The Black Box

Connelly hinted at the 1992 Los Angeles riots before, but this time he puts Bosch in the middle of them. Then, he brings him back twenty years later to close a cold case that he wasn’t allowed to fully investigate in the midst of the chaos. Connelly has a mastery of the investigative details that sometimes amazes me – tracking the gun through various crimes in this one is superb. There’s some Hollywood hi-jinx in the climax, and some behavior that seems too questionable even for Bosch. But those little things don’t ruin the book.

4 ½ bones!!!!!
Recommended

Very slow to start; but once the plot gets exposed and we get into the gritty details, a great book. Love the back and forth between Bosch and his idiot boss, Lt O'Toole, called "The Tool" by the squad.

I really, really wanted to see Michael Connelly return to form. I had high hopes for The Black Box, but although it was a disappointment it was still markedly better than his other recent efforts. Connelly basically turned me onto this genre many years ago with his first novels and it's been sad (and costly, and time-consuming) for his readers to watch him settle into mediocrity. On the surface, this Bosch book sounded like it had the potential for redemption, but it wasn't to be. It's not a bad book, it's just not that good.

It's a fairly interesting cold-case of the murder of a foreign journalist during the LA riots of the 90's. Bosch has his usual run-ins with authority figures as he uses tried-and-true techniques and intuition to show more make progress on the investigation, and for awhile there it sounded like he would be bounced from the case and the department in short order. However, he's able to work through his issues, make some logical leaps to identify and eventually take down the suspects, and in the meantime handle the sub-plots of romance and parenting. Everything turns out well.

When I read and eventually review novels, I usually 'rate' them in plot, writing, dialogue, and conclusion. The Black Box had a decent plot, but I did have problems with several parts that I thought no cop would ever do. The conclusion as well was a bit hard to take- although the good guys 'won' in the end, I don't necessarily think the way the story built to that point was very believable.

I had my biggest problem with the writing and dialogue. In a word, it was boring. When Hemingway wrote in simple, declarative sentences, it was magic. When Connelly does it, which seemed to be what he attempted to do throughout this book, it was tedious, sort of like listening to Detective Joe Friday for 400 pages. The dialogue was likewise rather stilted and odd-sounding in many cases.

At least the plot, albeit with a few holes, was a bit better this time. Who knows- with marginal improvement each time Connelly might be back to his previous level of competence in 10 or 15 years. show less

Oh, Harry Bosch is back! I started Michael Connelly's latest book in the series (#18) - The Black Box - and I tried really, really hard to make it last.....but it was no use.....I finished it in a day. I literally couldn't put it down.

Harry is still with the Open-Unsolved Unit of the LAPD. It's the 20th anniversary of the L.A. riots and the Unit has been asked to try and clear some cases from that time period. Harry knows the case he wants to re examine. He worked the streets during that turmoil and was there when Anneke Jespersen's body was found in an alley. The murder of the young journalist was never solved.

"In the chaos of the moment, the mission was simple; preserve the evidence, document the scene as well and as fast as show more possible, and collect the dead. Get in and get out. And do it safely. The real investigation would come later. Maybe."

Well, that time is now. With today's capabilities in forensic science, Harry makes a discovery - bullets at the Jespersen scene match other crime scenes - committed after her murder. And Harry is on the trail. "Twenty years later, he got another shot at it. And it was a very long shot at that." What he also has is a new lieutenant - one determined to put Harry in his place.

This is Harry at his best, under the gun from superiors, eschewing the politicos, running solo, making connections others don't see and pursuing his cases full out. Justice for the victim is his focus. I have such a vivid mental image of Harry as I read - he is one of my favourite detectives.

As always, the plotting was intricate. I enjoyed solving the crime along with Harry as he pieced together his case from tenuous leads, intuition and dogged determination.

Connelly has given us the softer side of Harry in the last few books with the addition of his daughter Maddie. While I enjoy Harry having a personal life and storyline, I'm still on the fence about Maddie. But not about the new love interest Hannah - she's got to go. I'm curious as to whether a new female cop introduced in this book will return in future stories. Initially I thought she was just a supporting character, but played a bigger role than I imagined.

As always, another great read from Connelly. The downside - we'll have to wait another year for his next book - The Gods of Guilt.

"The saying is that law enforcement work is ninety-nine per-cent boredom and one percent adrenaline - screaming high intensity moments of life -and- death consequence." The Black Box? One hundred percent recommended. show less

MC weaves the a Bosch investigation of a 20 year old murder during the LA Riots into into a tight, well told mystery with a believable and relatively quick ending. Maybe could have spent more time with the bad guys but MC developed Annika Jespersen well and Bosch's relationships with O'Toole and Mendenhall will be interesting down the road. MC also does well showing Bosch being reflective and changing as he ages. Its the rare book that keeps me up to the wee hours just so I can read the ending on a work night. This one did.

Amateurs of Bosch will love this novel in the series. Bosch is a on 20 year-old cold case where he was the initial investigator, pulled off the file too soon due the raging Rodney King riots. It's a nice balance of sleuthing, good luck and smart hunches that leads the detective to the murder.
I particularly enjoyed the historical context of the riots and second Gulf war (both of which I lived through so it brought me back!), as well as the side internal investigation that probes into Bosch's private life.
A fun, balanced and engaging read.

This was pure police procedural, and a bit boring to med for the first part. Fortunately, it got better because I almost quit reading it. A bit more cerebral than usual, and more involvement with his 16-year old daughter, who wants to become a cop, and would probably be very good.

This turned out to be a good story, possibly more memorable than many of his other ones. Perhaps not as much action, so if you need that, you may not like it.