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Harry Bosch #2
The Black Ice
Narcotics office Cal Moore's orders were to look into the city's latest drug killing. Instead, he ends up in a motel room with a fatal bullet wound to the head and a suicide note stuffed in his back pocket.
Working the case, LAPD detective Harry Bosch is reminded of the primal police rule he learned long ago: don't look for the facts, but the glue that holds them together.
Soon Harry's making some very dangerous connections, starting with a dead cop and leading to a bloody string of murders that wind from Hollywood Boulevard to the back alleys south of the border. Now this battle-scarred veteran will find himself in the centre of a complex and deadly game - one in which he may be the next and likeliest victim.
439 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
About the author
Michael Connelly
395 books31.5k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,241 reviews
July 11, 2023
The Black Ice is the 2nd volume in wonderful police procedural series Harry Bosch.
I read this a while back but I remember enjoying the 2nd volume almost just as much as the 1st. Solid writing, good characterisation, interesting plot. Narcotics office Cal Moore's ends up dead in a motel room. Bosch superiors insists it is suicide but Bosch doesn’t buy it and starts to investigate even though he is told not to. When did a direct order ever stopped Bosch?
This time, the narrator of the audiobook was Dick Hill and I was worried I would not like itas much as the 1st one which was narrated by Titus Welliver, the actor who plays Bosch in the movie. He did a very good job although I still prefer Titus and I will have to wait until book 17 for the actor to resume the narration.
I read this a while back but I remember enjoying the 2nd volume almost just as much as the 1st. Solid writing, good characterisation, interesting plot. Narcotics office Cal Moore's ends up dead in a motel room. Bosch superiors insists it is suicide but Bosch doesn’t buy it and starts to investigate even though he is told not to. When did a direct order ever stopped Bosch?
This time, the narrator of the audiobook was Dick Hill and I was worried I would not like itas much as the 1st one which was narrated by Titus Welliver, the actor who plays Bosch in the movie. He did a very good job although I still prefer Titus and I will have to wait until book 17 for the actor to resume the narration.
October 13, 2019
A first class thriller, combining the best of both the police procedural and the hard-boiled detective tradition. Plus--Harry Bosch is a character who grows.
Nobody does this stuff better than Connelly.
September 11, 2024
It's Christmas night and L.A.P.D homicide detective Harry Bosch is eating his Christmas dinner alone at home, with only a jazz CD and the police scanner to keep him company. He doesn't mind spending the holiday alone; in fact, he prefers it. Harry is a loner who identifies with a solitary coyote that hangs out near his house.
Harry's evening is interrupted when he picks up chatter on the police scanner regarding a suspicious death in a down-at-the-heels Hollywood motel. It's clear from the scanner that department brass are assembling at the scene and Harry can't help but wonder what in the hell is going on. He's on call and should have been the first one notified of the death. He calls in only to discover that the brass are taking control of the situation and that he is supposed to stay well away.
Fat chance.
Harry goes to the scene and discovers that the body is that of a missing narcotics cop, Calexico Moore, who may have gone over to the dark side. It appears that Moore has committed suicide in the bathroom of the seedy motel. It's also clear that the brass want to close the case ASAP, sweep the bad news under the rug, and limit any damage to the department's reputation.
Harry is specifically ordered to stay well away from the case, and shortly thereafter his boss assigns him a pile of homicide cases that belonged to a useless detective who has suddenly quit the department. Harry's boss is anxious to see an improvement in the unit's clearance rate by the end of the year, which is only a week away. He begs Harry to pick through the cases in an effort to solve the easiest one or two of them in time to sweeten up the stat sheet.
Reluctantly, Harry begins digging into the cases only to find one homicide that crosses the trail of Calexico Moore, the dead narcotics detective. Even though he's been instructed to stay clear of the Moore case, Harry begins digging into the ties that seem to link the two cases. In the process, he will stumble into a web of intrigue and will also mightily antagonize his superiors. But Harry Bosch serves justice first, and has absolutely no time or respect for a bunch of self-serving bureaucrats.
Harry will follow the trail wherever it leads no matter the dangers to his career or to his personal safety. It's a great ride with lots of surprising twists and turns, a novel that will appeal to a large number of crime fiction fans and that will also further establish the reputation of this series as the best police procedural series of the modern era.
Harry's evening is interrupted when he picks up chatter on the police scanner regarding a suspicious death in a down-at-the-heels Hollywood motel. It's clear from the scanner that department brass are assembling at the scene and Harry can't help but wonder what in the hell is going on. He's on call and should have been the first one notified of the death. He calls in only to discover that the brass are taking control of the situation and that he is supposed to stay well away.
Fat chance.
Harry goes to the scene and discovers that the body is that of a missing narcotics cop, Calexico Moore, who may have gone over to the dark side. It appears that Moore has committed suicide in the bathroom of the seedy motel. It's also clear that the brass want to close the case ASAP, sweep the bad news under the rug, and limit any damage to the department's reputation.
Harry is specifically ordered to stay well away from the case, and shortly thereafter his boss assigns him a pile of homicide cases that belonged to a useless detective who has suddenly quit the department. Harry's boss is anxious to see an improvement in the unit's clearance rate by the end of the year, which is only a week away. He begs Harry to pick through the cases in an effort to solve the easiest one or two of them in time to sweeten up the stat sheet.
Reluctantly, Harry begins digging into the cases only to find one homicide that crosses the trail of Calexico Moore, the dead narcotics detective. Even though he's been instructed to stay clear of the Moore case, Harry begins digging into the ties that seem to link the two cases. In the process, he will stumble into a web of intrigue and will also mightily antagonize his superiors. But Harry Bosch serves justice first, and has absolutely no time or respect for a bunch of self-serving bureaucrats.
Harry will follow the trail wherever it leads no matter the dangers to his career or to his personal safety. It's a great ride with lots of surprising twists and turns, a novel that will appeal to a large number of crime fiction fans and that will also further establish the reputation of this series as the best police procedural series of the modern era.
April 28, 2020
Most forms of entertainment come with the expectation that the follow-up to well-received debut will invariably fail to reach the same level of quality. Lack of time is almost always the reason. Take television for example. The first episode of a series is often the pilot; when it gets picked up there is rush to get production up and running and traditionally it is the second episode that most displays the signs of “just get it out.” With movies, an unexpected hit receives a release date for the sequel while the creators are just beginning to organize the logistics. Musicians and comedians are not immune. While honing their craft in the clubs, they develop a great reservoir of materiel to draw upon for their first CD or TV special. Once it is released, though, for the most part they have to create their sophomore effort from scratch, often under the pressure of expectations and, of course, a deadline. (Although, honestly, I’m not sure how the advent of YouTube has affected the dynamic regarding musicians.)
With literature the disparity is not as great. The second novel receives skills and attention that can only be acquired by completing that first manuscript, but this is often offset by a well-thought-out story and the fifteen thousand polishes the first effort is given. And again time enters the picture. Unless the writer is a celebrity, who presumably brings with him a built-in following--and since instant bestseller status is too rare to be counted on--publishers want to build an author’s audience with successive offerings. That second book comes with a deadline. Often it is the third book--with the deadline experience now added to the writer’s toolset--that gives us an accurate reflection of who the author is to be. With Black Ice, Michael Connelly’s second outing, I got what I expected.
When a week-old suicide is discovered at a rundown cheap motel, an Assistant Chief of the LAPD takes over the case even before Harry Bosch, the detective on call, can be notified. This immediately tells the entire precinct that the victim is Calexico Moore, a member of the division’s undercover drug unit who had been missing for about the same amount of time. Because Moore was suspected of being dirty, the higher-ups are happy to call it suicide and close the books. Harry is not as sure, but with little access to the case there is not a lot he can do. Back to his assigned work, soon another case intersects with Moore’s orbit. And then a file--back in 1993 this meant a folder containing actually papers--is relayed to Bosch from the deceased, a man with whom Harry had only once before had an interaction of any substance. Detectives do not believe in coincidence. Neither do readers of detective novels. Harry Bosch and Michael Connelly set about explaining them: most during the natural course of the investigation, all by the conclusion.
In his second outing Harry Bosch seems a little less rough around the edges. He is no longer rude to people trying to help him. He genuinely regrets lying to a man who enthusiastically assists him in his research. And while Bosch will still take advantage of any relationship that will aid his cause, he also pays back that help when he gets the opportunity. I attribute this more to the evolution of the author than that of the character. Connelly has learned how to preserve Bosch’s loner status without causing reader to wonder how this man could possibly have any real friends. The Harry Bosch in this book would still never be the first invited to a party, absolutely true, but neither would people pretend every seat is taken to prevent him joining their table.
Black Ice is not a perfect novel. After an intriguing start Connelly makes the ensuing complications too intricate and too compact in too short a period of time. And the final confrontation does not play as smoothly as one would hope (i.e. too much explanation). The rest is high-quality, vintage Connelly. That’s correct, two novels in and there is a “vintage” Connelly. I believe in the rule cited above: if the first is great, the second will drop off and the third will steady up and begin trending toward the quality of the first--and hopefully beyond. I came to this book with great anticipation precisely because it was Connelly’s second outing. Now I’m really looking forward to #3, The Concrete Blonde.
With literature the disparity is not as great. The second novel receives skills and attention that can only be acquired by completing that first manuscript, but this is often offset by a well-thought-out story and the fifteen thousand polishes the first effort is given. And again time enters the picture. Unless the writer is a celebrity, who presumably brings with him a built-in following--and since instant bestseller status is too rare to be counted on--publishers want to build an author’s audience with successive offerings. That second book comes with a deadline. Often it is the third book--with the deadline experience now added to the writer’s toolset--that gives us an accurate reflection of who the author is to be. With Black Ice, Michael Connelly’s second outing, I got what I expected.
