Rating: 
Summary: Soul Gripping!!
Review: Connelly wrote this one with pure heart and soul!! Worth reading again and again!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Harry running out of steam
Review: Lost Light in many ways is a solid novel. Pacing, character development, action, all are ok. But when contrasted with the series, you get the feeling that Connelly is going through the motions. His shift to first person, though interesting with its Chandler-like echo, feels like an authorial gimmick to give the series more juice. First person is usually a grabber, but here I just didn't sense any real accompanying tension (as one would find with Chandler). Moreover, at this point in the Bosch series, such gimmicks have the entire weight of the series working against it. In particular, Connelly's need to touch base with previous characters from previous novels. While it's fine to refer to a universe that the author has carefully constructed novel by novel, such touching base needs to be developed slowly, and intergrated naturally into the plot. Here, Connelly's "touching base" is more like a listing of old times, good friends. There is no depth to the re-introductions. These characters are largely pieces, rather than people, to help move the story along. If you are a first time reader of Bosch/Connelly, this could be particularly annoying.I have read 5 Bosch novels over the last year, but I found this one had the least edge. The seams are showing more and more. The ultimately red-herring terrorist story, with its post Septemeber 11 world, provided the most interest. I am interested to see how Connelly, and other popular authors, deal with such an darkly topical subject. And here Connelly does deliver, by showing the new paranoia, the ripple effect within law enforcement and how it impacts our freedoms, how even a trip to the library can become something else. To some extent I suppose you should view Bosch as a human work in progress (and you do care about this guy). At his best, he's a haunted, often angry man, with dark places. However, in Lost Light, Harry has mellowed with age (though the body count, by novel's end, is quite solid) to such an extent, that his little habits, whether it be his love of jazz, or chicken pot pies, is beginning to sound a bit fuddy duddy. Perhaps now is the time to pull the pin on Harry. The unbelievable (and manipulative (in a sappy way))ending provides Connelly with that option. I have to believe he's thinking about it.
Rating:
Summary: Harry. Always Harry
Review: We enjoy (I was going to say "love" but that's probably inaccurate) Harry Bosch not in spite of his flaws, but because of them. There's hardly a Michael Connelly novel in which you don't think Harry's, errrrr, human. And here he is haunted again by the incompleteness of his past. The missing pieces. The concertos that never ended. The unfinished stories. Retired, and not necessarily regretting it, he tugs at old cases like an itchy scab, especially one in which, like the Harry of old, he is haunted by something near spiritual, certainly otherworldly. Here it's the vic's hands, prayerfully petitioning him in the last seconds, the closing moments of her life. So he ponders limited clues, arrogant Hollywood producers, even more arrogant cops, wounded heroes and scarred victims. Never alone with his brooding inner self, he recalls failures at relationships and the clout he never knew he had as a cop that he has now lost, apparently forever. He still misses his ex-wife and creates excuses . . . all too human excuses . . . . to see her again. He even has one embarassing yet recognizable moment of 'checking up' on her. And he seeks and finds redemption. His greatest victory may be in solving the riddle of himself, not the crime.
Rating: 
Summary: A different Harry Bosch
Review: This was definitely a departure from the hard-edged Harry we have grown and loved in the last several novels. However, it remains a very good piece of work by Connelly and for that, he has earned his reputation. In this novel, Harry is no longer a cop, but a retired guy living on his pension. Like all new pensioners, he is not used to the anticlimax that all regular folks experience, and he is inevitably drawn back into his former life as a top-notched investigator. He dregs up an old case and meticulous goes through every angle, only without the usual ease that comes with being an officer. The ending is well conceived and has the right degree of believability and drama. One of the more interesting aspects of the novel is that it is written in the first person. For the first time, we are more privy to Harry's thoughts and feelings. Yes, my dear readers, feelings. It is definitely a different Harry than the hard-drinking, crazed cigarette-deprived cop we have grown to love in spite of all the flaws. The book is a very good read and will keep you up in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Lost Light takes a different approach
Review: Lost Light picks up where City of Bones left off. Harry Bosch retiring from the LAPD. He decides to investigate a case from the unsolved files he took with him when he left the LAPD. The plot was an average plot. Written through first person point of view was a dramatic change. I personally liked the third person point of view best. The ending was a huge shocker, which was the best part of the book for me. This a great book if your a series regular as you can see Harry Bosch evolve, but its an average book if your looking to read Harry Bosch for the first time. It's all been done before...
