary: Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller and LAPD Detective Harry Bosch team up in Michael Connelly's biggest novel ever. Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is ready to go back to the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next. Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together. ~MichaelConnelly.com

Review: Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer novel was not my favorite of his. I found Mickey Haller to be a slime ball with no code of ethics and nothing redeeming about him. I do like to read books in order which is why I'm reading The Brass Verdict now, even if it is a Haller novel. Although to my delight we see Det. Harry Bosch and Reporter Jack McEvoy in this book as well. I couldn't have been more thrilled to see all of these characters in one book.

Mr. Connelly knows how to suck you in right away. I always find myself immersed in the story right away. The Brass Verdict is no different. We are quickly re-introduced to Mickey because he's being summoned to the judge's office about an issue he has no clue about. You see Mickey's been out of the game for a year but as a reader we don't really know the full story. This part is slowly revealed over the course of the book. The Brass Verdict is told from Mickey's point of view and it works because he's believable. I like this Mickey Haller much better than the one from The Lincoln Lawyer. Sure he's still a defense attorney but he doesn't seem to be such a slime ball here.

What I loved about this novel is that you know that Mickey has a "smoking gun" in the case but you don't know what it is until the trial. This had my brain working on over drive trying to figure it out. And then as soon as it's revealed, BOOM!! It made total sense and I loved how Mickey pulled it all together.

Now, while I said that Jack McEvoy is in the book, he's not a main character but it was nice to see him back even if for a little bit. I really enjoyed the partnering of Bosch with Haller or vice versa. It was intriguing to see a Detective working with a Defense attorney when they are usually at opposite ends of a case.

I will be interested to see where Mickey Haller goes from here. It could be a new chapter in his life.

I will be visiting the next book The Reversal very shortly; where again Bosch and Haller are paired up.

Final Take: 4/5

Julie's Review: Nine Dragons

Summary: Bestseller Connelly nimbly balances Harry Bosch's personal and professional lives, both of which take a substantial beating, in his 14th novel to feature the LAPD homicide detective. Bosch, last seen with his recently discovered half-brother, lawyer Mickey Haller, in The Brass Verdict (2008), investigates the shooting death of a liquor store owner. While the murder has none of the hallmarks of a regular gang hit, Bosch discovers the dead man was paying a weekly protection fee to a man Bosch suspects is part of a Chinese triad. Even though Bosch is warned to drop the case, he doesn't take the threat seriously until he receives a video showing his 13-year-old daughter, Madeline, being kidnapped in Hong Kong, where she lives with her mother and Bosch's ex-wife, a former FBI agent. Bosch flies to Hong Kong to try to rescue Madeline, prepared to face down one of the world's most powerful crime syndicates. Tenacious as ever, Bosch is even more formidable in his role as a protective father. ~amazon.com

Review: Michael Connelly never fails to disappoint me. Now granted I haven't read every single one of his books, but the ones that I have read, I have immensely enjoyed. Although I think I enjoy the books with Harry a tad bit more than the ones with Mickey Haller (aka The Lincoln Lawyer).

The novel starts off with it being a slow period in the homicide division but that quickly changes with the apparent murder of liquor store owner John Li. It wasn't a robbery that went wrong, because it couldn't be that simple. Quickly the case points to the Chinese Triad and Harry has to get the AGU (Asian Gang Unit) involved which causes him to work with someone new, Officer Chu. Harry doesn't trust anyone and that is magnified even more when he's working on a case.

Things move quickly on the case and it quickly spins out of control for Harry and the team. Not only that but the case quickly becomes personal for him. It seems that the Triad in Hong Kong have take his daughter Madeline hostage. Harry risks everything to go to there to save her.

Mr. Connelly writes at such a fast paced rate that it's hard to put the book down. You want to know what's going to happen next and how everything will be worked out in the end.

I really loved the ending of the book. There were several twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Although I will say that someone didn't seem so innocent to me early in the book so it wasn't a huge surprise for me at the end.

It seems that I read this book before I read The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Harry Bosch) and am out of sorts on a couple details but nothing that makes Nine Dragons (Harry Bosch) (See all Contemporary Literature) less enjoyable.

