July 4, 1994
In this surehanded sequel to The Black Echo , LAPD detective Hieronymous ``Harry'' Bosch stalks drug traffickers in L.A. and Mexico.
Starred review from April 1, 1993
Plan ahead before you read this buzz saw of a novel. Don't start unless you have the next day off. A couple of cool beverages will also be needed, as will a sandwich or two. Hey, it's a long book, and once you start, you "will" finish. Harry Bosch, who made his debut in the acclaimed "Black Echo", is a smart, determined LAPD homicide detective who's driven by an inner sense of justice. This time out he arrives early on the scene of a fellow officer's suicide; then he's told it's not his case: back off. Fat chance. Harry senses the officer may have gone over to the bad guys and was killed when he tried to tiptoe back to the right side of the tracks. At every turn, Harry is confronted by dirty cops struggling to save their collective butts by lying and misdirecting the investigation. The key turns out to be black ice, a deadly new synthetic drug. Author Connelly, a "Los Angeles Times" reporter, knows crime, cops, and criminals. Most of all, he knows that dangerous no-man's-land where the three intersect. A powerful novel in a series that seems destined for wide popularity. ((Reviewed Apr. 1, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)
May 31, 1993
LAPD detective Hieronymous ``Harry'' Bosch, protagonist of the highly praised mystery The Black Echo , returns in a procedural thriller set in and around the drug-trafficking underworlds of inner-city Los Angeles and the wastelands of Mexico. When Bosch arrives at a sleazy hotel room where a fellow officer has committed suicide, he senses that something is awry. Noncommittal superior officers, a diffident widow and tales linking the dead man to a newly created street drug called ``black ice'' (heroin, crack and PCP rolled into one) send Bosch down a winding trail of forensic impossibilities, brutally violent drug traffickers and an ultimately shocking case of mistaken identity. Award-winning Connelly's second fictional effort is strong and sure. His pacing could be better--too often he conveys the same information twice--but his plot and characters more than make up for a slow start. This novel establishes him as a writer with a superior talent for storytelling.