A Darkness More Than Night Unabridged

Rating:
Summary: A solid Thriller but MC can do muc better!
Review: This is the 5th HB novel I've read. Generally speaking, it is a very solid, suspensful novel. However, in my opinion, MC has written much better books. You realise too early in which dirction the plot is heading. Moreover, it seems that MC, in a darkness more than night, wasn't very creative and imaginative. He was apparently running out of ideas so he maybe thought, why not bring two characters of previously successful books together? But it doesn't work that simple. In comparison with Harry Bosch, (one of my absolute favorite characters regardless what book) McCaleb falls very short. He just can't compete with Bosch, that's for sure!!!
In addition, I was also dissapointed to see so many similarities with an excellent book that had been previously written: the concrete blond. It is also a mixture of police thriller and courtroom story. But the concrete blond is, by far, the better book. Anyway, fans of HB will like it. For everyone else I higly recommend to read the HB novels (starting with the black echo and so forth) right from the beginning.
cheers

Rating:
Summary: Excellent mystery
Review: While they are usually intriguing, I have found team-up stories to be generally disappointing. When an author takes a couple of different series characters and puts them in the same book, the result is ofteen mixed; the characters often work well on their own but don't complement each other.

With Connelly, however, there is nothing but enjoyment in his team-up of Terry McCaleb and Harry Bosch. This is because this is not really a team-up: although both characters are in the novel, they have very different roles; in addition, Connelly does not evenly balance the two; this is really a McCaleb book.

In this story, McCaleb is recruited to look into a ritualistic murder; his evaluation comes up with an unusual suspect, Bosch. It doesn't help that Bosch's behavior and comments are not above suspicion, but then again, Bosch has little sympathy for the victim; in addition, he is entangled in an O.J. Simpson-style high-profile trial in which he is the key witness.

McCaleb and Bosch have two different agendas in this book. McCaleb's are rather evident, but since Bosch is a suspect, his motives are more ambiguous. As readers familiar with the half-dozen other Bosch novels, we know that the killer is someone else. Don't we? Then again, Connelly is quite adept with the plot twist, so even Bosch isn't above suspicion.

It is not essential to have read the other books in the series to enjoy this one (but it doesn't hurt either). Connelly has had quite a string of top-notch thrillers and this continues the string. If you enjoy mysteries, you can't go wrong with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but ...
Review: ... like one of the reviewer said, "Not Enough Bosch". And when he appeared, he usually on the court ... not spending his time investigating. Compared to the previous one, "Angels Flight", this one is a little behind. But I still enjoy the mystery and the "art lesson" of the real "Hieronymous Bosch".

Rating:
Summary: TERRY JOINS HARRY
Review: After reading Connelly's "Blood Work," I wondered if he'd do another book with Terry McCabe. Well, here it is, and it's a winner. Terry is now married and has a young child, and is drawn into a complex murder case by his former cohort, Jaye Winston. Of course, Graciella doesn't want him involved, even though they would never had met if she hadn't drawn him into her sister's murder years earlier. Anyway, Terry jumps in and guess who the main suspect is? Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch!!!

The way Connelly uses Harry's name is unique and a focal point in why Terry thinks Harry's guilty. Of course, Harry's involved in trying to put away a sleazy Hollywood director, accused of murdering a rising starlet. The case rests on Harry's testimony, as the smug killer confessed to Harry that he did indeed kill the girl.
Terry investigates and finds many unusual clues, such as an owl, which leads him to discover the painter Hieronymus Bosch, who Harry was named after. The pictures reveal murders that fit the graphic crime scene, and McCabe is certain Harry may have finally gone off the deep end.
The plot moves along and you keep wondering, what in the world is going on? Is Harry bonkers? Is he being set up? And why did Graciella turn out to be such a whiny woman?
This is answered and more, and the dark sides of both Terry and Harry are revealed.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Bosch
Review: I'm a great fan of Michael Connelly's and would recommend the Harry Bosch books to anyone who likes a good detective novel. It's obvious that Connelly has read Chandler and read him closely, and while he can't reach the heights that Chandler did, Connelly gives Hollywood a dark and tawdry glamor. Bosch is an interesting character, sometimes traced back to "Dirty Harry" Callahan, but Bosch has been enriched and rounded out over the novels that precede "A Darkness More Than Night." Bosch is willing to break all the silly procedural rules and he's dogged in pursuit of the truth, but from the beginning a reader knows there's no real cruelty in Bosch. Anger, yes; impatience, yes; short-sightedness, yes. But no real cruelty.

So anyone familiar with the earlier Bosch books would have trouble accepting the premise that Harry has crossed over to the dark side and taken to executing criminals. Anyone familiar with the reputation of Terry McCaleb, master profiler, would have trouble accepting the premise that McCaleb would easily embrace the idea of Bosch's transformation. Yet that's precisely the situation that we're faced with in "A Darkness More than Night."

Speaking for myself, I didn't find McCaleb that interesting in the earlier "Blood Works," and I was less impressed with him here. McCaleb is almost as whiny as his wife, Graciela. Glad to see the new heart's working out, but it's hard to believe this man was ever a crack FBI agent. Perhaps the immuno-suppressive drugs have eroded McCaleb's intuitive capabilities.

