Rating: 
Summary: 20 year old murder mystery
Review: L.A.P.D. homicide detective Harry Bosch has unenviably pulled the New Year's detail. After concluding his investigations of two "routine" suicides, he receives a call that a dog has unearthed what appears to be a human bone in the Hollywood hills. Perusing the crime scene leads him to call in the medical examiners office to comb the area for possible clues. They exhume a large percentage of a human skeleton apparently of a 10-12 year old child.Analysis of the remains reveals an extensive amount of healed and healing bone fractures indicative of a heart wrenching case of severe child abuse. It appears that a particular type of medical procedure had been performed to repair a fractured skull. Other bits of evidence allow the incensed Bosch and his partner Jerry Edgar to conclude that the murder of a young boy was committed approximately 20-30 years ago. The press, having a field day with this unsolved mystery, impede the investigation by implicating an innocent man living in the neighborhood of the crime scene. He unfortunately had been convicted many years ago on a questionable child molestation charge. Bosch, after questioning the suspect, dismisses him as the culprit. His outing by the press however leads him to take his own life. Bosch and Edgar's investigation had stalled until one of the many calls to the police suggesting identities of the child's bones bears fruit. Sheila Delacroix speculates that the bones may be those of her 12 year old brother Arthur who ran away in 1980. Hospital records and comparative xrays confirm the identity by virtue of the operation done on the skull. Now the killer must be found. Bosch unearths a tragic family history involving the Delacroixs. Arthur's mom abandoned the family when the boy was two to be raised by an abusive, alcoholic, failed actor father, Samuel. Samuel who is now a down and out shell of a human being confesses to the murder. Bosch has his doubts. Despite enormous pressure from his superiors, he continues his probe and ultimately unmasks the true murderer. Connelly does a very routine job and dragging us through the many avenues explored in this murder investigation. This novel was nothing special. This being my first Connelly book, I was not overly impressed.
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: A dark story for the lonely Bosch
Review: A dog's discovery of a human child's bone in the Hollywood Hills leads Detective Harry Bosch to the shallow grave of a boy dead 20 years whose life, as read in the bones, was a long history of terrible abuse. A tip from the missing boy's sister leads to the unraveling of a bleak, sordid family history. Bosch's burgeoning romance with a rookie cop, the suicide of an early suspect and a dogged search through the wreck of the boy's family and the dead suspect's life move the story through numerous twists, dead ends and false leads, all of them bleak. Edgar award-winner Connelly leads the reader through little-known by-ways in Hollywood fringe work as well as the enclaves of the rich and the tucked away shanties of the down-and-out. A devastating cop shooting with some decidedly weird aspects throws the reader - and Bosch - for a loop. But the mystery's unexpected solution is vintage Bosch - a sad, too human story, exposed by dogged perseverance and luck. As always, the writing is excellent; gritty and LA atmospheric with pitch perfect dialogue. Not Connelly's best, but still top-notch.
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.
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