The best part about this book was, that it finally ended.

There was absolutely nothing to like about Michael McConnohie's performance. It was simply awful.

I'll not purchase another Michael Connelly book unless Len Cariou or Dick Hall are the performing artist.

I am addicted to Harry Bosch. I like his character, his style, his purpose, and his integrity. Connelly's work is pure escape artfully crafted and delivered - normally. Not so on this installment.

The story is okay, not one of Connelly's best but good never the less. The new characters lack depth but that can come with time. This listen suffers from one tragic flaw - the narration is horrid. Horrid! I cannot say that often or loud enough. Delivered in a flat monotone throughout with such poor character voices that I sometimes had to stop and ask which one was speaking, it is a chore to stick with it to the end. I'm not saying it is bad, I'm saying it is horrible. It absolutely sucks the life out of the story and the enjoyment out of the listening.

I've been listening to Audible books for five years and I've only put one book on the shelf before finishing it. If I wasn't so committed to Bosch this would have been number two.

I don't know where Len Cariou ran off to, but please find him quick. Send a plane, send a train, send a boat. Heck, send Harry to find him, but get him back!

I'm a huge Connelly fan...as in I see a new book and I buy it. I don't read the synopsis or the reviews -- I just get the book and start listening.

And the story has an interesting premise: a murder during the LA riots, dark secrets and a plot that just keeps chugging along.

By detective novel standards, this is outstanding and is completely listenable.

By Connelly standards...well...Harry does some things that will make you go "Huh?"

A solid offering...but I found some areas where the believability was stretched to the breaking point. The villains are one dimensional and this was one of the few times where I'd figured it all out before I was told what happened.

Is it worth a credit? ABSOLUTELY.

Is it a road trip worthy offering? YUP.

Will it keep you sitting in the driveway when you get home? Probably.

It's just not Connelly at his finest...or Harry for that matter.

David

I always enjoy Michael Connelly's books, especially with Harry Bosch as the main character. It's like being in a different world, a police world, where things are noticed differently; it makes me aware of things I normally don't see.
What I like least is that the main character's (Harry Bosch's) voice has changed! I've been listening to these for years and it felt "off" the whole time I was listening. Definitely made a difference in my enjoyment of the book.

Yes, because he's had me hooked in the past

It was an okay performance, it wasn't the narrator's fault that he didn't do the previous books.

Please, please get Len Cariou to do the voice of Harry Bosch again!

I just had to put my two cents in and agree with most of the reviewers here that the "reader" totally ruined the book. I could not even finish the book, in fact I'm about 1 hr. into the story and went on line just now to find another book.

McConnohie does not perform the book, he reads the book. His cadence and tone remind me of the old WWII recruitment movies. He has one voice for every character including the narration, its easy to just tune it out like background noise because his presentation is so annoying.

It was so difficult to follow the story that I'm not sure how to critique the book. Harry Bosch is my favorite character of any I have come to know and I have read/listened to all of his stories. I want to finish the book but it is just too painful. I honestly feel that to be fair to Michael Connelly and his fans, the publisher should re-record this book with either Len Carriou or maybe George Guidal performing the book, or actually anyone would be better than this guy.

I too missed Lou's narration, but got over it after a bit. But that is not why I gave it only 3 stars.

I have two primary impressions:

1) Connelly was filling pages. There is some redundancy, in the form of repeated sentences, rewording of previously stated things, and I got the notion that either he thought we were too dense to get his point or that he was filling space. I also think he is flying solo -- that is without an editor.

2) I feel as if Connelly decided on the motive for the murder while writing the story -- not in advance, not in a manner that would force him to write the story toward that particular kind of crime. He put out a few weak red herrings to make us think that the murder had a different possible background, but decided in the final third like a coin-toss, what the motive would be and then manipulated the already introduced characters into the logical circumstances. Until his visit with the female soldier, there was no information that would lead us to think of that particular motive for the death of a journalist.

I also had, and have had in the past, a problem with Harry's treatment of David Chu; it's like Chu is guilty of something or Harry has reason to not trust him. I had a hard time believing Harry's romance with Hannah, and his scenes with his daughter were only moderately convincing. Many of these books seem to be an opportunity to list the writer's reading, drinking, music and travel preferences.

The final scenes, when Harry is "rescued" from the impossible trap were not believable. It was illogical that this particular helper arrived out of nowhere -- unlikely, even given the explanation -- with no previous interest in Harry's well-being. The person is a detective but acted like an idiot.

Yet, it was readable, and it was decent to listen to. I would not have liked to be stuck in a chair with it because it wasn't so good that I would give up doing other things to read it.

Basically, my complaints come down to what I feel is Connelly's apparent indifference to including details of human behavior (something he once mastered) and his indifference to his readers. He's like a rock star who can f**t on stage and get a standing ovation.

Because it had the Bosch markings and carried the memories of better books, I would not discourage anyone from reading it. I would warn you to lower your expectations AND don't suggest it to someone for their first Bosch book.

The narrator was excellent, I was surprised to see negative comments about his performance. I guess some people find it hard to deal with change.

Fantastic, Michael Connelly attention to detail is worth noting

Another fine story by Michael Connelly. As I said early...His attention to detail makes this novel a spell binder.

I don't write reviews often, but I do usually read them and let them influence some of my purchases. I love Bosch books, but they are not in my top 10. So if I am trying to decide between a few books, I read the reviews to try to choose. Everyone was so harsh and critical of the narrator that I skipped this book. I had one credit left and got to researching and found he read some of the Rain series and I loved him in those. I ordered the book and am almost finished with it and it was well worth the credit.
Enjoy.

Another great Harry book, well worth the wait. The narrator was great, I don't see any problem getting used to him, he underplays sometimes, but so did Len Cariou. It took longer to adjust from Dick Hill to Cariou than it will to McConnohie, the quality of the voice is excellent for these books. The energy in his voice and the timbre is right.

This one has lots of twists and turns, although none of them are really dead-ends but seem to be, for a while. Eventually it comes together for him. I'm not so sure we've ever come this close to losing him!

Maddie is growing up and teaching Harry about parenting. He is doing very well, especially for someone who hasn't much experience on either side. I'd like to see a little more contact with Mickey's daughter. I guess there isn't time to hit on everything.