Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the red herrings?
Review: I was hugely imressed by the first three Connelly books I read...two of them featuring Harry Bosch and the other with Terry McCaleb. VOID MOON seemed a letdown, and I hoped that this one with both major characters would be back to what I expect from Connelly. No such luck.Primarily the "mystery" is very disappointing. You should have it all figured by the time you're a third through. I did miss one element, but the rest was painfully obvious. I was so disappointed that I came close to giving this two stars. However, the characterization was strong all the way through and the climactic scenes made much of the preceding more worthwhile. We're taken deeper within the psyches of each, and the last few chapters sharply define the inner selves of the two main characters. References to earlier novels and brief glimpses of characters we met in previous novels do help keep the interest. I was quite pleased that one character from VOID MOON made an appearance. I think Connelly likes his characters and keeps us informed as to how they're doing. This was fast reading, and not a complete waste of time. In fact, I suspect that foundations were built in this story which will influence future books. I believe that Connelly's fans will want to read this, they should just be warned that they may be disappointed. Those who aren't yet acquainted with Connelly probably would do much better to start back earlier in the Harry Bosch books, and also with BLOOD WORK. By the way, I notice clever plugs for the upcoming movie, BLOOD WORK, in both ANGEL'S FLIGHT and in this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Huh?
Review: I can't review this because it didn't sync to my handheld. My dinosaur of a desktop system only has one USB port and it was dedicated to something else. And in order for me to download it, my HP Jornada had to be in the port at the time of download, and that wasn't possible. But I paid for it, anyway. Shame I never got to read it. There should have been a way to save it on my hard drive and sync it at my leisure, but that isn't how it went.
Rating:
Summary: do not waste your money and time
Review: One word,skip it.It s not worth it.People are tired of reading the everlasting fight of good vs evil.The emotional drainage the heroes(good guys) go through to fight evil and bring it to justice.
I regretted buying the book.IT is highly unrealistic(not neccessarily a bad point for a fiction book) but worse of all it is boring with a capital B.Bosch and Mc Caleb can not cut the mustard anyway you look at it.
Better luck next time Mr. Conelly.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, readable--but I couldn't suspend disbelief
Review: I like Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, and I liked this one. It engaged me, I stayed up late reading it, and I enjoyed it. But... oh, are there ever plot problems in this one. The heavy plot machinery clanks and groans. I couldn't really believe any of it for an instant. I couldn't believe Bosch dunnit. I couldn't believe McCaleb could believe Bosch dunnit. And I couldn't believe the REAL criminal would have risked being so subtle setting up a frame. He couldn't possibly have been sure that McCaleb would pick up the clues and draw the right conclusions, I mean the wrong conclusions, I mean the conclusions the criminal wanted him to draw. And, while I have no objection to a writer naming his character after a fifteenth-century Dutch painter (any more than I object to Parker naming his after a fifteenth-century English poet), making the name figure directly into the plot sounds to me as if the writer is running short of ideas. Still, a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: My first Bosch
Review: _A Darkness More Than Night_ was my first Connelly book. The action and plot development progressed at a consistent pace. There were some anticipated plot twists - but these came out in an unexpected direction and kept the reader engaged. I would rate this book higher than the Patterson mysteries. I would rate this book as an equal to the V. I. Warshawski novels of Sara Paretsky. Both authors have characters that are not super-heroes but still create unexpected conflicts and resolutions. Definitely a good read and worth taking to the beach.
Rating: 
Summary: Darkness? Maybe...but mostly just murky.