When a week-old suicide is discovered at a rundown cheap motel, an Assistant Chief of the LAPD takes over the case even before Harry Bosch, the detective on call, can be notified. This immediately tells the entire precinct that the victim is Calexico Moore, a member of the division’s undercover drug unit who had been missing for about the same amount of time. Because Moore was suspected of being dirty, the higher-ups are happy to call it suicide and close the books. Harry is not as sure, but with little access to the case there is not a lot he can do. Back to his assigned work, soon another case intersects with Moore’s orbit. And then a file--back in 1993 this meant a folder containing actually papers--is relayed to Bosch from the deceased, a man with whom Harry had only once before had an interaction of any substance. Detectives do not believe in coincidence. Neither do readers of detective novels. Harry Bosch and Michael Connelly set about explaining them: most during the natural course of the investigation, all by the conclusion.
In his second outing Harry Bosch seems a little less rough around the edges. He is no longer rude to people trying to help him. He genuinely regrets lying to a man who enthusiastically assists him in his research. And while Bosch will still take advantage of any relationship that will aid his cause, he also pays back that help when he gets the opportunity. I attribute this more to the evolution of the author than that of the character. Connelly has learned how to preserve Bosch’s loner status without causing reader to wonder how this man could possibly have any real friends. The Harry Bosch in this book would still never be the first invited to a party, absolutely true, but neither would people pretend every seat is taken to prevent him joining their table.
Black Ice is not a perfect novel. After an intriguing start Connelly makes the ensuing complications too intricate and too compact in too short a period of time. And the final confrontation does not play as smoothly as one would hope (i.e. too much explanation). The rest is high-quality, vintage Connelly. That’s correct, two novels in and there is a “vintage” Connelly. I believe in the rule cited above: if the first is great, the second will drop off and the third will steady up and begin trending toward the quality of the first--and hopefully beyond. I came to this book with great anticipation precisely because it was Connelly’s second outing. Now I’m really looking forward to #3, The Concrete Blonde.
FAIR WARNING: There are graphic descriptions of a bull fight that may prove disturbing to some.
February 8, 2024
Harry Bosch #2, Bosch Universe #2: As ever Bosch winds up his fellow lawmakers as much as the villains he goes after, when on this occasion he is very uncomfortable with the supposed suicide of an LAPD narcotics officer in random hotel room. Bosch unerring ear for truth and danger sees him caught up on the trail of one a 'big boss' who leads in the production and export of 'Black Ice' a deadly and super addictive drug cocktail about to go big in the States! All in all an interesting sole-detective fiction read, but if Bosch gets to be another woman involved in one of his cases in the third book in this series, I might have to drop reading the rest! 7 out of 12, Three Star read.
2024 read
2024 read
May 11, 2021
4.5/5 Estrellas.
Segunda zambullida en el Universo Harry Bosch y ha sido una inmersión total, me ha durado menos de tres días.
Voy a intentar ser conciso:
-¿Donde se sitúa la acción?: Hollywood (Los Ángeles-California) y las ciudades gemelas de Calexico (EEUU) y Mexicali (México) en la frontera de USA con el Estado mexicano de Baja California.
-¿Cuando suceden los hechos?: No lo especifica, pero por la fecha de publicación supongo que estaremos a principios de los 90.
-¿De qué va la trama (sin spoilers)?: Por la localización es fácil deducir que esto va de tráfico de drogas, aderezado por corrupción policial, buenas dosis de acción y un giro final que, aunque se ve venir, dan lugar a un producto magnífico, al que contribuye el buen hacer del autor con los diálogos y el desarrollo de los personajes.
-¿Quién investiga?: El anárquico, atormentado, íntegro e incontrolable detective de la policía de Hollywood, Harry Bosch. Siempre por libre, siempre incumpliendo órdenes, siempre al límite del reglamento y de su propia supervivencia, pero siempre poniendo el dedo en la llaga y sacando los trapos sucios.
-¿Quien le pone palos en las ruedas?: Los de asuntos internos, como siempre (¿de verdad estos tíos tienen tanto poder en las policías de USA?), los de Robos y Homicidios de la policía de Los Ángeles y todos los jefazos, que quieren cortarle las alas a este verso libre, que no para de tocarles los huevos y sacarles los trapos sucios.
-Resumen: que me ha encantado y no he podido dejar de leerlo.......
Vamos, que ya tengo el siguiente en mi lista. Totalmente recomendable (si hay alguien que haya cometido mi imperdonable error de no haberlo leído todavía)
Segunda zambullida en el Universo Harry Bosch y ha sido una inmersión total, me ha durado menos de tres días.
Voy a intentar ser conciso:
-¿Donde se sitúa la acción?: Hollywood (Los Ángeles-California) y las ciudades gemelas de Calexico (EEUU) y Mexicali (México) en la frontera de USA con el Estado mexicano de Baja California.
-¿Cuando suceden los hechos?: No lo especifica, pero por la fecha de publicación supongo que estaremos a principios de los 90.
-¿De qué va la trama (sin spoilers)?: Por la localización es fácil deducir que esto va de tráfico de drogas, aderezado por corrupción policial, buenas dosis de acción y un giro final que, aunque se ve venir, dan lugar a un producto magnífico, al que contribuye el buen hacer del autor con los diálogos y el desarrollo de los personajes.
-¿Quién investiga?: El anárquico, atormentado, íntegro e incontrolable detective de la policía de Hollywood, Harry Bosch. Siempre por libre, siempre incumpliendo órdenes, siempre al límite del reglamento y de su propia supervivencia, pero siempre poniendo el dedo en la llaga y sacando los trapos sucios.
-¿Quien le pone palos en las ruedas?: Los de asuntos internos, como siempre (¿de verdad estos tíos tienen tanto poder en las policías de USA?), los de Robos y Homicidios de la policía de Los Ángeles y todos los jefazos, que quieren cortarle las alas a este verso libre, que no para de tocarles los huevos y sacarles los trapos sucios.
-Resumen: que me ha encantado y no he podido dejar de leerlo.......
Vamos, que ya tengo el siguiente en mi lista. Totalmente recomendable (si hay alguien que haya cometido mi imperdonable error de no haberlo leído todavía)
October 9, 2020
4★
“As he drove he thought of the night before and how it had made him feel to comfort Sylvia Moore. It made him feel like a cop in a Rockwell painting. Like he had made a difference.”
Harry Bosch. LA cop. An irritant to the department but somehow, he’s still there – just. When a dead cop is found suicided in a motel unit at Christmas, he’s not notified.
“‘So, Bosch, you should be happy you aren’t involved. It’s Christmas, for Chrissake.’ But that wasn’t good enough. Bosch should have been called and then it should have been his decision when to call out RHD [Robbery Homicide Division]. Someone had taken him out of the process altogether and that still burned him.”
He's alone at Christmas anyway. And New Year’s.
“Business is business, even on Christmas night. There were elegantly made up women sitting on bus benches who were not really women and not really waiting for buses.”
But he does know about the dead cop, Calexico “Cal” Moore, who was estranged from his wife of many years, so Harry’s assigned to call on the widow and inform her. She is the Sylvia Moore of the opening quote. She tells him Cal was always caught up in the past, needed to revisit his time growing up in Mexico. Harry finds himself increasingly attracted to her.
He already has a friend with benefits, a medical examiner, who conveniently is the one doing the routine autopsy on Moore, to check the ID, since his face was obliterated. Turns out, she has some unusual reservations about the results. The department has none – get on with it, find the killer, etc. But she’s already told Harry, and he becomes the classic dog with a bone.
Meanwhile, another cop, Porter, has taken sudden leave, so Lieutenant Pounds, known as ‘Ninety-eight’ , has dropped the cop’s caseload on Harry. They’re down to only 5 detectives on the homicide table. Note, “table”, not “department”. This was written in 1993, incidentally, a time of pagers and telexes. No cell phones or internet.
Harry finds a connection in Porter’s files between the dead cop and a body that was found dumped in an alley, Juan Doe #67. His medical examiner friend finds some interesting details about Juan Doe #67 as well.
As random details accumulate, Harry tries to create some kind of timeline and reason for the connections. It’s certainly drug-related, and seems to be part of the new Black Ice trade. In a conversation before the motel room suicide, Moore had told Harry about it.
“‘Basically, black ice and glass are the same thing. Same results. Glass comes from Hawaii. And black ice comes from Mexico. The drug of the twenty-first century, I guess you’d call it. If I was a salesman I’d say it covers all the demographics. Basically, somebody took coke, heroin and PCP and rocked ’em all up together.
. . .
What the Mexicans did was steal the recipe. They started replicating glass. Only they’re using homegrown brown heroin, including the tar. That’s the pasty shit at the bottom of the cooking barrel. Lot of impurities in it, turns it black. That’s how they come up with calling it black ice. They make it cheaper, they move it cheaper and they sell it cheaper.’”
More than you wanted to know, but that phrase “The drug of the twenty-first century” is certainly haunting, isn’t it? Harry feels a sense of obligation to Moore, although he was pretty sure Moore had ‘crossed’ (good cop to bad cop), and he definitely wants to see more of widow Sylvia.
His case-load has files that overlap, suspects and victims who seem connected to each other and to Mexico. So that’s where he goes.
Plenty of excitement and just enough introspection to make Harry interesting and human (and vulnerable) without detracting from the plot. It got more complicated as characters from LA and Mexico joined the hunt or the body count or both.
[Personal note you can skip:
I have a theory that there is a lot of tobacco money in films these days. So many stories are dated in the times when everyone smoked that I’m sure it’s keeping the company dream alive. Such a pity.
I'm speaking only of film and television, where we see people smoking. I'm not suggesting the author was promoting it! In fact, I think it's more a way to show how frayed Harry's nerves are, that it's a habit he's not intending to give up.
Harry’s a terrible smoker, by which I mean terrible that he smokes a lot and terrible that he drops butts everywhere. Tsk, tsk. But he frequently notices the nice scents of women and the foul odours of some of the men he interviews. I can only imagine how his own apartment smells. See? He’s human.]
I’ve not seen the TV series, although I’ve seen so many ads, I know what “Bosch” looks like, so I did picture him that way (unlike “Reacher” and Tom Cruise, the less said, the better) I enjoyed it and will no doubt enjoy the third episode some day as well.
