Last year, son Jim and significant other Stef dropped a huge book under our Christmas tree. Jim had written a recommendation of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. He and Stef had liked them. For Christmas they gave us a three novel collection -- almost 800 pages of murder mysteries.
The size and heft of the tome are the only problems. Do you know how hard it is to lie in a hammock and read a book that big?
So far I've read only the first novel, The Black Echo. I was captivated. Connelly tells a good tale. This tale is not told in broad brushstrokes, but in quiet detail. Some sections are told in almost real time; conversations are detailed and complete. It does take Connelly a long time to the tell the story of The Black Echo, but it's a story that deserves the detail.
Harry Bosch, the focus of this and the other novels in this volume, is an LAPD homicide detective who is smart, daring, and insightful. He pushes the limits of his legal role and pushes the buttons of some of his superiors. This is, after all, police fiction and some conflict has to be built into the situation. This first Harry Bosch novel centers around his Vietnam experiences and those of other veterans, but it takes place twenty-five years after Richard Nixon declared victory and pulled American soldiers out of Vietnam.
This is not a book you can pick up and read on a rainy Saturday afternoon or a sunny day at the beach. I was tempted at times to breeze through some conversations Connelly "records" and skip ahead, but I couldn't. There are too many connections between people and events. The plot is too complex. The story seems to end several times, but it's not over until the epilogue is complete. Nearly every word in this 284-page novel needs to be read, and nearly every one deserves to be read. Come on, you can read a section or two and put it aside until tomorrow. But, I think you'll get to a point where you might find yourself reading more than you think you should some evening or Sunday afternoon. It's good. It's in the library (originally published in 1992). Try it. I'm planning on reading the second novel in the book, The Black Ice. I'll let you know if it's as good as The Black Echo.
A day after I wrote the previous paragraph, Nancy gave lie to my contention about how carefully Connelly's book had to be read. She skimmed through most of it during the 150-minute ride home from Sidetrack. This is, she said, a police procedural novel. That was a genre I hadn't heard of before. She said her familiarity with the format made possible her perusal. However, after we got home that Sunday evening, she did spend some time more carefully reading the ending in all its fits and starts. Maybe it it is neither as complex as I thought nor as simple as Nancy assumed. Read it tell us what you think.
When I looked up Web sites about this book, I discovered that Connelly wrote the book Blood Work which is now a "MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" starring Clint Eastwood. Anyone seen it? Tell us about it.
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By Ken Wedding. 08.17.02 Updated 08.19.02.
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