Review: I've read all but two of Michael Connelly's books. I think he's a good writer, and through most of his work, I thought he was a good storyteller. Which is why I was unpleasantly surprised with A Darkness More Than Night. I think this book is a cheat. Connelly presents a flawed premise, pads the middle of the book with a couple hundred pages of filler, and then creates an ending that is no surprise and doesn't even qualify for the term mystery. Connelly is a good writer, but even he couldn't pull this one off. A recurring theme in Connelly's books is the "good" versus "evil" situation. He also likes his good guy characters to struggle with philosophical questions about the evil that men/women do and what it takes to bring these people to justice. Harry Bosch seems to fluctuate between good and evil to the extent that the guy is more schizophrenic in this book than he's been in any of the others. I would buy that if there were a good reason to make him such an undefinable character. But in this case, there wasn't a reason like that. For no reason other than Connelly apparently wanted to give Terry McCaleb something to do, Bosch becomes a suspect in a murder. And while lip service was given to the thought that an investigation of Bosch had better produce hard evidence that he did what McCaleb suspects he may have done, it seems to me that everyone had no problem believing that Bosch just suddenly decided to become a cold blooded murderer. Given everything readers of Connelly's books have been led to believe about Bosch up to this point, that just doesn't make any sense. 400 pages of fill doesn't make it any more credible a premise. I held out until the very last page of this book hoping that Connelly could redeem himself with an ending that would salvage something from all the stuff following the beginning. In my opinion, that didn't happen. What's worse, one of the two main characters comes off as a crybaby. The bottom line is that in an effort to maintain his strong sense of good versus evil, Connelly sacrifices realism. He presents two seasoned veterans of crime fighting, and he tells us that these two men have seen it all. So, if that's the case, how does one of them miss learning that life just isn't planted on that naive high moral ground that shows up at the end of the book? When I finished the last page and closed the book, I just wanted to tell Connelly to Grow Up.
Rating:
Summary: Spiderman meets Superman meets Wonder Woman
Review: When I was a young boy, the comic book business was at its hey day. You could buy a Giant comic on The Lone Ranger, one or two on the Green Lantern, one on Superboy, and get change from a dollar. At some point, the comic powers to be determined it would be more profitable to channel the virtues of the super heroes together. How hard would this be to believe? Not only did we live in a world with a Batman and his androgenous sidekick, his homeboy was Superman! And eventually, the three of them hooked up with Captain America! The end result was, it didn't work. The heroes had certain virtues that when juxtaposed against ultimate evil, shone even more brightly. When they worked together, they seemed kind of silly. That's what I found to be the case with A Darkness More Than Night. Connelly is a first rate author. There is no doubt about that. His Harry Bosch quartet, The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blond and The Last Coyote are first rate literature comparable to anything written by Chandler or Parker or Crais. The Poet, for other reasons, introduces Terry McCaleb and in it's own way, excels. Angels Flight, ditto. Void Moon, ditto. But in all those cases/stories, the hero lives and dies by his own wits. In this case, we put McCaleb and Bosch together, and frankly, both end up the worse for wear. McCaleb makes an enormous mistake that one has the feeling a first year profiler wouldn't make. Bosch, on the other hand, comes off seedy, almost like a second rate gumshoe out of Spillane. Additionally, I am beginning to find it tedious that all profilers are looked upon by their spouses as having to descend into the caverns of Hell in order to pay the rent. John Sandford does this in his Lucas Davenport series. Susan is always trying to talk Spenser out of matching wits with the bad guys, because somehow, I guess, it changes them and maybe, we are led to believe, in a parapsychological sort of way, the men they love will never come back. Come on. This is Starksky and Hutch schtick. This is Chips. Graciela is crying in the dining room because Terry is going back. To where? Earn a living? Keep his job? We don't know, but we hope and pray he will be OK. Finally, the first 130 pages were brutal. A struggle. Trying to get across the street. Swimming against the tide. Skip this one. He's great but I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Weaker Connelly mystery still strong