“As he drove he thought of the night before and how it had made him feel to comfort Sylvia Moore. It made him feel like a cop in a Rockwell painting. Like he had made a difference.”
Harry Bosch. LA cop. An irritant to the department but somehow, he’s still there – just. When a dead cop is found suicided in a motel unit at Christmas, he’s not notified.
“‘So, Bosch, you should be happy you aren’t involved. It’s Christmas, for Chrissake.’ But that wasn’t good enough. Bosch should have been called and then it should have been his decision when to call out RHD [Robbery Homicide Division]. Someone had taken him out of the process altogether and that still burned him.”
He's alone at Christmas anyway. And New Year’s.
“Business is business, even on Christmas night. There were elegantly made up women sitting on bus benches who were not really women and not really waiting for buses.”
But he does know about the dead cop, Calexico “Cal” Moore, who was estranged from his wife of many years, so Harry’s assigned to call on the widow and inform her. She is the Sylvia Moore of the opening quote. She tells him Cal was always caught up in the past, needed to revisit his time growing up in Mexico. Harry finds himself increasingly attracted to her.
He already has a friend with benefits, a medical examiner, who conveniently is the one doing the routine autopsy on Moore, to check the ID, since his face was obliterated. Turns out, she has some unusual reservations about the results. The department has none – get on with it, find the killer, etc. But she’s already told Harry, and he becomes the classic dog with a bone.
Meanwhile, another cop, Porter, has taken sudden leave, so Lieutenant Pounds, known as ‘Ninety-eight’ , has dropped the cop’s caseload on Harry. They’re down to only 5 detectives on the homicide table. Note, “table”, not “department”. This was written in 1993, incidentally, a time of pagers and telexes. No cell phones or internet.
Harry finds a connection in Porter’s files between the dead cop and a body that was found dumped in an alley, Juan Doe #67. His medical examiner friend finds some interesting details about Juan Doe #67 as well.
As random details accumulate, Harry tries to create some kind of timeline and reason for the connections. It’s certainly drug-related, and seems to be part of the new Black Ice trade. In a conversation before the motel room suicide, Moore had told Harry about it.
“‘Basically, black ice and glass are the same thing. Same results. Glass comes from Hawaii. And black ice comes from Mexico. The drug of the twenty-first century, I guess you’d call it. If I was a salesman I’d say it covers all the demographics. Basically, somebody took coke, heroin and PCP and rocked ’em all up together.
. . .
What the Mexicans did was steal the recipe. They started replicating glass. Only they’re using homegrown brown heroin, including the tar. That’s the pasty shit at the bottom of the cooking barrel. Lot of impurities in it, turns it black. That’s how they come up with calling it black ice. They make it cheaper, they move it cheaper and they sell it cheaper.’”
More than you wanted to know, but that phrase “The drug of the twenty-first century” is certainly haunting, isn’t it? Harry feels a sense of obligation to Moore, although he was pretty sure Moore had ‘crossed’ (good cop to bad cop), and he definitely wants to see more of widow Sylvia.
His case-load has files that overlap, suspects and victims who seem connected to each other and to Mexico. So that’s where he goes.
Plenty of excitement and just enough introspection to make Harry interesting and human (and vulnerable) without detracting from the plot. It got more complicated as characters from LA and Mexico joined the hunt or the body count or both.
[Personal note you can skip:
I have a theory that there is a lot of tobacco money in films these days. So many stories are dated in the times when everyone smoked that I’m sure it’s keeping the company dream alive. Such a pity.
I'm speaking only of film and television, where we see people smoking. I'm not suggesting the author was promoting it! In fact, I think it's more a way to show how frayed Harry's nerves are, that it's a habit he's not intending to give up.
Harry’s a terrible smoker, by which I mean terrible that he smokes a lot and terrible that he drops butts everywhere. Tsk, tsk. But he frequently notices the nice scents of women and the foul odours of some of the men he interviews. I can only imagine how his own apartment smells. See? He’s human.]
I’ve not seen the TV series, although I’ve seen so many ads, I know what “Bosch” looks like, so I did picture him that way (unlike “Reacher” and Tom Cruise, the less said, the better) I enjoyed it and will no doubt enjoy the third episode some day as well.
February 17, 2015
I am so glad I went back to the beginning to read the Harry Bosch novels in order. These early books are so good. This one is second in the series and gives us a lot of information about Harry's boyhood and some of the experiences which shaped him into the person we now know. It is a really easy book to read and one which is exceedingly difficult to put down. The story is good, the characters intriguing and Harry's relationship issues are always interesting. And in the way of any good series the ending is not a cliff hanger but a teaser which made this reader immediately put book number 3 on her to be read list.
May 8, 2023
This is NOT about cross-border shopping!
Calexico Moore, a depressed NYPD detective who is treading on the illegal dark fringes of the drug culture he's investigating, eats both barrels of his own shotgun in a dreary motel room only days before Christmas. With Moore gone and another officer about to be placed on permanent disability leave because of alcohol abuse, the homicide unit is clearly under-staffed and overwhelmed with an outstanding case load. Lieutenant Harvey "98" Pounds, in a callous bureaucratic gesture, pleads with Harry Bosch to pull some overtime and begs him to clear just one case before New Year's - that will put the unit's clearance ratio over 50%, a marginally acceptable level in the eyes of the public and the police brass! Bosch digs in and quickly determines that not only are two of the outstanding murders related but the confusing road he must travel to solve them enters the high stakes world of designer drug smuggling and also crosses paths with the tortuous trail that led Calexico Moore to the motel room in which he took his own life.
Most readers will agree that the Harry Bosch series is within the "police procedural" genre. But the ending twist and resolution to these complex murders rivals the endings of the finest thrillers on bookstore shelves today.
As a character piece, THE BLACK ICE firmly entrenches Harry Bosch as a very complex man to fathom with depths that are almost impossible to plumb - compassionate at times and yet outrageously brutal and callous at others; openly contemptuous of the rules of the police bureaucracy and yet rigid in the establishment of his own personal code of conduct and integrity; often shallow in his relationship with women and yet clearly longing for the depth of a meaningful relationship based in true love and compatibility; he is also an obvious "user", entirely willing to use a personal relationship for the achievement of his own short-term goals. In short, he is entirely human and not entirely likeable - but as a complex protagonist in a thrilling police procedural that you will be cheering for - well ... Connelly has simply hit the nail right on the head!
Because of an underlying thread of multi-layer character development, references to past events and the slow but sure revelation of Bosch's history, THE BLACK ICE is best served as the second entrée in a multi-course meal which begins with the first Bosch novel, THE BLACK ECHO, followed by THE CONCRETE BLONDE. Ten further courses are available for your gustatory delight! Enjoy.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Calexico Moore, a depressed NYPD detective who is treading on the illegal dark fringes of the drug culture he's investigating, eats both barrels of his own shotgun in a dreary motel room only days before Christmas. With Moore gone and another officer about to be placed on permanent disability leave because of alcohol abuse, the homicide unit is clearly under-staffed and overwhelmed with an outstanding case load. Lieutenant Harvey "98" Pounds, in a callous bureaucratic gesture, pleads with Harry Bosch to pull some overtime and begs him to clear just one case before New Year's - that will put the unit's clearance ratio over 50%, a marginally acceptable level in the eyes of the public and the police brass! Bosch digs in and quickly determines that not only are two of the outstanding murders related but the confusing road he must travel to solve them enters the high stakes world of designer drug smuggling and also crosses paths with the tortuous trail that led Calexico Moore to the motel room in which he took his own life.
Most readers will agree that the Harry Bosch series is within the "police procedural" genre. But the ending twist and resolution to these complex murders rivals the endings of the finest thrillers on bookstore shelves today.
As a character piece, THE BLACK ICE firmly entrenches Harry Bosch as a very complex man to fathom with depths that are almost impossible to plumb - compassionate at times and yet outrageously brutal and callous at others; openly contemptuous of the rules of the police bureaucracy and yet rigid in the establishment of his own personal code of conduct and integrity; often shallow in his relationship with women and yet clearly longing for the depth of a meaningful relationship based in true love and compatibility; he is also an obvious "user", entirely willing to use a personal relationship for the achievement of his own short-term goals. In short, he is entirely human and not entirely likeable - but as a complex protagonist in a thrilling police procedural that you will be cheering for - well ... Connelly has simply hit the nail right on the head!
Because of an underlying thread of multi-layer character development, references to past events and the slow but sure revelation of Bosch's history, THE BLACK ICE is best served as the second entrée in a multi-course meal which begins with the first Bosch novel, THE BLACK ECHO, followed by THE CONCRETE BLONDE. Ten further courses are available for your gustatory delight! Enjoy.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
April 2, 2017
Continuing on my quest for a new mystery series suitable for distraction, I hit up my librarian for the second book in Michael Connelly's famous series centering on Detective Hieronymus Bosch. I ended up rather pleased with result, at least until the Mexican vacation. While there are moments that feel somewhat formulaic, Connelly puts enough flavor into it that I enjoyed the result.
Harry is spending Christmas alone and on-call, peaceably listening to the scanner as he makes his dinner. He hears a call go out for a homicide detective in his district and is surprised when his pager doesn't go off. It turns out to be the body of a missing vice cop, Cal Moore. Harry had recently met with Cal looking for more information on a dead body carrying concealed bags of the newest street drug, Black Ice. Cal mentioned something about an internal investigation launched against him, had recently separated from his wife and had been by all accounts, working on a serious case of liver cirrhosis. Harry invites himself to the death scene, smooth talks his way in and promptly discovers enough to build suspicion that this is a murder, not a suicide. In about two minutes, Harry is warned off the case by both Internal Affairs and his boss, so of course, he's even more suspicious. To keep Harry busy, his boss hands him all the open cases for a co-worker who's decided to go off on disability due to booze. Instead of distracting him, they seem to lead him back to Cal.
