City of Bones/Unabridged

Rating:
Summary: City of Bones is weak, void moon is too
Review: I have enjoyed all of Michael Connelly's books but his two most recent have been let downs. They lack the gritty excitment and kinky twists that made the Concrete Blonde or Blood Work so exciting. Is he running out of original ideas for his work? It certainly seems so as these don't compare to his first works.

Rating:
Summary: Unfinished
Review: I looked forward to reading Connelly's latest but was quite disappointed. I didn't buy the fact that Julia Brasher commited suicide just so that she would go down in history as a "HERO". I kept looking forward to the ending for the real reason she was shot. Interesting reading but could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Strong smooth structure
Review: Perhaps the most confident and accomplished of Connelly's work. Hardly a false note in the whole story. Sometimes, in other of his works, you can almost feel the author bend the story to fit a preconceived notion of the plot. Not here. Harry journeys into the dark once more and may not come out.

Rating:
Summary: I remember Harry
Review: I have to agree with other reviews that this is not one of Michael Connelly's tighter story lines. It felt very disjointed to me at several places. However, Harry, is as always, Harry... and has an incredible way of making the reader feel his moods and emotions. A good read though, and definitely recommended for Michael Connelly fans.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to Homicide, Existential Hero Division
Review: Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" - his latest procedural about L.A. police detective Harry Bosch - is a book I would love to
recommend. Connelly's des­criptions of L.A. and police work are convincing, and like other books in this genre (po­lice procedural, existential hero division), there's the se­rious voice that tries to imply that there's something going on underneath the story. There's even something of a love story and a climax that suggests major changes in Bosch's life.

The story starts out with a bang, too, with the discovery of the bones of a long-dead child in a residential wooded lot. This attracts the cast of characters usually seen in the City of Angels: the publicity hungry coroner who brings along her camera crew, the police and press helicopters hanging overhead like sinister fireflies, the reporters using means fair and foul to gain ac­cess, the police department higher-ups putting pressure on Bosch to solve the case fast.

Bosch, too, is a fine study of the angst-ridden detective with a past. He's not too over­bearingly morose to inspire suggestions of Prozac and a long rest. He's good at what he does and dedicated to his work for a reason. As Bosch puts it, "It's the feeling that this won't just go by. That those bones came out of the ground for a reason. That they came out of the ground for me to find, and for me to do something about. And that's what holds me together and keeps me going."

The case proceeds with the usual twists and turns, as Bosch digs back into the boy's past and uncovers the people who would like to see the case and the body re­main buried. Connelly's a for­mer police reporter, and he uses his eye for detail to build a convincing portrait of big-city police work's alternative culture, and how the relative­ly simple task of detecting can be bent and sometimes sabo­taged by the media, budgetary constraints and simple incom­petence.

Yet, "City of Bones" left me cold. While Connelly is good at recording the visible de­tails, the invisible ones trip him up. This is especially troublesome when they in­volve major plot points - and readers who wish to read the book anyway should skip this and the next paragraph. One officer tries to make herself a hero by attempting to kill a chase suspect and wound herself, only it goes wrong and she dies. Her death is heartfelt and sad, but the reason Bosch ferrets out - "she said she hoped to get a chance to be a hero one day. But I think there was some­thing else in all this. It was like she wanted the scar, the experience of it" - doesn't ring true. Ending his explanation with, "I don't know. I guess every­body's got secrets," comes off as lame.

Another spoiler: The book ends with a major change in Bosch's life for which the motivation is equally as confusing. The resolution of the murder results in Bosch resigning the depart­ment. Again, the reader asks, why? Was he af­fected by the officer's death? It didn't seem that way. Is he tired of the office poli­tics? Given the evils that he's seen on the job, I can't imag­ine that would be the case. Yet, nothing makes sense.

"City of Bones" is all effect and no cause. It's well-writ­ten, tightly paced and a quick read, but it's best not to think about it too long after you close the covers.

Rating:
Summary: hands down, awesome book.
Review: ...michael connelly writes so well, it flows very quickly, and is a great book. i couldn't stop myself from reading further and further into the book. i completely recommend this book to anyone at all. ...

Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but I still enjoyed
Review: I've read every novel Mr Connelly was written and found this to be the least compelling. The story was good, and Harry is at his usual best, but I think I was a bit disappointed with how it ended and the resolution of the crime. Still, I think if you're a fan of this author and Harry, you will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Michael Connelly can't seem to get it wrong
Review: I just finished City of Bones and as always with Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, I wanted it to go on and on. Once again, a Michael Connelly write held this reader glued to the book until the very end and I know we have not heard the last of Harry Bosch. Once again I found myself pulling for Harry all the way to the end.

Hurry up with the next one is all I have to add.

Rating:
Summary: Give Harry a Break
Review: I have loved Connelly since reading the Poet.
This book was lacking the pace and the depth of other mc books.
To show you that I am a true mc groupy, I check his web site on and off to see what is going on with future books and to read the conversation board with mc and his fans.
Frankly I think all that praise has gone to his head, affecting his aproach to Bosch.
The Poet and Void Moon had a freedom lacking in half of the Bosch books. Clearly there is an alter ego aspect to mc and his most written about character. In CoB's some of the Harry versus Self and versus Past and versus Establishment is under-described and the plot is under-worked. At this point most of the readers of mc's books know all about Bosch amd maybe mc did not want to weave details into this book. I miss the cop from Angel's Flight and the Concrete Blond and the Last Coyote.
Void Moom made me so tense that I nearly jumped out the window while I was reading it (as fast as I could). Reading CoB's I kept falling asleep. I wanted to care about who killed that little boy but in order to do that I need some dramatic tension and could not find it. I guess maybe the style of the book reflected the feelings of a tired cop.
I want the next book to have a complicated plot with a challenged protagonist, whom ever the book is about.

Rating:
Summary: Michael Connelly Has Done It Again
Review: Detective Harry Bosch is no stranger to Michael Connelly fans. In this seventh book of the series, Connelly doesn't disappoint.

A new case uncovers buried bones from 20 years ago. And Bosch can't shake the story the bones of the 12-year-old boy are trying to tell.

The bones reveal heavy abuse. A brutal death. An abbreviated life that may have been better off dead after all.

While the mystery behind the bones starts to unravel, new obstacles begin to block the case's progression. In the middle of it all, Bosch finds himself falling for a rookie cop.

As Bosch and his partner try to solve the case, what seems to be a routine procedure goes terribly wrong. Bosch's career is in trouble, his personal life is in turmoil and he's rocketing toward a decision that will affect the rest of his life.

Whether you're a hard-core Harry Bosch fan or just starting to read about this detective's all-too-human daily life, "City of Bones" is an excellent chronicle with a compelling plot and well-developed characters.