Rating: 
Summary: Harry's Back !
Review: There aren't enough stars for this book !If you love Harry Bosch (which I do) then this book is a MUST READ ! We learn more about Harry but he is still the cop who believes that "everyone counts or no one counts". I have never been disappointed in anything written by Michael Connelly, & this is right at the top of the list !
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the year and a half wait!...
Review: "City of Bones" is intensely well written. For me it was a nonstop read that I could savor at the same time. I completed it in just two sittings.In this one Michael Connelly takes a couple of side roads that give the reader time to contemplate all that is surrounding Harry Bosch as he lives his "everyone counts or nobody counts" credo. As Harry seeks to uncover the murderer of a young boy that took place over twenty years earlier, a chain reaction of unintended consequences is set off---taking its toll in death and human destruction. The pages fly by as the reader joins Harry in his quest. Harry Bosch attacks this case with a vengeance that makes him an archangel for both the victim and Los Angeles. The writing is crisp, literate, hardboiled and dark---yet sensitive. It is complex story with a riveting plot. We continue to learn more about Harry Bosch as Mr. Connelly shows the reader some of Harry's more subtle characteristics. The ending is quite a surprise that had me talking to myself. Not to be missed is the interview that Michael Connelly does with Harry Bosch that is available on his web site. The interview gives away some plot points, so read "City of Bones" before the interview. This is mystery writing at its finest.
Rating:
Summary: Unquestionably the best in the series
Review: In this book, an older, more grounded Bosch investigates a 25 year old murder of a 12 year old boy. The boy's bones, found buried in the hillside of a Los Angeles canyon, tell a heartbreaking story. Through the investigation, Bosch not only uncovers a complex chain of cause and effect that had devastating consequences for the boy -- but also becomes a catalyst for an uncomprehensible chain of events in the present day. This is Connelly's best, most serious work. He again explores the themes at the center of his earlier works -- the ambiguous nature of good and evil; the shifting sands of cause and effect; and the fervent but often futile search for redemption. But where his earlier books sometimes relied on lurid details and unconvincing plot lines to telegraph these ideas, here these themes are fully realized in a layered and nuanced book that moves every bit as quickly as his earlier works. Any review of a Connelly book would be incomplete without reference to the starring role given to the setting -- The City of Angels, as it is always referred to by Connelly. Here, Connelly's treatment of the L.A. landscape and culture rings especially true -- from the influence of the entertainment industry, to the supposed escape that the desert and mountains provide, to the skateboard culture of the early 1980s. Connelly's debt to Ross McDonald is especially clear in this book -- and, for the first time, he lives up to McDonald's genius.
Rating: 
Summary: Michael Connelly: Licensed to Thrill !
Review: Mr Connelly simply doesn't know how to write a bad book. I've read 'em all and his latest is up to his usual lofty standards.
The things I like about this book are pretty much the same as what I like about all his books: tight writing - no wasted passages, unbeatable procedural authenticity, steadily escalating tension and excitement, and REAL characters.
I gave this 4 stars simply because I would have to leave the 5 star ratings for Concrete Blond and Blood Work - his two finest books in my opinion.
Anyone who is checking out these reviews and wondering if they should try a Michael Connelly novel for the first time, listen up: I've read all of the current crop of crime writers work and Mr Connelly is the subtle master at the head of the class. Do yourself a favour and read his novels in sequence starting with the Black Echo. You will not regret it !
Rating:
Summary: One of the series best!
Review: With the discovery of human bones found buried in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch will take the plunge into a case that opens up dark memories from his own past. Bosch begins his investigation and uncovers the identity of the bones to be that of a twelve-year-old boy buried for years in the hills. The closer he looks into the boy's life he finds he came from a broken home of lies and abuse, and determined to make sure the boy is not forgotten he follows his leads to the boy's mother, a woman who walked out on her family thirty years earlier. As the case deepens, Bosch begins a love affair with a female cop, until a blown mission sends him to an unimaginable decision, one that no one would expect. 'City Of Bones' is vintage Connolly; well written, fast-paced, and expertly plotted with an ending that will have readers anxious for the next Michael Connolly novel. Michael Connolly is consistent with writing fast-paced, intelligent thrillers, and his 'City Of Bones', the latest in the Bosch series is one of the best, so do yourself a favor and set aside a few hours and enjoy. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Very good news for Bosch fans--Connelly is back on track!