If you like crime novels than you should definitely check out Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series.

Final Take: 4/5

Julie's Review: The Scarecrow

Summary: Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career. He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent. Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poet made his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's. ~amazon.com

Review:  I love mystery/thrillers and I'm psyched when I get turned onto a new author in the genre. My dad introduced me to Michael Connelly a while back and I've read a couple of his books. While he's a newer to me author, he's definitely not a new author. This is the first book that I read with Jack McEvoy as the lead character and let me tell you, I liked him. The Scarecrow is a high octane, wild ride to catch a serial killer that no one knows about until Jack and his writing partner, Angela Cook happen upon him. What I like about Connelly's books is that he's always up on the latest thing and in this book it's technology. I can understand some of that talk up to a point but then you lose me...aka it goes over my head. Connelly doesn't quite go over my head, he gives me just enough to understand the depth and seriousness of the IT security business and what is at stake.

I was glad to see Agent Rachel Walling of the FBI show up in the book, since I've liked her in the Harry Bosch books I've read prior. I like that she's a profiler. I've always thought that would be a cool job, but it can put you in harms way. In other words, I'm not sure I'd want to be profiling serial killers all the time. I'm sure that would make you nuts.

The book starts off quickly and never stops. At first it's about proving that an young man was innocent of murder, even if he wasn't an innocent young man. It quickly becomes a whole nother story that Jack begins to unravel. What I really found intriguing was the newspaper aspect. I worked for the high school paper for a nanosecond because I thought I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. Connelly captures the energy of the paper extremely well (I know that he's a former crime beat reporter). I liked learning how a crime reporter gets his stories and the connection he has to the police department.

The ending of the book leaves it open for another Jack McEvoy novel, that I hope will feature Rachel as well.

Final Take: 4/5

Julie's Review: The Overlook

Summary: Bestseller Connelly's dazzling 13th Harry Bosch novel (after 2006's Echo Park) reunites Bosch with his former flame, FBI agent Rachel Walling. Bosch must break in a new partner, rookie Iggy Ferras, when they're called to look into the execution of physicist Stanley Kent on a Mulholland Drive overlook. When a special FBI unit, headed by Walling, arrives and tries to usurp his case, claiming it's a matter of national security, Bosch refuses to back down. Walling's focus on the potential theft of radioactive material from the hospital where Kent was lending his expertise to cancer treatment and her unwillingness to share information only make Bosch more determined to solve the case. This is a quick read, almost half the length of Connelly's previous novels, but he spares no punches when it comes to complexity and suspense. The scramble to investigate threats to national security, justified or otherwise, is a timely subject and one on which Connelly puts a brilliant new spin.

Review: This is my 3rd Michael Connelly book upon discovering him via my dad and I have to say I'm glad he turned me on to him since he weaves a good story together. In The Overlook (Harry Bosch), he takes current events and murder to create an interesting plot. It also makes you think "What if?" and also "When" which I think pretty darn scary.

Harry Bosch is a Detective for the LAPD and is quite the interesting character. He's a throw back to old school police work, doesn't know how to work a Blackberry and certainly doesn't trust or like the FBI which at times makes his job more difficult. He approaches this case as any other, it's a straight homocide, but then it becomes must bigger quickly and he must try to work with the FBI again. He's got a new partner who's not quite sure of Harry's methods (none that questionable IMHO) of solving the case. I like Harry's no nonsense way of trying to solve cases and his approach to life. The case has a good twist that I should have seen coming but didn't. You would think I would have figured it out because of all the crime/mystery books and tv shows I've absorbed over the years.

Now this is the 13th book with Harry Bosch as the main character and yet I don't feel that you need to read all of them to get who he is and his background. I read Echo Park (Harry Bosch) last year and didn't feel lost at all having not read the previous books.

Overall the book was solid and interesting but it wasn't fantastic. It did seem a little to easy to wrap up, but given the research that went into the book and the fresh topic, I'll give it a bit higher rating. If you want to read Michael Connelly though, I recommend starting with Echo Park (Harry Bosch), I feel it's a stronger story.

Final Take: 4/5