Rating: 
Summary: I"m hooked!
Review: I ordered the 5-cd (abridged) audio version of City of Bones after reading the laudatory reviews of the book. I was not disappointed: great plot, fabulous characters, magnificent reading by Len Cariou. This audio book was my introduction to Michael Connelly and Det. Harry Bosch, and I have since ordered a stack more. I'm hooked!
Rating: 
Summary: Blah, Blah, Blah
Review: and we're not talking about boring conversation, either. this is the first book i have read by connelly and i found it as dull and flat as a butter knife. The story was unimaginative, the characters unspired, the plot was plodding and uncaptivating and as about as suspensful as watching a game of golf. Is the publisher sure this wasn't a rejected teleplay for Matlock or Murder, She Wrote? If you want a spine tingling, look-under-the -covers story, read Truman Capote's short story (based on true facts), "Hand Carved Coffins" in the book, MUSIC FOR CHAMELEONS. A game of CLUE with my 5 year old nephew would have been more mysterious than this yawnfest.
Rating: 
Summary: I really tried to but I couldnt
Review: I really tried to like this. I wanted to. I gave the book several hundred pages to hook me but it left me feeling flat. As others have said the book has plenty of flaws, leaves lots of loose ends and doesn't accomplish what you think it will. The end falls flat. I'm not giving up on Connelly. Connelly is surely a good writer, this just isn't his best stuff.
Rating:
Summary: I miss him already....
Review: It's just been a few hours since I closed this book and I find myself missing Harry already! This installment in the life of Harry Bosch took me completely by surprise--I picked it up a few days ago, sure I was going to be able to stretch the reading out. And that thought lasted until this morning when I picked this book up and became totally immersed in Connelly's City of Bones. I felt like I was THERE. Real life attempted to intrude a few times, but the look on my face and the sharpness in my voice convinced those who would dare interrupt, that I belonged in Hollywood with Harry....for the time being anyway! The story itself held me spellbound--a battered child's bones found after 20 years--but it's Harry that keeps me there! This is a hero I can relate to--one with flaws and passion and integrity. One who makes mistakes and regrets it. A hero that sticks up for the victim and for himself when it's necessary. Not many authors can pull me INTO their stories but Connelly does possess this gift and I am ever so thankful for it!
Rating: 
Summary: Loose Ends...but still a great book
Review: I love Harry and although this case wasn't as supercharged as some of his others, I thought the book was good. I felt like the Brasher part was left somewhat up in the air and I couldn't really grasp what the significance of her character was supposed to be. But overall, I enjoyed the book and can't wait until the next one...because Harry never quits!
Rating:
Summary: Exciting but flawed -
Review: Connelly is among the best of the contemporary, gritty hard-boiled school. Maybe even the best. For me, this was a very taut, well-paced thriller. The procedural element was excellent. I would give the book a 5 except for two things. First was the Brasher sub-plot, which I thought was going to be great, but ending up feeling psychologically invalid. What happens might have been made believable, but perhaps Connelly was afraid it wouldn't be surprising enough. Instead, I was angry. Secondly - the end failed. It might have pure emotional dynamite. Perhaps if the Brasher situation had been more believable, I'd have believed Bosch's final choice. But again, I just felt set up, that it was done for effect rather than emotionally inevitable for the character. Nonetheless, mystery writers of this caliber are difficult to come by, so the book still ranks high for what it does do well.
Rating:
Summary: where are we going?
Review: I love Harry and always will, but what happened? There were loose ends that never quite came together and we came to the final page wondering what did we miss. I have read all of Connelly's books and have enjoyed them a great deal, yet this one started out moving along in the right direction, but nothing was conclusive. Well, I still loved it and wait to find out what Harry will do if he is no longer the dedicated detective.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking energy
Review: When they're just starting out, writers are on fire--driven by the compulsion to write, fueled by the determination to do it better than anyone else ever could. That was very definitely the case with the first of Connelly's books. The Black Echo, The Black Ice were exceptional efforts, the kind of inspired writing that brings readers back for more. Sometimes, when writers achieve success, they lose the fire and their work reflects it. That's very definitely the case with Connelly. His last book, A Darkness More Than Night, was all over the map and not credible. City of Bones is somewhat better because the author is back to focusing on one hero, rather than two. But this book is lethargic. It starts with an interesting premise but fails to deliver, with an ending that is lacklustre. Bosch connects with an over-thirty female rookie and they embark upon an affair. It's abrupt and not entirely convincing. It is also amazingly similar to one of the threads of Lee Child's new Reacher novel. That happens. There are no new ideas under the sun. But the difference between the two books is noteworthy. In Connelly's book the emotions seem synthetic. In the Child's book, it's knockout stuff. It is, ultimately, the difference between a writer who is still on fire and one who is down to the embers. Perhaps Connelly will go in a new direction, given the ending of City of Bones. That might be a very good idea because the Harry Bosch series seems to have come to the end--both in terms of the stories themselves and in terms of the amount of energy the author appears prepared to give. Disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I loved it. Second only to Concrete Blonde. Plenty of twists, great diologue, plot and a character that gets better and better with every book.
Rating:
Summary: Bosch is back - an excellent entry in the series.
Review: I was disappointed with Michael Connelly's previous contribution to his Harry Bosch series, "A Darkness More Than Night" and, on finishing that, feared that the character had become stale and would go the way of other characters such as Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. So it was with some anticipation that I delved into Connelly's latest, "City of Bones". "City of Bones" is the old Michael Connelly and the old Harry Bosch - a hard-boiled LA homicide detective who plays by his own rules but gets the job done. In this book, Bosch is called out to investigate the discovery of skeletal remains buried in a wooded area some twenty years previously. As usual, he runs into the usual bureaucratic frustrations as the top brass fear that another "cold case" will do further damage to the reputation of the LAPD. Connelly guides the story through a number of complex plot twists, creating suspects and then despatching them and leaving the reader wondering where things will end up. The writing is well crafted, the character development very good and the plot leaves you guessing right up until the very end. He also injects the right amount of "police procedural" - the paperwork, the internal investigations, the politics - into the plot to give the book the realism for which he is known. The book is every bit a "page-turner" and I ploughed through it in a single day, staying up into the wee hours to finish it off. The lack of sleep was worth it - Connelly has crafted an excellent book. In many ways he has returned to the old Harry Bosch - no gimmicks, no "tie-ins", just plain old good quality, hard-boiled detective fiction. Let's just hope that Connelly sticks to the format because, if so, we've got a lot to look forward to. Michael Connelly is back on form and has produced a 5 star crime novel as a result.
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