The Narrows: Harry Bosch Series, Book 10

What can I tell you? If you read the prior Harry Bosch novels you'll love it. If this is your first you'll be hooked. It's just great to be able to listen the yarn unfold. Michael Connelley is a masterful story teller.

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite writers, but this book, The Narrows, top all the rest. It is beautifully written. The characters and their relationships are well drawn. But it is the excitement that kept me listening non-stop. When I had 3 hours left I uplugged my phone and listened!

Bosch has really come into his own as a character. The book is well written, well read, fast paced, hangs together well and has lot's of good twists and turns. If all writers made their books this interesting, we readers would be in "hog heaven".

Has all the ingredients of a good thriller, and delivers the goods. Exciting plot (without stretching credibility too far), good combination of suspense and action, tightly?written, effective dialogue, well-drawn characters. This is all brought together by a first-class narrator, Len Cariou, who manages to mix the necessary tough guy delivery with the variety of other styles required. The closing scenes might remind you of the atmosphere of the song Riders on the Storm, by the Doors. If this book is ever filmed, the song is a must.

This was a great mystery, one that kept me hooked. The reader was superb! The only distracting thing was the transitional music between sections or chapters. It was awful. Without the music, which you should try to overlook, I would have given this book a "five star" rating.

This book struck me in a different manner than other Connelly - Harry Bosch tales.

This one doesn't really come from a who-dunnit perspective at all.

It's simply a manhunt for a serial killer. There is never any doubt as to culprit. The way Connelly unravels the path to the murderer was also different than past Bosch fare, but quite good!

This is the first time I ever had a lukewarm comment regarding the reader Len Cariou. He seemed to overemphasize mundane points throughout the book as if he was trying to build suspense where it did not exist. He does not do this in other stories from the Harry Bosch series.

Overall worth it, and I'll be back for more.

My favorite Connelly is "The Lincoln Lawyer". It's a can't miss and I hope Connelly revives the character.

This is the sequel to The Poet. While it wasn't as good as the previous novel (The Poet was hard to beat) it was a good read in it's own right. The action climax scene at the end of the book was fast-paced and hard to follow. Accurate rewinding is difficult with a Nomad MuVo as some of you may know. :)

Anyway, Connelly pulled it off. The sequel to the Poet didn't disappoint. I highly recommend reading that novel first, by the way. Enjoyment of this book is highly dependent on the reader knowing the history of these characters. Sadly, although The Poet IS available in unabridged audio format, Audible doesn't catalog it. Hint, hint.

Ok, so I admit, I hadn't caught on yet to the series of books with the character of Harry Bosch. Obviously, I regret that. I read some great reviews of this book, and so I made sure to add it to my top five list. Before reading this, however, I picked up the beginning of the story contained in the first book "The Poet". Regrettably, audible doesn't have this available yet, so annoyingly, I had to get it on tape. It was well worth the aggravation. "The Poet" is a GREAT thriller, and I couldn't wait to get to the next installment with "The Narrows".

This book definitely falls in line with the hype. I know some people were annoyed by the transition from first person to third person, but I wasn't confused at all by this. It didn't really register with me until a friend pointed it out.

The characters are compelling and real. The descriptions are graphic enough that a few nauseated me (crime scenes and a few other circumstances) which tells me Connelly is good at his craft. To have physical reactions as well as emotional ones is the sign of a great story.

Do yourself a favor though - be sure to read or listen to "The Poet" first. I think it goes a long way to completing this story, and it will make it infinitely more exciting.

After a couple of weaker efforts (Chasing the Dime, Lost light) Michael Connelly is back at the top of his game in The Narrows.

Connelly's books are so satisfying because they seem so real. Most of his books feature Harry Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective. Over the course of ten or so books Harry catches killers, battles various levels of police bureaucracy and struggles with his inner demons. The books are skillfully interconnected. A sentence or two in one book becomes the basis for a book later in the series. A little more about Bosch is revealed in each book. Over time, Bosch's mental state ebbs and flows. Bosch empathizes with his victims and this tends to depress him. In City of Bones it became too painful and he resigned from the police force. In The Narrows, nearly three years later, Bosch is refreshed and doing so much better. He joins forces directly with Rachel Walling (the FBI agent in The Poet) and indirectly with Terry McCaleb (retired FBI in Blood Work) to chase the "Poet," who has resurfaced. It is a very enjoyable listen that is well read. It stands on its own, but my enjoyment was heightened by having read The Poet and Blood Work (as well as having seen the movie Blood Work.) Highly recommended.

This book really hit a home run with me, based mostly in Los Angeles and Las Vegas made this story real in my mind. Harry Bosch is at it again, with FBI Agent Rachel Walling hunting for The Poet, a serial killing phsycopath with Walling's number. The imagery of this audio book keeps me in my car listening long after I reach my destination. Michael Connelly's incredible writing coupled with Len Cariou's narration made this a great experience.