Rating: 
Summary: Suspense at it's best
Review: When I judge a book it isn't by four stars, outstanding etc. but how hard it is to put the book down. With this novel it took me three reading to get to about page 100, then I was trouble. The next time I picked it up I couldn't put it down until I was finished. Without a doubt this is one of the best plots I have read in a long, long time. While this is the first Michael Connelly book I have read it won't be the last. In fact I'm going to buy a couple of more right now.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is the first Michael Connelly book I've read. I couldn't put it down. I found the fact that Harry Bosch was a suspect interesting probably because I didn't know he was the central character in Michael Connelly's other books. I love the Terry McCaleb character and found myself looking for more Michael Connelly books with Terry McCaleb. Found "Blood Work" and also read it and loved it. I'd like to see more "Terry McCaleb" books.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent effort from Michael Connelly.
Review: A well structured and well written thriller. Connelly does an excellent job of drawing the reader in. The clues to the identity of the murderer are well thought out and the story will keep you guessing right up until the very end. A very enjoyable reading experience. The characters in the story come to life and you can't help but get involved in their lives and problems. I look forward to the next Michael Connelly novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: "Great!" I thought, when I read the synopsis of this book. "Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb, together in the one book! This has got to be good". Unfortunately, I was mistaken. I wanted to cry out in frustration that a book with seemingly so much promise could fall so short. I hate to see a great idea that hasn't been realised to its full potential, but here is a prime example.The story goes that McCaleb has settled in wedded bliss on Catalina Island and is living the type of life usually only seen in television commercials, when an old colleague, Jaye Winston, knocks on his door and asks for his help investigating a murder, all the clues of which point to LAPD detective Harry Bosch as the killer. Has he finally crossed over to the dark side of the law? McCaleb and Winston certainly think so. However, Bosch himself then turns up on said doorstep, protesting his innocence and claiming he's been framed. He wants McCaleb to clear his name. Connolly seems to be showing an increasing predilection for setting his books against the backdrop of a major trial in which one of the protagonists is participating. This is a major flaw in this book as it distracts us from the main plot, and can also get very boring when he launches into the legal minutae of a criminal or civil trial. I was very tempted to skip forward a few pages several times. I loved McCaleb in "Blood Work", but in this book he comes across as a stuffed up old prune, the kind of person who irons creases down the front of his jeans. Bosch is as irreverent as ever, thankfully, but the Golden Rasberry for Most Annoying Character is won hands down by McCaleb's wife, Graciela. She constantly fights with him about how he is risking his life and his family by helping out with the investigation, having apparently conveniently forgotten that he did the exact same thing for her when her sister was murdered and she asked for his help. A Darkness... isn't a terrible book, but it's certainly disappointing by Connolly's standards. Not as bad as Void Moon, but close enough.
Rating:
Summary: Talent Is Very Evident
Review: The talent of Michael Connelly was apparent as I read the latest in this absorbing and entertaining Hieronymous Bosch series. The most mind boggling aspect of this novel in particular, is the clarity and creativity he used to tie in the past stories and characters so that they added to the current mystery and not detracted from it. It is as if he had a grand scheme when he started writing, planning his entire body of work as if it were one novel. He showcases his skill by reprising his past stories as elements for the current case. Terry McCaleb, retired FBI profiler introduced in Blood Work, is asked to review the murder book of an investigation headed by Jaye Winston, sheriff detective who has worked with Bosch in the past. McCaleb's conclusions intersect with a case Bosch has investigated and in which he is testifying. As usual, the reader is taken along with Bosch as he uncovers clues and ties the pieces together with the added enjoyment of recognizing past cases and characters. If you are a regular reader of Michael Connelly or new and looking for a first class "suspenser" a Darkness More Than Night will not disappoint. Highly Recommended!!!
Rating:
Summary: Inspired characterizations move latest Connelly along
Review: Years ago, plot was the thing in mystery novels. Over the last several decades, authors have relied less on plot and more on character to carry their work. Two current authors who are especially proficient with character driven mysteries, but who also don't scrimp on the twists and turns, are Michael Connelly and William Kent Krueger (see my review of Krueger's Purgatory Ridge elsewhere). Connelly is the author of the highly successful Harry Bosch series and several stand-alone novels. The Bosch books are definitely police procedurals, yet they show Bosch's obsessive character pushing him to bring down the bad guys, and right the ills of the victims. Being a meticulous detective is the method by which he achieves his ends, which to Bosch means, "what goes around comes around". In A Darkness More Than Night Bosch is the key witness for the prosecution of a man on trial for the strangulation murder of a young woman. At the same time, Terry McCaleb, the former FBI profiler and heart transplant patient last seen in Blood Work, is asked to unofficially offer his take on the brutal, ritualistic murder of an ex-con. What McCaleb discovers are details that lead him to see Harry Bosch as a possible suspect. Once he gets started on the case, McCaleb can't stop and he realizes how much he's missed the adrenaline surge of the chase. The eventual solution comes as no real surprise, but the profiling of Bosch by McCaleb, is an inspired blending of characters from his earlier novels and really carries the book. Connelly is a master at conveying the "darkness more than night" that lives within Harry Bosch.