Alright, so that's enough of a summary to help me remember which one it is, because with a current twenty-one books in the Bosch series, it's going to be easy for both me and Connelly to get them a little confused. Despite a number of standard noir elements (see Kemper's hilarious review for The Black Echo), it felt engaging. Until the case leads Harry down to the border (now that I think about it, it must be pre-wall), when Connelly tries to pad his story with red herrings and conspiracies. Writing has definitely improved, but Connelly keeps Harry flat enough that the reader can't tell exactly what he is thinking. Is Harry suspicious of that official? Why does he seemingly trust that one, or is he keeping him close as a potential suspect? It means the mystery isn't allowed to grow naturally; instead, it's like being in the fog and having it suddenly lift. It's the difference between a dim room and sleight-of-hand.
But the good news is that I feel quite mentally stocked up on police detective type mysteries (except that most entertaining Peter Grant. I'll make space for him any day). Time to make room for some non-fiction and sci-fi/fantasy.
Harry is spending Christmas alone and on-call, peaceably listening to the scanner as he makes his dinner. He hears a call go out for a homicide detective in his district and is surprised when his pager doesn't go off. It turns out to be the body of a missing vice cop, Cal Moore. Harry had recently met with Cal looking for more information on a dead body carrying concealed bags of the newest street drug, Black Ice. Cal mentioned something about an internal investigation launched against him, had recently separated from his wife and had been by all accounts, working on a serious case of liver cirrhosis. Harry invites himself to the death scene, smooth talks his way in and promptly discovers enough to build suspicion that this is a murder, not a suicide. In about two minutes, Harry is warned off the case by both Internal Affairs and his boss, so of course, he's even more suspicious. To keep Harry busy, his boss hands him all the open cases for a co-worker who's decided to go off on disability due to booze. Instead of distracting him, they seem to lead him back to Cal.
Alright, so that's enough of a summary to help me remember which one it is, because with a current twenty-one books in the Bosch series, it's going to be easy for both me and Connelly to get them a little confused. Despite a number of standard noir elements (see Kemper's hilarious review for The Black Echo), it felt engaging. Until the case leads Harry down to the border (now that I think about it, it must be pre-wall), when Connelly tries to pad his story with red herrings and conspiracies. Writing has definitely improved, but Connelly keeps Harry flat enough that the reader can't tell exactly what he is thinking. Is Harry suspicious of that official? Why does he seemingly trust that one, or is he keeping him close as a potential suspect? It means the mystery isn't allowed to grow naturally; instead, it's like being in the fog and having it suddenly lift. It's the difference between a dim room and sleight-of-hand.
But the good news is that I feel quite mentally stocked up on police detective type mysteries (except that most entertaining Peter Grant. I'll make space for him any day). Time to make room for some non-fiction and sci-fi/fantasy.
July 2, 2024
Убийство на полицай, трафик на нов вид дрога и ребус от други свързани престъпления са предизвикателствата, с които детектив Хари Бош трябва да се справи преди настъпването на новата година.
Завладяваща история за падение и предателство, която няма да ви остави равнодушни!
Завладяваща история за падение и предателство, която няма да ви остави равнодушни!
August 5, 2017
Me ha encantado! Realmente Connelly sabe cómo mantener en vilo al lector, y Bosch es un personaje único; de esos que se te meten en la piel. Sin pensarlo, a por el tercer libro!!!
May 26, 2023
3.5 Stars
October 15, 2011
After being blown away with the introduction of cop detective Harry Bosch in The Black Echo, I just can't help but feel that the author is experiencing the "sophomore slump". The story in The Black Ice screams mediocre and it does the reader no good when the author writes at such a snail pace. There is literally nothing going action wise even when you're 3/4 into the book. The end does get a bit intense but by that time, you're probably too exhausted to care anymore about what happens and just wish the story would end. That is never good for any book when you just want it to end so bad. At the core, The Black Ice is another classic whodunnit mystery but something just felt missing here. It seems as if you don't care for the characters at all and that even at times apply to our main detective, Harry Bosch.
I really wanted to like this book but I'm not going to lie to myself. Although I don't hate it particularly, this book makes me not want to continue reading another Harry Bosch novel for a long time. While the story itself is pretty easy to follow, it just feels stagnant and again, I blame this toward the slow pace of the book. As for the characters, there's not much to go on here. If you've been introduced to Harry Bosch already, then you'll be glad to know that he's more or less the same person and that's a good thing. However, I would really hate it if the author continues to pit him together romantically with a new female character in every book. The author spends time reminding us of how meek and lonely his life is but with him getting to bed 2-3 women every book, I somehow don't believe that picture anymore. Obviously I want him to be happy but it's going to get pretty irritating if he's going to be one of those dude who can't help but be attracted to every victim's wife or girlfriend.
With the book moving at such a slow pace, many a times I wondered if it would have been better if the author wrote in another characters point of view rather than just focusing on Bosch the entire book. I mean let's face it. Bosch is definitely a likable character but he's hardly the most exciting to read about. Reading The Black Ice felt just like Bosch getting hints and clues throughout the most part of the boook and then BAM! The author finally throws in the action sequences and the book ends. It also doesn't help the book that it has the typical cliche ending.
All in all, I felt disappointed with reading The Black Ice. After coming off with such a great introductory book, this sophomore effort just fell short. It's not memorable in any way, had characters you didn't care about, sparse action sequences and a ending that was not worth all the reading you've done to get to that point. I definitely don't feel like this book was a page turner and can't really imagine how anyone could say that of this book. I'm sorry but unless you have a syndrome like me who have the need to read every book in a series chronologically, I definitely would advise you to skip this one and move on to the next. I doubt you'll be missing much.
I really wanted to like this book but I'm not going to lie to myself. Although I don't hate it particularly, this book makes me not want to continue reading another Harry Bosch novel for a long time. While the story itself is pretty easy to follow, it just feels stagnant and again, I blame this toward the slow pace of the book. As for the characters, there's not much to go on here. If you've been introduced to Harry Bosch already, then you'll be glad to know that he's more or less the same person and that's a good thing. However, I would really hate it if the author continues to pit him together romantically with a new female character in every book. The author spends time reminding us of how meek and lonely his life is but with him getting to bed 2-3 women every book, I somehow don't believe that picture anymore. Obviously I want him to be happy but it's going to get pretty irritating if he's going to be one of those dude who can't help but be attracted to every victim's wife or girlfriend.
With the book moving at such a slow pace, many a times I wondered if it would have been better if the author wrote in another characters point of view rather than just focusing on Bosch the entire book. I mean let's face it. Bosch is definitely a likable character but he's hardly the most exciting to read about. Reading The Black Ice felt just like Bosch getting hints and clues throughout the most part of the boook and then BAM! The author finally throws in the action sequences and the book ends. It also doesn't help the book that it has the typical cliche ending.
All in all, I felt disappointed with reading The Black Ice. After coming off with such a great introductory book, this sophomore effort just fell short. It's not memorable in any way, had characters you didn't care about, sparse action sequences and a ending that was not worth all the reading you've done to get to that point. I definitely don't feel like this book was a page turner and can't really imagine how anyone could say that of this book. I'm sorry but unless you have a syndrome like me who have the need to read every book in a series chronologically, I definitely would advise you to skip this one and move on to the next. I doubt you'll be missing much.
December 26, 2018
I really like Harry. For some reason I care about what happens to him, like he is a friend I know. I do understand it’s fiction, but on some level it’s real to me! He may be my new book boyfriend!
October 23, 2022
So I am late to this Michael Connelly Harry Bosch series and right away make a mistake I can perhaps be forgiven for. I read the second one, Black Ice, before the first one, Black Echo. There’s also Blue on Black, maybe others. Anyway, I began my Connelly experience with the well-done Lincoln Lawyer seres focusing on the engaging anti-hero defense attorney Michael (Mickey) Haller, where his step-brother Harry Bosch appears and sometimes gets involved. We learn of this brother connection in Black Ice, though in the Haller books Mickey and Harry do not discover they are brothers until well into the Lincoln series.
This second series book won awards, and it’s no surprise to me, and I’ll definitely read on, but I just thought it was good, well-written. Connelly proudly says he took creative writing classes from his mentor Harry Crews, and then got a job at a newspaper, on the local crime beat, hanging around the police station and the courthouse. Both experiences are evident in this book. Connelly is a solid writer in this book (which is to say he will get better, but not to mean to sound too condescending about a guy who was critically acclaimed from the beginning, has published millions of books, and has a consistent 4+ rating here on all of his work).
Black Ice--the book about a new drug, also referencing the slipperiest surface to navigate in winter--reads like standard noir: Hieronymous (or Harry) Bosch is a lone wolf, Viet Nam vet, drinks, has no strong women connections, has trouble with authority. He survived the tunnels of Nam, and has to deal with them in a drug case in Mexico, facing down the “Pope” of Mexicali. The story feels kind of standard, to tell you the truth; good, but unsurprising, though the twist in the end I did not quite expect. Connelly knows how to stick landings.
One thing I like about the book is that it is VERY different in style and effects from the Mickey Haller novels. The Bosch books read like typical noir, life in the gutter, and the courtroom dramas feel almost like another writer wrote them. I admire that a lot.
This second series book won awards, and it’s no surprise to me, and I’ll definitely read on, but I just thought it was good, well-written. Connelly proudly says he took creative writing classes from his mentor Harry Crews, and then got a job at a newspaper, on the local crime beat, hanging around the police station and the courthouse. Both experiences are evident in this book. Connelly is a solid writer in this book (which is to say he will get better, but not to mean to sound too condescending about a guy who was critically acclaimed from the beginning, has published millions of books, and has a consistent 4+ rating here on all of his work).
Black Ice--the book about a new drug, also referencing the slipperiest surface to navigate in winter--reads like standard noir: Hieronymous (or Harry) Bosch is a lone wolf, Viet Nam vet, drinks, has no strong women connections, has trouble with authority. He survived the tunnels of Nam, and has to deal with them in a drug case in Mexico, facing down the “Pope” of Mexicali. The story feels kind of standard, to tell you the truth; good, but unsurprising, though the twist in the end I did not quite expect. Connelly knows how to stick landings.
