Nine Dragons

Harry Bosch, Book 14

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Len Cariou

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.©2009 Michael Connelly; (P)2009 Hachette

Not Connelly's Best

I am a Michael Connelly fan but this book did not cut it for me. The unbelievability factor is just too high in both dialog and storyline. Maybe the Len Cariou narration contributed to this problem as the father daughter conversations did not ring true. I prefer Connelly read by Dick Hill or Adam Grupper. I did, however, enjoy the Hong Kong scenes as I've been there a few times and could visualize the settings. I got through it pretty easily and enjoyed some moments but Connelly has written many better books.

A tad on the ridiculous side

I love Harry and Eleanor, Maddy and even Mickey Haller (who has a cameo here), but the carnage is ridiculous. The desire to humanize Harry by showing his vulnerability was too obvious. The ending did explain everything... except I still wonder about who killed the three people in the bathtub... not enough detail.

It felt to me that this could have been two very long books. The stories, while they did intertwine, could have stood alone as full novels. I would rather read two great ones from Connelly than one mediocre. It's a "page turner" absolutely, but the race to finish it was a little unsatisfying.

The climax was toooo close to the end of the story so that the wrap up came and went without sufficient drama. Nearly everyone dies. Harry is **wrong** about all his assumptions and it's just a little too perfect, in my opinion.

The "twist" was lightweight, but interesting enough. I can't help thinking Harry's life is going to change drastically and that we haven't read the end of Maddy as a prime character.

Another Bosch success

If you like the Harry Bosch books this will not disappoint. Its fast moving, good plot albeit a bit far fetched but never the less entertaining.

Not A Harry B Plot

I've read or listened to all of Connely's books. The reason I like him is his realism and attention to detail. I like Harry B because he is not a super hero, just a tough, dedicated guy that gets the job done through hard work. Finding a specific room in a Hong Kong hotel through the reflection in a window from a cell phone picture is just not believable.

Narration matters--not anyone will do

For a Connelly book, I consider this effort fine, but not as rich or developed as some of his other installments. The ending’s twist, although somewhat expected did not disappoint.

My thoughts today are about the narration. I was braced for a couple of token “good” Chinese characters to counter the Triad activity and basis for the story. What I didn’t prepare for was the white people doing ethnic accents issue.

There’s no mistaking the gap between respecting and playing ethnic characters beyond one’s experience, in this case Chinese gangsters, and emulating (metaphoric) caricatures, i.e., Amos & Andy or Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Today, most folks recognize what is too much, what’s over the top. Finding that space of respectful cultural recognition is where difficulties emerge.

And, please know, I have enjoyed and respected Len Cariou’s talents in musical theater and in his tv and film work over the years. But his Chinese accents were uncomfortable, irksome, and most times, just bad. In short, the situation of non-ethnic interpreters of ethnic dialect(s) is overtly problematic for which apologies and sensitivities after the fact do not suffice.

There’s a very simple fix to this dilemma. Hire Asians or Latinos or Afro Latinos or African Americans or Indigenous people as narrators when major or multiple characters are respectively ethnic. In Connelly’s books, there tends to be one predominantly represented ethnic or racial group in each story, such as Chinese characters in Nine Dragons or a Latino protagonist in the Mickey Haller series.

Why? We, POCs, are trained from the time we utter our first words to code switch, in fact it is expected that we communicate in the vernacular and dialect of the dominant norm else we risk being accused of being non-professional and incompetent, or we endanger our livelihoods (even outside show biz). There are many fine voice talent options among men and women of color who have rich, resonant, expressive delivery styles, are talented in voice characterizations, and whose accents are natural, unforced, and accurate. And, POCs are more likely to be able to discern how to nuance a given accent, or when one is actually necessary. My recommendation today is that decision-makers consider reprioritizing accordingly when casting audiobook narrators.