Theo
Rating:
Summary: The outstretched pleading hands of a murdered girl
Review: are engraved in Harry Bosch's memory. How can he ever forget that picture! The ravished, murdered body of Angela Benton so many, many years ago. Bosch, fed up with the politics in the detective bureau, retires after 28 years and finds himself staring at walls and remembering yet again the details of Angela Benton's murder. A case he and his partner pursued, only to be mysteriously and all too suddenly relieved of their duties. And he is off and running in pursuit of an answer come hell or high water,which is normal for Hieronymous Bosch..Harry to those of us who know him. Having read and re-read all of Michael Conelly's novels and Bosch being my favorite of subjects, I have concluded that this is the best yet. The sutble interweaving of Bosch as a newly ordained PI and his private life is done with expertise and an ease which Connelly is honing to perfection. Connelly uses every investigative device known to him to take us on that journey back in time; to uncover each and every detail, to revisit all those who as much as took a breath of air any where near this murder and to hopefully take those responsible to task. The unraveling of this mystery is a joy in itself. The story line is exciting and more than riviting, and the flow of the prose carries the reader along swiftly. Unlike sooo many novels I have read, the ending is not all jumbled in the last few pages. On the contrary, we are brought along on a tide of realistic, diagnostic reasoning and if we are following closely, we arrive, with Bosch, at the proper conclusion, and along with him can now erase from our memory and our souls the picture of the pleading hands of Angela Benton. Don't miss this one!
Rating:
Summary: worth waiting for an uninterrupted time to read
Review: I have always enjoyed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch book and this is no exception. Connelly has used a slightly different point of view and speaks through Harry himself. The result is a new insight into the character. This is a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: Harry Bosch has retired! Or has he?
Review: Lost Light (2003)
Harry has finally had it with the LAPD, He has resigned and soon finds he needs to find a new way to earn a living. The life of a retiree doesn't suit him. He soon has a P.I. license in his pocket.
When he left the LAPD Bosch took a file with him- the case of a film production assistant murdered four years earlier during a $2 million robbery on a movie set. The Feds have taken over, thinking a terrorist group is involved. The murder victim is lost in the federal zeal. Then it seems the killer will be set free to aid the feds' misled terrorist hunt, Bosch quickly finds himself in conflict with both his old colleagues and the FBI. He cannot rest until he finds the killer-with or without a badge. This is one unsolved case that keeps Harry up at night.
Lost Light comes as close to the books of Michael Connelly's admired hard boiled detective author,Raymond Chandler. Smart, action packed and gritty with a regular guy as the main character that you come to care about.
Different, too, in this go around Harry Bosch narrates the story. It isn't told to us in a 3rd person style.(even though Connelly did that so well in previous books). We know why Harry does what he does, thinks what he thinks and what his next step will be. Harry doesn't have his badge anymore. But he's armed with a Private Investigator's License, his wits and the street smarts of a successful ex murder detective. I've enjoyed Michael Connelly's writing from his first book "The Black Echo" through the non Harry Bosch books. Connelly's characters, style and plotting are exciting yet plausable. Every word brings you closer to an ending that you know will both surprise and satisfy the most jaded mystery reader. This was a good purchase and stands out as one of Connelly's best Harry Bosch books! Even though Harry is retired now, I and his other thousands of readers can only shout "MORE, MORE". Michael Connelly has lived up to his hero, writer Raymond Chandler. Writing exciting, intelligent who dun its and creating a more than good enough hero for solving them. I have always got my money's worth with Michael Connelly books. Whether the Harry Bosch series or either of his less known series of mysteries. This was another great read.
John Row
Rating:
Summary: simply fantastic. an immortal writer.
Review: i don't want to write a detailed reading report of this book in case to spoil other readers' pleasure. all i want to say is that this is one of the greatest writers who has delievered another great book, making the year of 2003 more satisfying than ever. connelly's writing seems getting better and better, so silky, natural and unpretentious. once you open this book and start reading, you just read along until your eyelids cannot keep opened. god, this story is so great, so deep and the plots so well woven. the writing, yes, the writing is, man, i've got to repeat it again, so smooth, so natural and so unpretentious. reading it is just like it's coming out of the heart of a great person. you have to read this.
Rating:
Summary: Love Harry Bosch
Review: I couldn't put this book down, nor could any of my friends. We won't even borrow from one another. We all have to have our own. I loved this book. But the ending has my stumped. It almost sounded like the end of Harry -- he kind of rode off into the sunset. Say it isn't so. More Harry Bosch books -- please!
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