The Black Echo

I mention this particular Michael Connelly novel because it’s the first book to introduce Los Angeles police detective Harry Bosch. Connelly has gone on to write a long series of Harry Bosch mysteries, and this review is really to recommend all of them. His books are filled with totally believable police procedural detail, perfect pitch in describing the pace of Los Angeles life, a fully fleshed out hero, and a surprisingly different collection of plots. If you like detective mysteries, you can’t go wrong with Hieronymus Bosch.

I liked this novel because I was in Vietnam, have friends forever changed by contact with the mad god Mars, and could easily relate to the main character.

After his time in the military, Vietnam war tunnel rat Harry Bosch has to fight his own PTSD as well as very real present dangers in his job with the Los Angeles police force. Since I have studied the L.A. police for some of my novels, Connelly’s writing rings very true to me.

My mother was a very troubled young woman. The age difference between us was only 17 years, which meant that by the time I was a teenager, she was still young. Her alcoholism, broken marriages, and difficult relationships with her own family, including my Irish grandmother who effectively raised me and her two husbands, first my biological father and then my step-father, all made for a very challenging emotional landscape for a sensitive only child.

This seminal debut novel in what is now considered one of the finest crime series of all time. It features the series detective Harry Bosch… show more.

Hollywood is a fascinating, exciting place in many people’s imaginations, and I was immediately pulled in by following along with Detective Bosch in the neighborhood’s Homicide division, seeing the crime under the veneer of glamour. This book has a lot of ties back to Bosch’s past (and demons) from his time in the military, and I enjoyed watching him work on a murder investigation. Observing a sharp mind at work is one of the joys of this novel style, and Connelly does a great job crafting that here.

Amazon Prime viewers will also recognize the story as having been adapted… show more.

When I read that homicide detective, Harry Bosch’s motto, “Everyone counts or no one counts,” I was hooked on the character, the book, the entire series.

What I love about Bosch is that physically he is not imposing, his strength emanating from his powerfully focused mind and his mongoose dedication to any case he inherits.

I love his quiet rectitude as he tries to render the permanently wronged justice. In its pursuit, he will unflinchingly bring any means necessary to the job, even at the risk of his life.

I love the idea of Bosch as much as I like… show more.

As someone who does a lot of research about survival situations, I love a good heist book, and this is one of the best I’ve come across recently.

I’d of course read many of Connelly’s other books, but this is his first and, in my opinion, one of the best.

Starting with the discovery of a body, stuffed in a drainpipe, in a remote corner of Los Angeles, what appears to be a standard whodunit turns into a complexly plotted mystery that connects Vietnam vets, drugs, a gang of professional thieves and, yes, a bank job.

This is the first… show more.

In The Black Echo, the first book in his Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch series, Connelly introduces his epic detective. Bosch is a Vietnam vet who served as a tunnel rat, crawling through a massive series of tunnels to ferret out and kill Vietnamese soldiers. His traumatic war experience proves useful as he investigates a dead body found in a drainpipe. The case leads to the water conduits underneath LA, the body of fellow tunnel rat, and ultimately an unsolved bank robbery. He battles the FBI, constant trouble with Internal Affairs, and he must overcome Vietnamese gangsters and his war trauma… show more.

This is the first of more than twenty-five novels featuring Harry Bosch, a Vietnam War vet who is now a homicide detective on the L.A.P.D. Here Bosch investigates the murder of a man found stuffed into a culvert and the case quickly becomes very personal for Bosch himself. Like the detectives above, Bosch is a brilliantly imagined character, and with this series Connelly has established himself as the king of police procedurals.

I love reading murder mysteries; Harry Bosch is the quintessential homicide detective, and Michael Connelly has masterfully created his LAPD detective to anchor this mystery series. In addition, Connelly is a great storyteller. The Black Echo paints a realistic picture of the sordid underbelly of Los Angeles that few see, but one that Harry encounters daily. The detective investigates a friend's murder, and he has to relive their time together in Viet Nam while facing resistance from those in his department. I highly recommend this first book in the Harry Bosch series, which will start you on an exciting journey… show more.