The Burning Room

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Titus Welliver

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die almost a decade after the crime. So when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet nine years earlier, Bosch catches a case in which the body is still fresh, but any other evidence is virtually nonexistent.

Now Bosch and his new partner, rookie Detective Lucia Soto, are tasked with solving what turns out to be a highly charged, politically sensitive case. Starting with the bullet that's been lodged for years in the victim's spine, they must pull new leads from years-old information, which soon reveals that this shooting may have been anything but random.

Read by Titus Welliver, star of the Bosch TV series.

©2014 Hieronymous, Inc (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Boring voice!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Connelly seems to have forgotten some of his previous plot points. A couple of old story lines were mentioned however not as they happened in the books. He stated that Bosch had a partner who went rogue and he had to go find him, but that was in reference to the Drug squad character who faked his own death - never Harry's partner. There were a couple of others I caught but can't remember them now. At the time though, it was disappointing to realise Connelly stuffed up on the recall of his own books.

What three words best describe Titus Welliver’s performance?

Boring, mumbling, boring

Any additional comments?

I love all the Harry Bosch books and have them all as well as the Mickey Haller audios. Some of the readers voices have annoyed me over time but this one was by far the worst. Welliver sounded bored by the story and the character, often not bothering to change his voice at all so the characters were barely distingusihable from each other. He mumbled regularly and there was one sectioned I played back 3 times and still have no idea what he said!!

great plot but hideous reading

the lad who read the book is boring and monotonous! please, check it with the sample before your purchase. Having this kind of narrator doesn’t do any good to Harry Bosh!

Another great thriller

Very entertaining and full of suspense. Connelly has an incredible way of writing thriller stories, and this book is another confirmation of it!

Connolly does it again!

I enjoyed this book from the moment I started to listen to it.
However, I am a great fan of Harry Bosch so this is not at all surprising.

The most memorable moment for me was right at the end when Harry leaves the squad room to applause led by Soto.

The narrator, who plays the part of Harry in the TV series Bosch,
was perfect.

Amazing as always

Welliver does an amazing job, as expected. Connelly is a master story teller. This has been one of my favourite Bosch stories.

Go Harry

Loved it. Looking forward to the next adventure. Harry is such an interesting character who develops through the series.

"Redemption."

Harry Bosch has a new partner, a young woman just made detective, and nicknamed 'Lucky' Lucy - perhaps, thinks Harry, some of that luck will run off on him. And perhaps it does.

Certainly lucky for the reader as, yet again, Michael Connelly has provided an excellent detective mystery book: a ten years old shooting is converted into a murder when the musician finally succumbs to the bullet in his spine and Harry, now working cold cases, looks into it with Lucy whilst she is also following enquires personal to her. As a seven years old girl, she'd been caught in a fire, later deemed to be arson, in which several children with her had died along with her teacher and another adult. The arsonist was never caught. Haunted by the memories, it was, she told Harry, the reason she'd gone into law enforcement, the need to try to find some sort of resolution.I

What to say about this book and the whole Bosch series that isn't already out there? Told in snappy sentences that offer much without being superfluous, there is a presence, an immediacy in what is happening. The characters are real, not print on a page (or spoken words) and the plots are beautifully crafted, each step followed, always visual, in the same way that Harry's travels take the reader with him around L.A. or wherever he might be. As always, it is a novel in which the rest of the world fades away, totally immersing the reader in this world. Not particularly fast paced but not a wasted moment.

Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch in the TV adaptation, narrates. And he is good.
This is the second time of reading for me, the first in print, and this audio experience was as enjoyable as the first time round.
Highly recommended.

A good reading, but Bosch stories are aging...

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, one can find the strengths of Connelly’s books (and of the Harry Bosh saga): a linear story, a very solid and credible plot, characters well depicted and a catchy Los Angeles providing as usual a great background to the action. However, somehow the book is not engaging as most of the Bosh stories used to be. May be is Bosh that has aged: from the passionate, intense, almost dark hero that used to be, Harry is now a grumpy, a bit cynical cop flirting with (and fighting) retirement. Glimpses into his private life –that should provide pauses and contrast to the thriller plot- are frankly boring: he is a worrying father to a teenage girl without really other interest or relationship. This is emblematic of the lost charisma of Bosh and a key to understand why this book is less engaging than the first ones of the series. I must however say that, in relative terms, is by far not the worse book that Connelly has recently written. In fact, in absolute terms, the book is overall a good experience and had no problems in keeping up through the (good) end.

Welliver sparks the fire

This is not the best of the Bosch books and that would be more apparent but for the exemplary reading of the text by Titus Welliver. He could hardly have been better. Despite meticulous detailing in the writing and the arrival of a new, young, female work partner for Bosch, there is a thin quality that pervades the narrative. The reason is that two unrelated investigations are taking place simultaneously and they both seem like they would struggle to stand alone. Put together they might just do, but it is Welliver who delivers the blaze.

Bosch gets richer and better

Can he get better? It seems he can. Bosch is the dark detective who stops at nothing. In this novel the plot was less driven detection than earlier ones
Great. Character development with Lucy who is a great match for Bosch.
Initially I found the narrator a bit monotone but he worked and added great color to the story with accents
Harry’s telentless pursuit of a case is what gets him into so much trouble - again