One thing I like about the book is that it is VERY different in style and effects from the Mickey Haller novels. The Bosch books read like typical noir, life in the gutter, and the courtroom dramas feel almost like another writer wrote them. I admire that a lot.
July 5, 2016
LAPD south of the border action.
It’s hard not to like Harry Bosch as a crime fiction hero. Michael Connelly’s recurring tough guy, Vietnam veteran Los Angeles police detective is the kind of murder mystery protagonist a seasoned reader of the genre can get behind. Surly and reclusive, a loner more than a team player, Bosch provides a modern variation of the noir crime fiction sleuth.
Connelly’s 1993 thriller takes Bosch to the Mexican border towns of Calexico and Mexicali to investigate what begins as a suspicious cop’s suicide that develops into much, much more. Bosch finds himself embroiled in a drug smuggling operation with significant references to Central American gang and drug cartel stories. I was reminded of Oscar Marinez’ 2016 non-fiction novel A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America.
Connelly’s prose is tight and the dialogue and characterization is first rate. There are moments of rare observant clarity that marks some of Connelly’s best writing. A little longer than necessary, Connelly may have gone over board with an ambitious project and thrown too much in, some editing would have improved the finished product, but overall this is first rate.
For aficionados of the genre, and a must read for Connelly – Bosch fans.
It’s hard not to like Harry Bosch as a crime fiction hero. Michael Connelly’s recurring tough guy, Vietnam veteran Los Angeles police detective is the kind of murder mystery protagonist a seasoned reader of the genre can get behind. Surly and reclusive, a loner more than a team player, Bosch provides a modern variation of the noir crime fiction sleuth.
Connelly’s 1993 thriller takes Bosch to the Mexican border towns of Calexico and Mexicali to investigate what begins as a suspicious cop’s suicide that develops into much, much more. Bosch finds himself embroiled in a drug smuggling operation with significant references to Central American gang and drug cartel stories. I was reminded of Oscar Marinez’ 2016 non-fiction novel A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America.
Connelly’s prose is tight and the dialogue and characterization is first rate. There are moments of rare observant clarity that marks some of Connelly’s best writing. A little longer than necessary, Connelly may have gone over board with an ambitious project and thrown too much in, some editing would have improved the finished product, but overall this is first rate.
For aficionados of the genre, and a must read for Connelly – Bosch fans.
July 11, 2023
Great book, great series.
February 29, 2024
There are people in the world who stand outside the periphery of society. They may walk within society, but they are not a part of it. They may be lonely, but they are not alone. They may be law-abiding and conform to the proper social mores, but they have very little patience for the law and politics. They have a sense of justice and morality all their own. Harry Bosch, the protagonist of Michael Connelly's long-running series, is one of these people. He is content with living a solitary life. His job, an LAPD homicide detective, is his life. He gets a paycheck, but he doesn't do it for the money. He doesn't play by the rules, mainly because he sees the rules as corrupt. He hates the bureaucrats and politicians and apathetic morons who have brought the LAPD to ruin.
"The Black Ice", the second Bosch book by Connelly, is a brilliant, beautiful work of literary art. Connelly continues to straddle the fine line between genre and literary fiction, a feat that only a rare few in the mystery genre can pull off. In this book, Bosch investigates what appears to be a suicide of a burn-out cop named Cal Moore. Moore's body is found in a sleazy hotel room, his head blown off from what appears to be a self-inflicted shotgun shot, with an enigmatic suicide note ("I found out who I was") found near the body.
Bosch is naturally skeptical, of course. He had just seen Moore a few days before the "suicide", and Moore did not seem to be as burned out as everyone claims. Lonely and sad, yes (his wife had just kicked him out, and IAD was breathing down his neck), but Bosch could relate to that. Moore was also apparently interested in an ongoing case about a Mexican drug cartel spreading black ice, a form of cocaine laced with heroin and PCP, that was slowly gaining popularity on the streets of L.A.
Against the wishes of his superiors (of course), Bosch investigates Moore's suicide. Irregularities at the crime scene, discrepancies in the coroner's report, a murder of an informant and another cop with links to Moore, and a gut feeling lead Bosch to the conclusion that Moore's death was an elaborately staged murder made to look like a suicide. Bosch's investigation ultimately leads him to a small town in Mexico, the place where Moore was born and raised, and a tragic story of fathers and sons, a story that triggers Bosch's own tragic relationship with a father he barely knew.
Connelly has definitely become my favorite author du jour. He has a definite knowledge about the realities of police procedural, the politics of the LAPD, and a clear understanding of the human condition. It makes me giddy thinking about the fact that there are over a dozen more books in the Bosch series that I have yet to read...
"The Black Ice", the second Bosch book by Connelly, is a brilliant, beautiful work of literary art. Connelly continues to straddle the fine line between genre and literary fiction, a feat that only a rare few in the mystery genre can pull off. In this book, Bosch investigates what appears to be a suicide of a burn-out cop named Cal Moore. Moore's body is found in a sleazy hotel room, his head blown off from what appears to be a self-inflicted shotgun shot, with an enigmatic suicide note ("I found out who I was") found near the body.
Bosch is naturally skeptical, of course. He had just seen Moore a few days before the "suicide", and Moore did not seem to be as burned out as everyone claims. Lonely and sad, yes (his wife had just kicked him out, and IAD was breathing down his neck), but Bosch could relate to that. Moore was also apparently interested in an ongoing case about a Mexican drug cartel spreading black ice, a form of cocaine laced with heroin and PCP, that was slowly gaining popularity on the streets of L.A.
Against the wishes of his superiors (of course), Bosch investigates Moore's suicide. Irregularities at the crime scene, discrepancies in the coroner's report, a murder of an informant and another cop with links to Moore, and a gut feeling lead Bosch to the conclusion that Moore's death was an elaborately staged murder made to look like a suicide. Bosch's investigation ultimately leads him to a small town in Mexico, the place where Moore was born and raised, and a tragic story of fathers and sons, a story that triggers Bosch's own tragic relationship with a father he barely knew.
Connelly has definitely become my favorite author du jour. He has a definite knowledge about the realities of police procedural, the politics of the LAPD, and a clear understanding of the human condition. It makes me giddy thinking about the fact that there are over a dozen more books in the Bosch series that I have yet to read...
November 26, 2020
Good police procedural, especially if you are a fan of the show. I’m not a fan of Mexican cartel reads but I did enjoy this book. Nice details and we get to know Bosch better. There are parallels between the main victim and Bosch. Clever story with elaborate turns of events. Great ending that I didn’t see coming. My only problem with both books is that they need tighter editing. The author repeats some details 2 and 3 times and there are a few sections where paragraphs become unclear. Hence the -1 star. I will go on to book number 3 and hope some of these issues are resolved. I definitely recommend if you enjoy police procedural. 👍🏻
February 10, 2018
Harry Bosch, Redux.
After nearly dying in the last book, and taking a short fishing/recuperation trip, Harry is back and ready for duty, even though, again, nobody in the LAPD seems to be ready for Bosch to be ready for duty. At every turn, it seems like they are more concerned with appearances than truth, and while I can appreciate that public perception is a vital consideration for them, it just bothers me on a very deep level the lengths that they go to in order to BLOCK investigation. Sigh. "Reality sucks sometimes," says the idealist in me.
I liked this story better than the first for a couple reasons. The victim and Harry's lives kind of have a paralleling arc, though their decisions definitely diverge in key ways. It made it easy for me to care about the victim and want to know what happened to him. Also, a story about Mexican drug lords murdering people is just more interesting to me than a robbery situation.
I also thought that the writing was a bit smoother and felt a bit more natural, so I think my theory about FirstBookitis with The Black Echo was somewhere close to the mark. We shall see if they continue to get better in that regard.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Bosch eat food in this book. REAL food. Not just coffee. And he ate food MULTIPLE times. Must have been a Christmas miracle!
I also really liked the character of Aguila, and even though his jurisdiction is in Mexico, I hope to see more of him. Though I missed Jerry Edgar in this book. I like Bosch's partners a lot, and I think that they offer a somewhat tempering force on him. Not really any true influence, but I think that when he knows that he's about to go off the beaten path, he takes more precaution with them around, and generally tries to cover their asses before his own.
Also, I liked that we got a bit of Harry's background. Not as much on his mother, just a general sense of her losing custody of him and not having much luck getting him back, but finding out who his father was came as a bit of a shock. I did not see that coming, and it makes me even more curious now.
I do have some criticisms though, which generally seem to be about Harry and women. It seems that if there's a woman over 20 and under 70 in his vicinity, he is either sleeping with her, or wants to. What is up with that? Does he have to be infatuated with EVERY female character? I really hope that this is not continued through the series. I have no problem with romantic interests, but... I kinda DO have a problem with some things... like SERIOUSLY, Bosch? Fucking tacky, and gross.
I also don't know about some of his decisions in the book, namely the one at the very end, which, I will warn you now, is a massive spoiler for the entire plot of the book, so read at your own risk.
Essentially, my problem is with Bosch wasting a shit ton of federal law enforcement resources and money for nothing. You just GOTTA do things your own way, right? Gah. I know it's fiction, but that bugs me. =\
Anyway... So, I liked this book better than the first book in a lot of ways, but in some key ways, much less. That's how it goes sometimes.
After nearly dying in the last book, and taking a short fishing/recuperation trip, Harry is back and ready for duty, even though, again, nobody in the LAPD seems to be ready for Bosch to be ready for duty. At every turn, it seems like they are more concerned with appearances than truth, and while I can appreciate that public perception is a vital consideration for them, it just bothers me on a very deep level the lengths that they go to in order to BLOCK investigation. Sigh. "Reality sucks sometimes," says the idealist in me.