Rating: 
Summary: Connelly Crafts a Totally Entertaining Yarn!
Review: If you're a Michael Connelly fan, you won't be disappointed. Mr. Connelly unites two of his enduring characters and blends a somewhat remarkable but captivating tale that keeps you intrigued until the book's end. Connelly shows both Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb to be flawed, but intrinsically decent human beings. The story moves, the plot develops and the ending has you yearning for more of both of these characters in the next Connelly novel.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not his best
Review: This is a review and a rating which I give very reluctantly. Michael Connelly is one of my favourite authors of popular fiction. He has updated the classic police procedural novel and, in the form of his protagonist - L.A.P.D. detective Harry Bosch - contributed to the genre of hard boiled detective fiction. In recent years, Connelly has branched out - introducing readers to different characters, such as the intriguing Terry McCaleb, former FBI profiler and heart transplant recipient. Hence, when I heard that Connelly was writing a novel involving both Bosch and McCaleb, I looked forward to reading it and anticipated another Connelly classic. "A Darkness More Than Night" has a lot of the elements I enjoy about Connelly's writing - a rough edge to the plot, extensive use of police procedure and a setting which, in my opinion, cannot be matched -the den of iniquity which is modern day Los Angeles (Connelly is wonderfully effective at evoking Los Angeles and all its quirks). Nevertheless, I finished this book somewhat disappointed. It revolves around McCaleb's suspicions that Detective Harry Bosch has turned from rogue cop to bad cop - exacting revenge on individuals who the justice system failed to punish. Nevertheless, I found myself predicting the ending (accurately) within about the first 30 or 40 pages of the book. Readers do get further insight to the character of Harry Bosch but the use of McCaleb seems almost spurious. Connelly's use of Terry McCaleb as a character in his novel "Blood Work" worked because the plot of that novel revolved around McCaleb's heart transplant. Here, that special element of his character falls away and we are left with something quite one dimensional. Sadly, as the book progressed and the ending became more and more apparent, I found myself reading for the sake of finishing rather than for the sake of savouring the story. Michael Connelly remains an excellent author but he probably needs to stick with what he does best. Rather than trying to intertwine his various characters from previous books (there are cameos from characters in other Connelly novels as well), he should focus on developing the character of Harry Bosch - rogue cop - as well as creating new characters just as interesting and intriguing as those from his previous books. Connelly fans will certainly want to read thisbook but those who have never read his books before should try "The Poet" or "The Last Coyote" first rather than be disappointed. My own choice would be to give the book a rating of only 2 1/2 stars but I will give Coonnelly the benefit of the doubt and round that up to 3.
Rating:
Summary: As different as day and night.
Review: I did not know what to expect I had never read a Connelly novel before. The person who had recommended the book to me told me that the author had drawn characters into the story from his past books. I feared something akin to a bad high school class reunion. McCaleb and Bosch. Knowing that the author had written about two these guys in the past I worried about the back-story that I did not have. "You like fast paced mysteries," my friend said. "I like Nelson DeMille," was my reply. "I don't like class reunions. I don't like jumping into the middle of something." So with some reluctance I read A Darkness More Than Night. The book was good. Good plot, good writing, good characterizations, killer ending, go buy it
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Recesses of the Mind
Review: Harry Bosch is the lead detective in the murder trial of a Hollywood bigwig. Former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb's Catalina Island retirement bliss is disturbed by a Sheriff's detective eager to get a jump start on a murder that looks for all the world like the work of a serial killer. Thus these two Connelly tough guys are united in an incredibly satisfying and literate mystery. Slowly McCaleb's insight draws bead on Bosch, and the dark world spins furiously as both men struggle for resolution. Few writers can deliver a compelling who-done-it sandwiched between commentaries on Dutch painting. Michael Connelly once again delivers a disturbing look into the darkest recesses of human existence. The essential humanity of both Terry and Harry gets in the way of a neat and blameless resolution, and consequently each man will bear deep scars forever. Although these men are not there yet, Connelly makes us contemplate whether the evil that they confront will finally consume them as well.
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