The Black Echo: Special Edition

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Titus Welliver

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Experience this special edition of The Black Echo, Michael Connelly’s award-winning crime novel narrated by Titus Welliver, star of the Bosch series on Amazon Prime Video - includes an exclusive bonus interview with the author and the actor featuring insider info and more.

For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal...because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit. Pitted against enemies inside his own department and forced to make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, Bosch goes on the hunt for a killer whose true face will shock him.

"Michael Connelly is the master of the universe in which he lives, and that is the sphere of crime thrillers." - Huffington Post.

©1991 Hieronymus, Inc. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Titus Welliver has really stepped in it!

This is my third time reading/listening to the first Harry Bosch novel. It's amazing to think that this is Michael Connelly's first. It is superb in every way. However, I think he has created a problem with this special edition of THE BLACK ECHO. Unfortunately, as good as the early efforts with Dick Hill, et al, were, Welliver is just going to have to record all the rest of the novels now. At least my suggestion will make him a few bucks over the next couple of years. But to have his narration as the authoritative and definitive Bosch would be fantastic.

Let's do this!

Top Tier Performance

Titus Welliver has portrayed Detective Harry Bosch brilliantly on the Amazon show. His comfort in Harry’s skin and the way he navigates Harry’s moves and thoughts and those of the characters around Harry, really elevate the narration of this book.
I imagine it’s akin to Kathy Bates narrating Misery, if that makes sense.

A great book in its own right has been made even better. Will definitely listen again.

Bosch At His Best

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. I've read other Harry Bosch books and enjoyed them very much but in order to thoroughly understand Harry I needed to start at the beginning which I did with this book. I have instantly liked the character of Harry Bosch and you just want to cheer him on because of the integrity he has in his work, which at times does get in him trouble which this book will explain, and because his job is everything to him that it impacts his personal life and relationships. Mr. Connelly has such a talent in explaining in great detail surroundings especially when Harry was in Vietnam as much of this story stems from what happened there since the case Harry investigates turns out to be an old friend from Vietnam who is found murdered in a drainage pipe. I recommend this book for those that enjoy a murder mystery with police investigations, throw in the FBI and Internal Affairs for the LAPD and you got a good read.

Titus Welliver was amazing with the delivery of the story

Some books don't age well

How much homophobia and transphobia do you need before they're no longer about the characters and are about the author's personal hang-ups? These repetitious epithets and anecdotes don't just smack of utter non-streetwise ignorance to the point that one wonders whether the author did one stitch of research on gay and trans characters a full decade into AIDS, they're offered as gratuitous marginal not very interesting bits of "color" and aren't even part of the story!

Such a shame that the author needed to share his personal (let's call them) insecurities like this when so much of the rest of this novel is so good.

Titus Welliver is top notch. His subtle readings of the characters are spot on without ever over reaching or confusing. And he is Bosch, after all.

Great read!

Surprised at ending. Very enjoyable! I could not wait to pick it up any chance I could. Looking forward to more

Classic Bosch

This is the start of the Harry Bosch series, and it's my favorite of all the books. It establishes the Bosch persona and his dedication to his mission. Titus Welliver has made his voice the definitive one for Harry. I hope he will re-record the other earlier books in the series.

Somewhat predictable but done well

Narration: excellent. Compelling deep voice. Holds listener’s attention. Varied voice pattern signals important shifts in story line.


Story: not quire predictable plot done well.

Recommended.

its great to have Titus as the narrstor

loved it. great story. I liked having Titus as the narrator. i will be adding all of the bosch series to my library

At risk for falling asleep

The narration was painful. Mr. Welliver’s presentation ran the emotional gamut from A to A. Laconic is one thing. Boring is another, and I’m not sure Mr. Welliver knows the difference.
I also had great difficulty bonding with our chain smoking protagonist. Better get a lung X-ray Harry.

great audio all the way through.

enjoyed the interview with Michael and Titus at the end so much. highly recommend to anyone that has read the book or is just discovering the world of Harry Bosch.

The best storytelling

great, I loved it, Titus is most definitely Bosch
I really enjoyed the performance. Thank you.

3.5 stars. Mostly positive but has issues

My first Harry Bosch book and I love the show. Slow to start and the early character development feels like waffle at times. It feel's like writing for the sake of writing and not writing to actually build. He's amazing at planning the crime and writing action but Bosch is too intuitive. Too many times he walks in, takes one look at the scene and knows exactly what happened. No investigating, he asks questions when he already knows the answer. Even when something bad happen to him or his investigation he still feels 2 steps ahead instead of having to scramble to fix a mistake or push and claw towards chasing every lead. Another strength his dialogue but there's just not enough of it. Too many waffling inner monologues. Titus Welliver saved this for me, to me he is Bosch. If I'd been reading this or listening to the standard edition with the original narrator, I may have given up on it and missed the great ending. I will probably return to the series but not right away.

Better than Sherlock

It is a cracking book. The only reason I gave it 4 out 5 was because I didn't think the ending needed the twist that it was given. That said, it held me from the first sentence to the last. Titus Welliver gives a great performance reading the book and I can't wait to listen to the next one. If you like detective novels, then this is well worth buying. I do a really tedious job and it gives me the chance to listen to books while I work, but with this book I found myself listening to it again, as soon as I got home. I don't want to say anything about the plot because I always hate it when someone says too much and spoils the story for me. Michael Connelly gives the characters and plot a gritty realism that makes it a really believable story and Titus Welliver brings them all to life superbly. Bosch the central character is a better detective than Sherlock, addicted to coffee and cigarettes and finding justice for those victims of crime no one else cares about, I have said enough, Give it a go.

perfect

a great version and absolute must fir fans and new to the books good job

The best crime novels

If you've loved the TV series it's great to start at the beginning of the story.

Titus is as good as ever

Titus is as good as ever and it's nice to see his narration retrofitted to one of the early books.

Perfect

I’m a big fan of the amazon prime series and always wanted to read the books but I’m quite a slow reader, and always struggle to find the time to read. This book read by Welliver was like being part of the story itself. Absolutely brilliant writing and amazing narrating. I think I will have a go with the next audio book even though Welliver is not narrating it.

Outstanding. Titus Welliver FTW.

I've been following the TV series since they first came out on Prime and I've now started on the books. Much like with the James Bond books, I can only imagine Sean Connery as Bond, Titus Welliver is Bosch! To now hear his voice narrating the books, I can't see (hear) anyone else being Bosch. I've been reading the book whilst listening to the audio narration at the same time, I'm now ready for the next one.

Bosch read by Bosch

Perfection, narrated by the man that I have always imagined as Bosch since I first saw him play the role on TV. A silver fox if ever I heard one (whatever the rough edges). The thing about Bosch, as a character, is that you can rely on his integrity to his own values absolutely. Rare in a character, even more so in reality.

Excellent

An excellent listen. A great story brought to life by Titus Welliver's reading. A fast paced story with lists of twists and turns. Will certainly be listening to more.