I liked this story better than the first for a couple reasons. The victim and Harry's lives kind of have a paralleling arc, though their decisions definitely diverge in key ways. It made it easy for me to care about the victim and want to know what happened to him. Also, a story about Mexican drug lords murdering people is just more interesting to me than a robbery situation.
I also thought that the writing was a bit smoother and felt a bit more natural, so I think my theory about FirstBookitis with The Black Echo was somewhere close to the mark. We shall see if they continue to get better in that regard.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Bosch eat food in this book. REAL food. Not just coffee. And he ate food MULTIPLE times. Must have been a Christmas miracle!
I also really liked the character of Aguila, and even though his jurisdiction is in Mexico, I hope to see more of him. Though I missed Jerry Edgar in this book. I like Bosch's partners a lot, and I think that they offer a somewhat tempering force on him. Not really any true influence, but I think that when he knows that he's about to go off the beaten path, he takes more precaution with them around, and generally tries to cover their asses before his own.
Also, I liked that we got a bit of Harry's background. Not as much on his mother, just a general sense of her losing custody of him and not having much luck getting him back, but finding out who his father was came as a bit of a shock. I did not see that coming, and it makes me even more curious now.
I do have some criticisms though, which generally seem to be about Harry and women. It seems that if there's a woman over 20 and under 70 in his vicinity, he is either sleeping with her, or wants to. What is up with that? Does he have to be infatuated with EVERY female character? I really hope that this is not continued through the series. I have no problem with romantic interests, but... I kinda DO have a problem with some things... like SERIOUSLY, Bosch? Fucking tacky, and gross.
I also don't know about some of his decisions in the book, namely the one at the very end, which, I will warn you now, is a massive spoiler for the entire plot of the book, so read at your own risk.
Essentially, my problem is with Bosch wasting a shit ton of federal law enforcement resources and money for nothing. You just GOTTA do things your own way, right? Gah. I know it's fiction, but that bugs me. =\
Anyway... So, I liked this book better than the first book in a lot of ways, but in some key ways, much less. That's how it goes sometimes.
September 20, 2022
Bosch is a great character, but I had trouble getting into this particular storyline. I'm going to read the last two books in the Lincoln Lawyer series before returning to the Harry Bosch novels.
January 26, 2018
Last year I decided I was going to re-read the Harry Bosch series in order (at my own pace), and The Black Ice is the second one from my list. I haven’t read them all, but any I had read I thoroughly enjoyed so figured why not go back to the start!
The Black Ice is another tightly plotted gem. It has a great story, introduces some great characters and it kept my attention from the very beginning. A body is found in a LA motel room, and it transpires it’s a missing LAPD Narcotics Detective. Rumours were rife that he had crossed over to the dark side, and death was quickly declare a suicide. But Harry has other ideas about it.
Things don’t add up for Harry. Unanswered questions about the crime scene, about the cop before he died and the people he was keeping company with lead Harry off on his own investigation. Harry ends up going across the border, but he finds far more than he bargained for while he is assessing the situation.
Corruption, drugs and police politics are all called into play in The Black Ice. The investigation takes many twists and turns for Harry, but he is determined in his quest for the truth of what happened to the LAPD Detective. Even when Harry finds himself in danger, he doesn’t give up.
I love this series, and the re-reading in order is definitely the best decision. Early Harry is so great to read about. He is without a doubt one of my favourite characters in fiction, EVER. Michael Connelly is such a brilliant writer too. His years as a police reporter are clearly evident in his writing. He captures subtle things that less experienced authors might miss. Characterisation is spot-on too. I can’t praise these books enough!
Highly recommended!
The Black Ice is another tightly plotted gem. It has a great story, introduces some great characters and it kept my attention from the very beginning. A body is found in a LA motel room, and it transpires it’s a missing LAPD Narcotics Detective. Rumours were rife that he had crossed over to the dark side, and death was quickly declare a suicide. But Harry has other ideas about it.
Things don’t add up for Harry. Unanswered questions about the crime scene, about the cop before he died and the people he was keeping company with lead Harry off on his own investigation. Harry ends up going across the border, but he finds far more than he bargained for while he is assessing the situation.
Corruption, drugs and police politics are all called into play in The Black Ice. The investigation takes many twists and turns for Harry, but he is determined in his quest for the truth of what happened to the LAPD Detective. Even when Harry finds himself in danger, he doesn’t give up.
I love this series, and the re-reading in order is definitely the best decision. Early Harry is so great to read about. He is without a doubt one of my favourite characters in fiction, EVER. Michael Connelly is such a brilliant writer too. His years as a police reporter are clearly evident in his writing. He captures subtle things that less experienced authors might miss. Characterisation is spot-on too. I can’t praise these books enough!
Highly recommended!
October 11, 2013
Story review
Harry is still very much an island within his own department, which, given the players, is a very good thing. Ethical lines keep moving in the wrong direction and he's not in that club. Despite obstacles presented by his own department, Harry pursues this case involving a murdered cop when others were ready to classify it as a suicide. He's got great instincts and needed all of them with this one as the bad guys weren't always outside of law enforcement.
We also learn a lot about Harry's background, providing some key insights about this enigmatic detective. I've got to admit I'm starting to fall for him and I don't see that changing. He's smart, principled and oh so flawed with just a touch of tortured hero.
Audio review
Dick Hill's interpretation of Harry is dead on. You can hear the smirk in his voice, his cadence and timing utterly perfect. Even if I read any of the other books in the series (I don't plan to), I'd still hear his voice as Harry.
The bottom line
Harry Bosch is a NY style detective toughing it out in the Hollywood precinct of the LAPD because he won't play politics. The series is edgy, unpredictable and interesting. This one topped it off with a real surprising twist, too. I wasn't expecting a halo of romance with these stories but I'm getting it from this man. I'll be listening to the series until Connelly stops writing the books. If you're a fan of detective stories without the gloss, then you'll like Harry, too.
Harry is still very much an island within his own department, which, given the players, is a very good thing. Ethical lines keep moving in the wrong direction and he's not in that club. Despite obstacles presented by his own department, Harry pursues this case involving a murdered cop when others were ready to classify it as a suicide. He's got great instincts and needed all of them with this one as the bad guys weren't always outside of law enforcement.
We also learn a lot about Harry's background, providing some key insights about this enigmatic detective. I've got to admit I'm starting to fall for him and I don't see that changing. He's smart, principled and oh so flawed with just a touch of tortured hero.
Audio review
Dick Hill's interpretation of Harry is dead on. You can hear the smirk in his voice, his cadence and timing utterly perfect. Even if I read any of the other books in the series (I don't plan to), I'd still hear his voice as Harry.
The bottom line
Harry Bosch is a NY style detective toughing it out in the Hollywood precinct of the LAPD because he won't play politics. The series is edgy, unpredictable and interesting. This one topped it off with a real surprising twist, too. I wasn't expecting a halo of romance with these stories but I'm getting it from this man. I'll be listening to the series until Connelly stops writing the books. If you're a fan of detective stories without the gloss, then you'll like Harry, too.
October 19, 2018
I found The Black Ice to be a a bit disappointing. I think it is due to two reasons. The first is its similarity to an Alistair MacLean novel rather than sticking to the usual noir tone of the Bosch universe. Caravan to Vaccares comes to mind. As does as the movie Sicario. In any case, Bosch is less a detective and more of a one man demolition army in this book.
The second is its reliance on an overly convoluted plot. This affected me in a couple of ways. I found it hard to get invested in the story line. And I found that even with meandering plot, I could figure out the plot as well as the ending quite a way off. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, the book compounds this by making everything else boring.
Ultimately, The Black Ice misses the oomph that exists in the Bosch universe.
The second is its reliance on an overly convoluted plot. This affected me in a couple of ways. I found it hard to get invested in the story line. And I found that even with meandering plot, I could figure out the plot as well as the ending quite a way off. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, the book compounds this by making everything else boring.
Ultimately, The Black Ice misses the oomph that exists in the Bosch universe.
December 1, 2012
Time saver tip: if you've read my review of any Harry Bosch book, you've read 'em all. Since I don't reveal plots and reserve my comments to the overall book/author, characterization, style, etc...I just don't feel the need to repeat myself as in most cases series books if any good at all do remain consistent. The star ratings might change, but not my opinion of the series as a whole.
Michael Connelly is a well know and very popular author in the mystery/detective and police procedural genres. Exploding onto the scene in the early nineties with his first six novels, and topping it off just recently with his 18th Bosch novel (The Black Box), Connelly has garnered most awards worth getting. Let's face it, the awards are well deserved, especially for those first novels (more on that later).
Having emerged onto the fictional world after a career as a journalist, culminating with his job as crime reporter for the LA times, and admitting to becoming interested in writing fiction as a result of reading Raymond Chandler early on in his journalistic career, Michael Connelly has since involved himself in several collaborations: notable the television series Level 9, and as co-writer with Val McDermid's Wire In the Blood series (and that spawned the wildly popular grim, noir BBC television series of the same name). If you're into Noir than this TV series is a must see.
Connelly has a knack for writing suspenseful tales that take quite a few twists and turns before being resolved with a stellar Who-Done-It that has most readers guessing till the very end (at least in his earlier books).
Heironymous (Harry) Bosch, the hero in this series, is named after a Renaissance painter who specialized in earthly sins, debauchery, fanciful and gruesome visions of hell, violent consequences from high above if not detailed looks at the tortures reserved for earthly residents. Score 1 for Connelly in choosing a very apropos name for our own tortured detective Harry Bosch.
Bosch is a complicated and conflicted character, a character that slowly develops across this series but whose emotive origin lies in the Viet Cong tunnels where Harry got his education in fear: underground, claustrophic, dark, drenched with blood, gruesome deaths, peopled with a savage enemy crawling within the absence of all light, hunting for the American soldiers like bloodthirsty rats. From these dark tunnels emerges Harry Bosch, LAPD detective, bent on setting the world right. From this darkness where pacific military command has sent Bosch to discover the inevitable conflict between a military order and the reality of carrying out that order, we find a detective in perpetual defiance of LAPD authority.