So--this book has too much meandering McCaleb and not nearly enough Harry. The ending, too, with a moment of weak-kneed insight for each major character, is no way to end a hard-boiled police procedural. Connelly's weaker offering is still better than the average writer's best. But I hope in the future he leaves McCaleb parked out on Catalina and gets Harry back on the streets of Hollywood.

Rating:
Summary: Medium
Review: I'm a big fan of Connelly (Angels Flight is a classic detective novel) but this is one of his average efforts. I agree with other reviewers that the solution is telegraphed. I also think that the "revelation" about Bosch in the last few pages (McCaleb's last visit to Bosch) doesn't withstand scrutiny. I won't explain why because I don't want to give away the plot but I can't see how it jibes with the rest of the book. Still, I could barely put the book down and it was very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Mccaleb and Bosch in one book!
Review: ...The book gripped me from the beginning, as being Connelly one of my favorite authors. A very well written novel. 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: When I figure out the mystery before the profiler does ...
Review: ... I lose interest in the book. It is not badly written and has some fairly engaging moments, but once it became obvious what was going on (about halfway through) I just skipped ahead to the ending. With some mystery/thrillers, you can figure out the killer and his plot and still enjoy the book, but I didn't find this to be one of them.

Rating:
Summary: starts and ends well but soft in the middle
Review: This is the first Connelly novel I have read and it did not meet the hypeI liked the way he began the novel and it had a strong ending as well.The attempted frameup of Bosch was alsoclever. However the middle 200 or so pages of the book seemed padded at times and connelly's unfelicitous prose did not help. I recommend the book but only marginally

Rating:
Summary: Not Connelly's Best Work, But Not Completely Bad Either
Review: I'm a big fan of Michael Connelly and think that his book "Blood Work" is one of the best mystery novels I've ever read. I've also enjoyed his other novels, most of which feature Hollywood Homicide Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. "A Darkness More than Night" is a sort of culmination of his novels to date as it features "Blood Work"'s main character, Terry McCaleb, and the above mentioned Detective Bosch. This is both its strength and a symptom of its weakness.

Terry McCaleb is enjoying his retirement from the FBI on Catalina Island when he is contacted by L. A. County Homicide Detective Jaye Winston. She had worked with Terry in "Blood Work" and is seeking help with a murder investigation that has stalled by asking him to take a fresh look at the evidence and facts of the murder. While this is occurring, Bosch is the primary witness in a sensational murder trial which will likely turn on Harry's testimony and credibility.

McCaleb's review of Winston's case ties the victim to Harry and the evidence left at the crime scene to a relatively obscure, 500 year old painter, also named Hieronymus Bosch. Terry discovers that the victim had, at least in Harry's opinion, gotten away with murder, and the scene of his murder somewhat resembled a Bosch painting that Harry has hanging in his house. For McCaleb, the conclusion is obvious. Harry has set himself up as an avenging angel. Other information, much of which is taken from earlier Connelly/Bosch novels, only serves to strengthen the case against Harry. Soon the FBI has joined in the hunt.

However, Harry, now aware that he is a suspect, confronts McCaleb forcing him to consider the possibility that he is the subject of an elaborate frame up. McCaleb must then decide whether Harry is indeed the killer or whether he should be looking elsewhere. Since Harry is the lead character in most of Connelly's books, the author must also decide Harry's fate. (Hint: Connelly has a new Bosch novel out.)

Connelly is a terrific writer, and, for the most part, this is an interesting novel. McCaleb and Bosch are wonderful, well-drawn characters, each of whom approach a mystery from their own point of view. There is also an important moral to this story dealing with accountability for one's actions with McCaleb and Bosch both forced to eventually look at some of the steps they have taken in the pursuit of justice.

As good as it may be at times, the book is greatly flawed. Sixteenth Century Dutch Painter Hieronymus Bosch is not exactly a household name, and yet a good deal of the investigation depends on people either having or gaining an awareness of his work. McCaleb himself was the subject of a frame attempt of sorts in "Blood Work", and yet he never considers that possibility in Harry's case. The relationship between a murder charge against Harry and its impact on his credibility as a witness seems all too obvious and should also have immediately occurred to McCaleb. Other evidence seems to be overlooked until it is suddenly needed at the end. Also, there are indications here that Connelly may be running out of ideas and is recycling events and characters, minor or otherwise, from prior novels.

This is an extremely commercial work by Connelly. I do not mean it was written to make money, presumably all authors have that intent. Rather, it is one long commercial for his other books. Connelly is almost shameless in mentioning his other novels through the use of characters and events taken from other novels, even referring to case names that are the same as the names of the books from which they were taken. In addition to the prior McCaleb and Bosch novels, he works in references to "The Poet" and "Void Moon", stopping just short of providing names and addresses of bookstores in your neighborhood.

I would, however, recommend "A Darkness More Than Night" to anyone who has read and enjoyed other Connelly books. For anyone who hasn't, do yourself a favor by reading "Blood Work" and almost any of the other Harry Bosch novels first.