The Black Ice: Harry Bosch Series, Book 2

As a former police officer, I enjoy Connelly's police novels and have read 5 so far, and want to buy more. Like all his other novels, The Black Ice is a thrilling page-turner, making you wish you could read faster. He builds a background and personality for his characters to make them feel real and believable. When Amazon ended the Bosch series, I had to have more and decided I needed to buy the novels that inspired the creation of the Amazon series. I was not disappointed! And, who knew he also wrote The Lincoln Lawyer? Connelly paints a vivid and real picture of LA and Hollywood, places I know very well, being a native of LA County. He does it so well it is like watching a movie in your mind. He names all the famous restaurants in LA, dives, and streets, and he knows the police codes, slang, and equipment used. You would think he was once a police officer, even though he wasn't. The story is fascinating, journeying from LA to Calexico/Mexicali with real vividness along the way. I kept saying to myself, "I know that place!" I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a former LEO.

So this was my first introduction into the Harry Bosch series and overall, the second book in the series. While guilty of a couple cliche's and contrived plot points, the writing itself was strong enough to overcome these shortcomings and in the end, the story ends up being a pretty enjoyable detective procedural/mystery. Harry himself is a fairly enjoyable character who at times was refreshingly different for a cop, but also falls victim to some of the cliche's of the genre with his chain smoking, lone wolf ways. Of course, this sense of Harry vs. the world type of story-telling allows you to empathize and relate to what Harry goes through quite nicely, but has the slightly adverse effect of making pretty much every other character not very well fleshed out and somewhat one-dimensional. Even Harry's primary love interest who's a central character in the story itself is little more than a pretty, albeit, grieving face who - of course (and IMO, far too quickly) - seeks comfort in Harry's arms. That being said, the mystery and how it unfolds was very satisfactory and kept you guessing very nicely until the very end, and after it was all said and done, there are a few mysteries that you don't ever quite get the answers too. The action was sporadic, but very well done when it existed. I particularly enjoyed the description of the bull-fight and the action down in Mexico. At times the writing was very strong and really drew me into the story and at other times was merely serviceable, but it never lapsed into poor or shoddy writing. Overall, I ended up enjoying the story and pacing well enough to definitely continue in the Harry Bosch series once I get the urge to read another crime novel again.

A page turner. I like how Connelly weaves a broad web, and as the novel draws to a close, he ties up many loose ends. My only gripe is the windup occurs quickly, with a twist that I didn’t expect. but that is what a twist is, after all. Very enjoyable read. I started with #6 in the Bosch series, then went back and read no. 1 and now 2. I can’t wait to start the next one.

Slow beginning but truly finished big . Easy to look forward to the next days allotted amount of reading time for my busy schedule.

Beginning was great. It was a little slow until the end. You will not see the surprise at the end.

Good read. Connelly is a great writer Enjoy all his books so far .will read as many more as possible

I read this many years ago and after watching the TV series "Bosch" I decided to read all the books again. I had forgotten how good these early books were. I thought the TV series was very good, but the books are even better, especially these early novels. If you liked the show you are in for a treat when you read this.

I stand here, in front of the blank page and I am struggling to find anything, good or bad to say about “The Black Ice”. Well I guess that speaks for itself. There is nothing really wrong here. The plot, while predictable is not terrible, just average and lacking anything to invoke any involvement from the reader, and I would say, even from Bosch. The writing is good and the ending is satisfying with not many loose ends. Its just so terribly bland! Like the first book in the series, “The Black Ice” is just painfully average. The book moves slow, nothing happens for about two thirds and its a long read too which is not a good combination. Bosch seems to get involved in the plot because “the author wants to” because quite honestly he has no reason to risk his life and his job investigating the murder of a guy he once met for ten minutes. I mean the only reason the author comes up with is basically that the dead guy's wife was hot and Bosch wanted to get to know her “intimately”. Which he he does. For a lonely guy Bosch sure gets a lot of action, that's for sure. There's a bit of that “Marlowe vibe”, the more people tell him to back off the more he stays on the case but its all very flimsy as a motivation for taking on a drug cartel. The same lack of motivation happens to the reader. Like in the first book there's not much to care about here. The victim is a dirty cop, pretty much in the cartel's pocket so why should I really care who killed him? Literally nobody in the book cared but Bosch. Even the guy's wife was more or less “eh whatever”. The second half also seemed like a bad “Miami Vice” episode with Bosch in Mexico and the DEA and seedy undercover agents... its not bad but not really what I would expect from the series. It stopped being a sort of noir-ish loner cop investigating a murder to helicopters chasing drug lords, machine-gun battles and a fight with a bull... literally a bull! So yeah... its a decent book but nothing more. Its long, slow and even the twist at the end was more than predictable. Maybe at the time, when the book came out, it felt fresh and entertaining. Today, for me, it just felt... eh... whatever...

Good condition! Good book!

OK

Never fails to disappoint. Connelly's books are pure adventure. Lots of action. Great story. Sirens...car and females. Death. Guns and Harry.

The Harry Bosch series is superb. Please read

Bel libro, suggestivo nelle ambientazioni e con un buon intreccio. C'è azione, ma anche pensiero e un interessante spazio dato all'introspezione del personaggio Bosch. Connelly mantiene le aspettative per gli appassionati del genere. Questa versione originale inglese è perfetta per il lettore italiano che vuol fare esercizio. Non troppo difficile ma nemmeno banale, con delle belle locuzioni in american slang.