The Harry Bosch series, for me, are divided into two sets: the first 4 books, and the rest that follow. As mentioned earlier, the classic early 90's novels were better for me. Books starting with The Black Echo on through The Last Coyote all inherit the tortuous origins of Harry's artistic namesake. Reading these books I could actually feel my heart begin to race as I sped towards the inevitable ending, ones that actually kept you guessing to the very end. One reviewer (sorry, can't remember who it was) says the following of these earlier book titles:
[...]Even the titles of the books used to be cleverer. Compare The Drop (a simple reference to Deferred Retirement Option Plan) to The Concrete Blonde (a reference to both lady justice statue on the courthouse and the body of a blonde entombed in concrete. [...]
Compare that to the later books in the series where we find a Harry Bosch notably mellower in his older age, where we find endings easily guessed at, where procedure begins to trump a superb plot. Bosch no longer smokes, doesn't drink and drive, doesn't slap people around anymore, where his defiance of LAPD authority is tempered by retirement, and let's face it, where my heart just doesn't race as often anymore. Let's say that his later novels are beginning to show an author's haste (is it me, or are the novels shorter and shorter?)
Don't get me wrong, I still love reading the latest Bosch novel. Where the earlier novels have a few things that can be improved on (dialogue could have been better) the later novels are polished, almost a little too much so. After 18 Bosch novels, is Connelly tiring? Maybe.
Beginning with the last 90's novel (Angels Flight) in which we are introduced to Bosch's latest romantic interest, Eleanor Wish, with whom Bosch is to have a daughter this mellowing process takes root. Connelly is absolutely right to introduce this notable character shift in Bosch from this book forward because as I can attest to in my own personal life: when you see your child born, a fundamental shift takes place in a man. For me, I was reborn from a devilish bachelor into a man who now bore the responsibility of an innocent life. It completely turned around my life for the better. And so it is with Harry Bosch. It is the presence of his daughter that transforms him from Heironymous to Harry.
Overall, I highly recommend this series.
Michael Connelly is a well know and very popular author in the mystery/detective and police procedural genres. Exploding onto the scene in the early nineties with his first six novels, and topping it off just recently with his 18th Bosch novel (The Black Box), Connelly has garnered most awards worth getting. Let's face it, the awards are well deserved, especially for those first novels (more on that later).
Having emerged onto the fictional world after a career as a journalist, culminating with his job as crime reporter for the LA times, and admitting to becoming interested in writing fiction as a result of reading Raymond Chandler early on in his journalistic career, Michael Connelly has since involved himself in several collaborations: notable the television series Level 9, and as co-writer with Val McDermid's Wire In the Blood series (and that spawned the wildly popular grim, noir BBC television series of the same name). If you're into Noir than this TV series is a must see.
Connelly has a knack for writing suspenseful tales that take quite a few twists and turns before being resolved with a stellar Who-Done-It that has most readers guessing till the very end (at least in his earlier books).
Heironymous (Harry) Bosch, the hero in this series, is named after a Renaissance painter who specialized in earthly sins, debauchery, fanciful and gruesome visions of hell, violent consequences from high above if not detailed looks at the tortures reserved for earthly residents. Score 1 for Connelly in choosing a very apropos name for our own tortured detective Harry Bosch.
Bosch is a complicated and conflicted character, a character that slowly develops across this series but whose emotive origin lies in the Viet Cong tunnels where Harry got his education in fear: underground, claustrophic, dark, drenched with blood, gruesome deaths, peopled with a savage enemy crawling within the absence of all light, hunting for the American soldiers like bloodthirsty rats. From these dark tunnels emerges Harry Bosch, LAPD detective, bent on setting the world right. From this darkness where pacific military command has sent Bosch to discover the inevitable conflict between a military order and the reality of carrying out that order, we find a detective in perpetual defiance of LAPD authority.
The Harry Bosch series, for me, are divided into two sets: the first 4 books, and the rest that follow. As mentioned earlier, the classic early 90's novels were better for me. Books starting with The Black Echo on through The Last Coyote all inherit the tortuous origins of Harry's artistic namesake. Reading these books I could actually feel my heart begin to race as I sped towards the inevitable ending, ones that actually kept you guessing to the very end. One reviewer (sorry, can't remember who it was) says the following of these earlier book titles:
[...]Even the titles of the books used to be cleverer. Compare The Drop (a simple reference to Deferred Retirement Option Plan) to The Concrete Blonde (a reference to both lady justice statue on the courthouse and the body of a blonde entombed in concrete. [...]
Compare that to the later books in the series where we find a Harry Bosch notably mellower in his older age, where we find endings easily guessed at, where procedure begins to trump a superb plot. Bosch no longer smokes, doesn't drink and drive, doesn't slap people around anymore, where his defiance of LAPD authority is tempered by retirement, and let's face it, where my heart just doesn't race as often anymore. Let's say that his later novels are beginning to show an author's haste (is it me, or are the novels shorter and shorter?)
Don't get me wrong, I still love reading the latest Bosch novel. Where the earlier novels have a few things that can be improved on (dialogue could have been better) the later novels are polished, almost a little too much so. After 18 Bosch novels, is Connelly tiring? Maybe.
Beginning with the last 90's novel (Angels Flight) in which we are introduced to Bosch's latest romantic interest, Eleanor Wish, with whom Bosch is to have a daughter this mellowing process takes root. Connelly is absolutely right to introduce this notable character shift in Bosch from this book forward because as I can attest to in my own personal life: when you see your child born, a fundamental shift takes place in a man. For me, I was reborn from a devilish bachelor into a man who now bore the responsibility of an innocent life. It completely turned around my life for the better. And so it is with Harry Bosch. It is the presence of his daughter that transforms him from Heironymous to Harry.
Overall, I highly recommend this series.
September 10, 2023
»Bosch leaned back against the tree and watched the driver open the door for her. Then he lit a cigarette and watched as the sleek black machine carried her out through the gate and left him alone with the dead.«
This is the second Harry Bosch novel I read and it surpasses its already strong predecessor in many aspects.
The story begins on Christmas night, when Harry discovers that a fellow officer, Calexico Moore, has apparently committed suicide in a seedy motel. Harry is suspicious of the circumstances and decides to investigate on his own, despite the orders from his superiors to stay away. He soon uncovers a web of corruption, drug trafficking, and murder that involves not only Moore, but also a mysterious drug lord, who is behind a new and deadly drug called Black Ice.
The writing is much improved compared to the first Bosch novel: Connelly has refined his style and skill, and has created a more polished and engaging narrative. The writing is more rounded and even and also more vivid and descriptive. Connelly uses a variety of techniques, such as dialogue, action, flashback, and foreshadowing, to create a dynamic and suspenseful story. He also uses rich and realistic details to bring the setting and the characters to life.
The pacing has also greatly improved: Gone are any unnecessary or boring parts; instead, there’s a consistent and smooth flow of the story. The pacing is fast enough to keep the reader interested and excited, but not too fast to lose the coherence, cohesion, and logic of the plot.
The pacing also balances well between the two levels of the story: the private and the professional. Connelly gives enough relevant context and background information to explain Harry's thoughts and actions, and to show how his personal life affects his work, and vice versa. The private and the professional levels are nicely intertwined and work brilliantly together, creating a more complex and realistic character for Harry, and a more satisfying and rewarding reading experience for the reader.
I still love Bosch’s integrity and loyalty: When his investigation makes him visit Mexico, he’s warned of the local corruption and told not to trust any cop. And yet, Harry is cautious but trusts his instincts which, ultimately, lets him overcome his institution’s inherent racism and xenophobia.
»“Right,” Bosch said. “I get it. No matter what goes wrong, it’s my ass. I got it. I also have a vest in my trunk. He can use yours. I like my own.”«
One might criticise some of Harry’s decisions, of course. Most importantly a certain a bold and brave choice at the very end of the novel but thinking about it, that decision was not only fully within Harry’s character (which, in itself, would be insufficient to justify it) but it ultimately serves everyone involved and sees true justice done.
It was a realistic and fitting conclusion to the story, as it reflected the complexity and ambiguity of the situation. Harry did not take the easy or conventional way out, but he followed his instincts and his conscience, even if it meant losing his reputation and his friends. I think that this decision made Harry a more interesting and admirable character, and also a more human one. Harry is not a perfect hero, but he is a true one.
»Irving finally turned around to face him again.
“You are right, Bosch. I really don’t understand you. Why risk everything for nothing? You see? It raises my concerns about you all over again. You don’t play for the team. You play for yourself.”
Bosch looked steadily at Irving and didn’t smile, though he wanted to. Irving had paid him a fine compliment, though the assistant chief would never realize it.«
“The Black Ice” is a very clever and complex story which is told elegantly by Connelly. Once again, a small drawback is the age of this novel: Written in the 90s, there still are no mobile phones, typewriters are still in use, etc..
Due to the dense and extremely coherent atmosphere, the wonderfully designed tension arc, and the balanced pacing, I was able to simply overlook it.
Five out of five stars.
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This is the second Harry Bosch novel I read and it surpasses its already strong predecessor in many aspects.
The story begins on Christmas night, when Harry discovers that a fellow officer, Calexico Moore, has apparently committed suicide in a seedy motel. Harry is suspicious of the circumstances and decides to investigate on his own, despite the orders from his superiors to stay away. He soon uncovers a web of corruption, drug trafficking, and murder that involves not only Moore, but also a mysterious drug lord, who is behind a new and deadly drug called Black Ice.
The writing is much improved compared to the first Bosch novel: Connelly has refined his style and skill, and has created a more polished and engaging narrative. The writing is more rounded and even and also more vivid and descriptive. Connelly uses a variety of techniques, such as dialogue, action, flashback, and foreshadowing, to create a dynamic and suspenseful story. He also uses rich and realistic details to bring the setting and the characters to life.
The pacing has also greatly improved: Gone are any unnecessary or boring parts; instead, there’s a consistent and smooth flow of the story. The pacing is fast enough to keep the reader interested and excited, but not too fast to lose the coherence, cohesion, and logic of the plot.
