Nine Dragons

Harry Bosch, Book 14

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Len Cariou

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.

Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store's owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer. The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation - not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li's life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S. And instantly his world explodes.

The one good thing in Bosch's life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he's lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city's Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad's ferocity.

Impressed? Ace detective Harry Bosch is also on the case in other exciting Michael Connelly crime-fiction novels.

We're thrilled to announce that our premier Audible Live event on Facebook will be a chat with best-selling author Michael Connelly. On November 3 at 7pm (ET), you'll be able to ask him questions about Nine Dragons, Harry Bosch, his favorite audiobooks, and more! RSVP Today

©2009 Michael Connelly (P)2009 Hachette

Critic reviews

"Terrific....Connelly never stops doling out the suspense as action leads to counteraction....His thriller is an addictive read that, once it grabs you in those first few pages, won't let go of you....High-grade entertainment." (Boston Globe)

A little over the top

The Bosch series is my favorite. This is not my favorite. It comes a lot of ground and shows the hero has flaws. I just think my hero would not have so aggressive.

May favorite Harry Bosch novel!

Michael Connelly releases his new Harry Bosch novel The Wrong Side of Goodbye on November 1. All of Connelly's novels are in my library and while I have rated all I have reviewed only one of the 18 Bosch novels. 9 Dragons is my favorite novel in the series; it is also very different from all of the rest. His daughter Maddie has lived with her mother ex-FBI agent Eleanor Wish, Bosch's ex-wife, since their separation and divorce. At the beginning of the novel they live in Hong Kong; the novel setting is there. 9 Dragons in the one must read novel in the Harry Bosch series. Of course, listening to the earlier novels adds to perspective.

Fabulous!

Connolly's mastery of the genre and his lean, energetic writing render one heckuva book. He doesn't waste time with extensive scenic descriptions and there's not much "he said she said I said" either. The story is told in the first person by its protagonist, Detective Harry Bosch.

I've read other reviews saying Harry, usually the model of sang froi, comes totally undone. He does indeed fall out of his tree, in a totally believable manner that is consistent with the character.

There are plenty of plot twists and I didn't see the ending coming at all. Pay attention, and if you think you missed something, rewind. I repeated a few minutes here and there to make sure that I didn't miss a thing.

Grab this book and settle in for a rocking good read.

Interesting story, disappointing narration

I liked the story, particularly Connelly’s concluding twists concerning the (real) villains and Bosch’s daughter, but the narrator’s (Len Cariou) Chinese/Cantonese chosen voices and fingernails-on-chalkboard diction for most of the Hong Kong-based characters was a sad throwback to a bygone stereotype.

Why he voiced them so they sounded like ‘Astro,’ the Jetson-family’s dog, was the distracting and recurring question I couldn’t get out of my head, every time I clenched my teeth while listening to his abysmal pronunciation of Chinese words and period-accent, as I had to wait for the story to unfold.

I look forward to the publisher reprising this narration with James Hong or someone else who can pull off a realistic Cantonese-accent without the denigrating ‘Charlie Chan’ or ‘Mr. Yunioshi’ type of yellow-face accents that men of Cariou’s generation seem frozen to.

Was just Ok

this book has a good story but the narration is terrible. I will avoid all books with this narrator in the future.

strung out

story was slow-moving and was like getting your teeth pulled to get the next scene

Painful but possibly his best book in the series

Painful but possibly his best book in the series until this point. Definitely up there with Black Echo and Black Ice.

A Real Thriller!

I truely enjoyed 9 Dragons. It had me listening on my commute, on my daily walks and even at home. A thriller from beginning to end.

Another great Harry Bosche thriller

As with every Bosche book, this one is riveting from the first sentence, all the way to the end.

Not the best but still pretty damn good

Harry Bosch is my guilty pleasure-- "Everybody counts, or nobody counts." He is a sexy, aging man with issues. Connelly keeps things freshly formulaic-- and I am so grateful for that. I know that I will be entertained, and that the twists have twists.

This isn't the strongest of the series overall, but it has some of the most poignant scenes. I was devastated with what happened to Eleanor, because now Harry will truly have to find love and redemption within himself. I'm on the fence about Maddie's role in this book. Not sure that conclusion of her setting the crapstorm in motion was effectively resolved. Which means its time to download the next book.