Review: Michael Connelly is one of my favorite detective novelists, right up there with Robert B. Parker, Jeffrey Deaver, and Sue Grafton. I think he's most comparable to Deaver, because they both specialize in interesting plot twists that keep you guessing, but Connelly is also good at compelling characters, interesting locales, and smart dialogue. Unfortunately, the plot here isn't up to some of his other books, but the rest of the ingredients are still present, and Connelly's a good enough writer that when he's a bit off, it's still a good book. The book starts with the hero from Blood Work, Terry McCaleb, being asked by a friend to look at a homicide "book" for her. This is the combined file that detectives keep on a case, and in this instance she's hoping he sees something she hasn't. She thinks the case is the first in a series of murders, and wants to get a jump on the killer. McCaleb is intrigued, and quickly develops a serious suspect: Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch, the hero of Connelly's series of detective novels (he's been in six previous books) and a dedicated if a bit obsessed LAPD homicide detective with a very dark past. McCaleb works the case with various hindrances (a friend who may be spying on him, his medication for a past illness, his wife's concern for him, meddling reporters and other cops) and wavers between suspecting Bosch and others. This is the weakest part of the book: one reviewer said he guessed the ending about 100 pages beforehand, but I had it about halfway through. Connelly's strength is his characters and atmosphere, and they're both in evidence here. Bosch and McCaleb are fun to watch together, the bad guys are so evil they're fun, there's a typical sleazy lawyer, and so forth. The characters eat at Musso & Franks, In and Out, and so on, and move around recognizable locations in LA, which is fun for someone who lives here. Connelly used to report for the LA Times, and you can tell he knows the city pretty well. All said, while it's not his strongest plot, it's still worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Another Compelling Read
Review: Michael Connelly turns in another compelling read in his series. Always fascinating in police procedures and pacing of a novel, the only place this author is lacking is in female character development. In this entry, several women are briefly described as excelling at their jobs, and Graciela is the loving wife and mother, but in none of his books are the female characters adequately developed. Also of minor annoyance in this book is the fact that the author reminds us of every other book he's written that feature the two lead characters - sounds like something a publisher would ask him to do, but for the reader it screams advertisement and was irritating. Nonetheless, this is a great read and this author deserves the fame he's gained.
Rating:
Summary: multi-faceted
Review: "A Darkness More than Night" has several prominent aspects. First, it's a character study. Connelly for the first time describes
Harry Bosch from the perspective of another primary character, Terry
from Blood Work, contrasting it with Harry's view.
This allows observations of Harry that
wouldn't be possible from the conventional first-person of
previous Bosch novels. Additionally, the presence of Terry allows a
contrast of two very different characters. The risk with having two
protagonists is their characteristics will tend to merge, both taking
on those of the author. In the case of ADMTN, Connelly does a solid
job of maintaining the distinct identity of each. In addition to the
multi-perspective view of Bosch, there is a similar "study" of Terry,
although Connelly fans have more invested in Bosch to date. Second, it's a study in the descent into darkness. From his days in
the tunnels of Vietnam, through his time with LAPD, Harry has been
immersing himself in both physical and metaphorical darkness. The
novel considers the effect of that prolonged exposure. Sure, it's an
old theme (Luke's struggles with the Dark Side), but worth revisiting. Third, it's a courtroom drama. Many have criticized this aspect of the
book. It's a matter of taste -- I really enjoyed the court scenes,
providing insight into the legal process with a Los Angeles spin in
the Court TV age. One of Connelly's great successes as a writer is he
is able to capture the flavor of Los Angeles in a way most authors are
unable to grasp. Chandler, Parker, Sandford, --- through their eyes,
LA is a featureless, generic, list of place-names. Connelly gives it
life. And then there's the Hollywood theme. Connelly describes the power
wielded by producers -- desperate actresses struggling for
their professional lives, willing to do anything to expose themselves
(pun intended) to those in positions of strength. In a world
where success isn't necessarily due to merit but instead
due to prior success, the stories of those trying to make the
leap to the inner circle are compelling. All the parts are strong. Is it a classic of the genre, a masterpiece
or signature work? Not quite, so it doesn't rate 5 stars. I almost
drop it to three, due to what I consider a rather contrived plot,
especially involving the film producer. But then what can one expect
from a professional contriver, as film producers are? So I'll give it four. Read the book -- if you enjoy courtroom
dialogue, at least, you won't regret it.
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