The pacing also balances well between the two levels of the story: the private and the professional. Connelly gives enough relevant context and background information to explain Harry's thoughts and actions, and to show how his personal life affects his work, and vice versa. The private and the professional levels are nicely intertwined and work brilliantly together, creating a more complex and realistic character for Harry, and a more satisfying and rewarding reading experience for the reader.
I still love Bosch’s integrity and loyalty: When his investigation makes him visit Mexico, he’s warned of the local corruption and told not to trust any cop. And yet, Harry is cautious but trusts his instincts which, ultimately, lets him overcome his institution’s inherent racism and xenophobia.
»“Right,” Bosch said. “I get it. No matter what goes wrong, it’s my ass. I got it. I also have a vest in my trunk. He can use yours. I like my own.”«
One might criticise some of Harry’s decisions, of course. Most importantly a certain a bold and brave choice at the very end of the novel but thinking about it, that decision was not only fully within Harry’s character (which, in itself, would be insufficient to justify it) but it ultimately serves everyone involved and sees true justice done.
It was a realistic and fitting conclusion to the story, as it reflected the complexity and ambiguity of the situation. Harry did not take the easy or conventional way out, but he followed his instincts and his conscience, even if it meant losing his reputation and his friends. I think that this decision made Harry a more interesting and admirable character, and also a more human one. Harry is not a perfect hero, but he is a true one.
»Irving finally turned around to face him again.
“You are right, Bosch. I really don’t understand you. Why risk everything for nothing? You see? It raises my concerns about you all over again. You don’t play for the team. You play for yourself.”
Bosch looked steadily at Irving and didn’t smile, though he wanted to. Irving had paid him a fine compliment, though the assistant chief would never realize it.«
“The Black Ice” is a very clever and complex story which is told elegantly by Connelly. Once again, a small drawback is the age of this novel: Written in the 90s, there still are no mobile phones, typewriters are still in use, etc..
Due to the dense and extremely coherent atmosphere, the wonderfully designed tension arc, and the balanced pacing, I was able to simply overlook it.
Five out of five stars.
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March 16, 2019
The Black Ice (Harry Bosch #2) - Michael Connelly
This is the second book in the Harry Bosch series and the beginnings of one of the most wonderful police procedural series ever written IMHO. Michael Connelly is somewhere near the very top of the heap when it comes to writing the police procedural genre. And, the guy is no slouch, albeit he has only written something like +25 novels now. Oh well, maybe he will get serious and pick up the pace someday. Ha. Obviously, Connelly has found a fantastic series set, but also worth mentioning is the lead character, Harry Bosch. Michael Connelly has created one of the best known and most popular protagonists of this particular genre.
Harry Bosch - where does one begin? Son of a prostitute, now deceased, father, basically unknown. Foster homes, many, with many foster parents who really weren’t into it for the love and the loss that these children must be experiencing. He was always walking around without wondering what it was like to be one with. He was growing up and walking horizontal in a vertical world. Life, nothing in life, could hold or retain value, and if it could, well. then it could not retain this value. His clother were clean but he was dirty or he was clean and his clothes were dirty. His socks did not match, but somewhere he was sure that he had a pair just like it.
When one is brought up in such conditions it is improbable that the individual will not profoundly be affected in adulthood. Such is the case with Harry Bosch. He is a loner who does not play well with others and this filters to his work where his wreckless antics that blur the fine lines of what is acceptable and is not acceptable, and his stubborness and general scorn of the system make close friendships tough to have. He smokes way too much, and cannot maintain a longterm relationship with a woman. He tends to drift from woman to woman throughout life. Yes, all of these elements seem to represent a negative, unsavory, unlikable character. But, man is Harry Bosch a kick-ass, likable character. Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series is like a really good Scotch - it goes down fine.
One would hate to give too much of this story away. It is not fair to rob the reader of great reading. However, Narcotics Officer Cal Moore runs across a guy that is also tied into what L.A.P.D. Detective Harry Bosch is working. Harry is sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve, a preference, having a drink and listening to jazz, one of his favorite things to do. He has also been bonding with a coyote lately, when he hears some chatter on the scanner. Cal Moore had been found, an apparent suicide, already labeled, with a suicide note in his back pocket.
Wait a minute. Hold your horses. Who already said suicide? Who was called out? Harry was the up detective. This is not right. You don’t tug on Superman’s Cape, you don’t piss into the wind, you don’t pull off the mask of the ole’ Lone Ranger and you don’t shut Harry out of a case. Harry hurries off to the hotel. The Brass is really trying to shut him out of this one. But why?
The “why” leads to more murders, Harry going to Mexico and becoming a target himself, and the apparent exporting of a new street drug something called Black Ice.
People who like police procedurals will not go wrong with Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. It is excellent and The Black Ice is no exception. So, please, read this book. An easy 4-star rating.
This is the second book in the Harry Bosch series and the beginnings of one of the most wonderful police procedural series ever written IMHO. Michael Connelly is somewhere near the very top of the heap when it comes to writing the police procedural genre. And, the guy is no slouch, albeit he has only written something like +25 novels now. Oh well, maybe he will get serious and pick up the pace someday. Ha. Obviously, Connelly has found a fantastic series set, but also worth mentioning is the lead character, Harry Bosch. Michael Connelly has created one of the best known and most popular protagonists of this particular genre.
Harry Bosch - where does one begin? Son of a prostitute, now deceased, father, basically unknown. Foster homes, many, with many foster parents who really weren’t into it for the love and the loss that these children must be experiencing. He was always walking around without wondering what it was like to be one with. He was growing up and walking horizontal in a vertical world. Life, nothing in life, could hold or retain value, and if it could, well. then it could not retain this value. His clother were clean but he was dirty or he was clean and his clothes were dirty. His socks did not match, but somewhere he was sure that he had a pair just like it.
When one is brought up in such conditions it is improbable that the individual will not profoundly be affected in adulthood. Such is the case with Harry Bosch. He is a loner who does not play well with others and this filters to his work where his wreckless antics that blur the fine lines of what is acceptable and is not acceptable, and his stubborness and general scorn of the system make close friendships tough to have. He smokes way too much, and cannot maintain a longterm relationship with a woman. He tends to drift from woman to woman throughout life. Yes, all of these elements seem to represent a negative, unsavory, unlikable character. But, man is Harry Bosch a kick-ass, likable character. Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series is like a really good Scotch - it goes down fine.
One would hate to give too much of this story away. It is not fair to rob the reader of great reading. However, Narcotics Officer Cal Moore runs across a guy that is also tied into what L.A.P.D. Detective Harry Bosch is working. Harry is sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve, a preference, having a drink and listening to jazz, one of his favorite things to do. He has also been bonding with a coyote lately, when he hears some chatter on the scanner. Cal Moore had been found, an apparent suicide, already labeled, with a suicide note in his back pocket.
Wait a minute. Hold your horses. Who already said suicide? Who was called out? Harry was the up detective. This is not right. You don’t tug on Superman’s Cape, you don’t piss into the wind, you don’t pull off the mask of the ole’ Lone Ranger and you don’t shut Harry out of a case. Harry hurries off to the hotel. The Brass is really trying to shut him out of this one. But why?
The “why” leads to more murders, Harry going to Mexico and becoming a target himself, and the apparent exporting of a new street drug something called Black Ice.
People who like police procedurals will not go wrong with Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. It is excellent and The Black Ice is no exception. So, please, read this book. An easy 4-star rating.
April 3, 2017
Reviewed at Cross My Heart Writings & Reviews
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch strikes out on his own to investigate the apparent suicide of an narcotics officer in this twisted, gritty police procedural. His orders are to leave it alone, but Harry's gut is telling him something is wrong about the whole thing and well . . . we all know Harry doesn't play by the rules. Meantime, he's assigned another officer's cases and upon closer examination, he strongly suspects that the murder and suicide cases are connected. After yet another murder occurs, all clues and roads point Harry toward Mexico and so he follows the evidence and finds himself in the middle of a very complex, volatile, deadly situation involving drug cartels and corrupt cops . . . a situation where all is not as it seems.
The Black Ice showcases Bosch's classic, hard-nosed detective character to perfection. Like the solitary coyote roaming the hills around his home, Harry is comfortable living life alone, skirting the edges of society. Intense, gritty, and as tenacious as a junk-yard dog, once on the scent of a trail Harry never backs down. There's no "quit" in him. Connelly does an outstanding job developing this character, and I definitely want to see where he takes Bosch over the course of this series. The plot and characters in this book will keep you guessing right up through the shocking twist near the end. A Must Read!
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch strikes out on his own to investigate the apparent suicide of an narcotics officer in this twisted, gritty police procedural. His orders are to leave it alone, but Harry's gut is telling him something is wrong about the whole thing and well . . . we all know Harry doesn't play by the rules. Meantime, he's assigned another officer's cases and upon closer examination, he strongly suspects that the murder and suicide cases are connected. After yet another murder occurs, all clues and roads point Harry toward Mexico and so he follows the evidence and finds himself in the middle of a very complex, volatile, deadly situation involving drug cartels and corrupt cops . . . a situation where all is not as it seems.
The Black Ice showcases Bosch's classic, hard-nosed detective character to perfection. Like the solitary coyote roaming the hills around his home, Harry is comfortable living life alone, skirting the edges of society. Intense, gritty, and as tenacious as a junk-yard dog, once on the scent of a trail Harry never backs down. There's no "quit" in him. Connelly does an outstanding job developing this character, and I definitely want to see where he takes Bosch over the course of this series. The plot and characters in this book will keep you guessing right up through the shocking twist near the end. A Must Read!
May 4, 2023
The unnecessary love story is here again.
I am getting ready for that pathetic fest in the next installment too....
The rest of the plot is interesting without being too procedural and despite all the cop novel cliches I liked it.
I am getting ready for that pathetic fest in the next installment too....
The rest of the plot is interesting without being too procedural and despite all the cop novel cliches I liked it.
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