Review: Michael Connelly's Detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch is one of the few archetypical hard-boiled noir detectives in the Raymond Chandler mold to be found in today's mystery fiction. The intensity with which Connelly has painted this character is truly a marvel of the genre. That he does so with such a clean and bright literary palette-there are no gimmicks, tricks or bizarre eccentricities used as literary devices here-is truly refreshing. Bosch (for those new to him) is a L.A. homicide detective--a chain-smoking (OK, he quit, but you get the idea) loner, a tightlipped outsider who refuses to play by his superiors' rules and a man who takes each crime he's exposed to as a personal affront as he tries to cleanse his beloved city of the darkness he sees engulfing it. If there is room for criticism of this series it's that, all too often, the plots Connelly constructs are inferior to the character-that's certainly been the case the last two outings. That is not the case here. In City of Bones the old bones of an abused, murdered child are uncovered in the hills of Laurel Canyon, Harry and partner Jerry Edgar are assigned the nearly impossible task of identifying the child and solving a murder committed 20 years ago. An orphan himself, Harry considers child abuse cases particularly difficult, but he finds some solace in the arms of Julia Brasher, an attractive recruit whom regulations say he shouldn't be seeing. As the investigation progresses, so does Harry's relationship with Julia until everything goes spectacularly wrong. Of course, things going wrong are a hallmark of the Bosch series. However, this riveting thriller is a departure from the norm. This installment in the series finds Harry even more introspective than usual, and while the tight prose of the plot swirls around the mystery of the bones, Harry's turbulent life and career are changed forever in a stunning conclusion. One is left to wonder where Harry-and Connelly-go from here. That you, as the reader, are left really, really nervous about Harry's fate and prospects at the end of this book says a lot about what a wonderful creation Connelly has wrought with this series in general, and this installment in particular. This is as good as it gets for the thriller/mystery fan!
Rating:
Summary: powerhouse investigative tale of a twenty year old murder
Review: The dog dug up the remains in a shallow grave in Hollywood Hills. The Los Angeles Police Department forensic team performs magic on the decaying bones by determining the victim was approximately twelve years old, was battered, and finally killed by a blow to the head around 1980. Not much more for the head Detective Harry Bosch to work on except the nearby-buried surfboard is quite distinguishing looking.
Since the homicide much of the neighborhood has turned over as people moved away. Harry follows the thin leads accompanied by rookie Julia Brasher. Not long after sharing the case, the two cops share a bed. After identifying the victim through his surfboard, Harry and Julia begin inquires with friends and family of the lad that take them to a series of individuals who make the "City of Angels" seem more like the "City of Lost Souls". Violent incidents occur leaving Harry to wonder if the efforts to solve a two decade old crime could prove dangerous for those involved today including two police officers.
Harry remains Harry as he retains that same edge that readers enjoyed in his previous book, A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT even with brash Julia to take some of the edge off the hero. The investigation is engaging and the secondary cast of losers adds depth to the plot while keeping Harry in the darkest environs of society. However, Michael Connelly's effort to bring peril into the present deletes from the overall plot of a powerhouse investigative tale of a twenty year old murder. Still, CITY OF BONES is a taut Harry Bosch police procedural. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Best in the series...
Review: This is a must buy and read Harry Bosch book! Harry is at his peak in this one, and I took only one break while reading it. It is non-stop reading and riveting! The plot is an excellent one and as Connelly usual, a very twisty ending (unexpected). This is for any mystery fan really - honestly. The title signifies a horror found in the hills, and Harry must work to solve this one. Despite the usual struggles, Harry works out the obstacles his own way, in his own fashion, and some of it hurts. But true to the Bosch vernacular, Harry tracks down the bones and his own ghosts. Buy it! Read it! Then buy the whole series and read them from the beginning to the newest!
Rating:
Summary: Dark Worlds
Review: The right of the murdered to justice takes Harry Bosch up a mystical river of darkness. A tearful anthropologist describes a child's life of torture from the partially recovered skeleton of a young boy. Bosch never wavers in a determined quest for the killer. Sometimes justice is as costly as injustice, and the chance discovery of the boy's remains set of a chain reaction of the death and human destruction. Bosch survives on will and discipline, never accepting the easy wrong when there remains a hard right yet to be revealed. Michael Connelly is the living master of this genre. Bosch, moody and cynical, never falters. Connelly, literate and dark, exposes a kind of humanity that makes you want to join the anthropologist in tears. This is as good as it gets.
Rating:
Summary: Consistently Excellent Writing
Review: Admittedly I am biased. Connelly is my favorite and I'd probably rate him 5 stars if he wrote a phone book. That said, this is a different Harry Bosch novel. The pace is slower than previous works, the empasis is more on procedure and mystery than complex story line and unexpected plot twists, and Harry is even more introspective than usual - from his intense involvement in the case to his affair with an almost normal lover. This book reminded me more of "The Last Coyote" than other Bosch novels. I believe it is a book to be read slowly, enjoying the nuances, discovering Harry's gradual evolution, and simply delighting in an excellently written novel.
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