The Black Ice

Loved this one! Had a hard time putting it down. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series

Loved the strong character development. There was no doubt as to what a character was doing and why! Maybe some deception, but a well defined character.

Connelly’s writing is always top notch. His characters are complex, layered, flawed, believably human. His plots are inventive. His writing flows and captivates the reader.

Superb! Very well written and I couldn’t put it down. Finished the entire book in two days. Already looking forward to book 3 in the Harry Bosch novels. Michael Connelly is a top notch author and knows how weave the details of Bosch’s stories bringing them to live that you become so fully immersed in Bosch’s world you don’t want to come back out. I can see exactly why the Bosch tv series is so well done having now started on the book series to compare the two for myself. I cannot wait for the next season of Bosch coming on TV in 2025 and I’m about to purchase book 3 in these novels now to continue with great pleasure. Thank Mr. Connelly for the joy and wonderful distraction of Harry Bosch’s world that helps my mind escape the daily severe pain I live with due to my permanent disability from a severe TBI. It is a very welcome momentary distraction and you are appreciated. I highly recommend this entire series.

This was a great sequel. There was just enough carry over from The Black Echo to reward readers of the first book but it could also be read as a standalone book and serve as an entry point for new readers. Connelly does an excellent job of giving the readers the pieces to put together the mystery alongside Bosch without being too transparent about it. This is a great series and I look forward to the next book

As a former police officer, I enjoy Connelly's police novels and have read 5 so far, and want to buy more. Like all his other novels, The Black Ice is a thrilling page-turner, making you wish you could read faster. He builds a background and personality for his characters to make them feel real and believable. When Amazon ended the Bosch series, I had to have more and decided I needed to buy the novels that inspired the creation of the Amazon series. I was not disappointed! And, who knew he also wrote The Lincoln Lawyer? Connelly paints a vivid and real picture of LA and Hollywood, places I know very well, being a native of LA County. He does it so well it is like watching a movie in your mind. He names all the famous restaurants in LA, dives, and streets, and he knows the police codes, slang, and equipment used. You would think he was once a police officer, even though he wasn't. The story is fascinating, journeying from LA to Calexico/Mexicali with real vividness along the way. I kept saying to myself, "I know that place!" I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a former LEO.

I stand here, in front of the blank page and I am struggling to find anything, good or bad to say about “The Black Ice”. Well I guess that speaks for itself. There is nothing really wrong here. The plot, while predictable is not terrible, just average and lacking anything to invoke any involvement from the reader, and I would say, even from Bosch. The writing is good and the ending is satisfying with not many loose ends. Its just so terribly bland! Like the first book in the series, “The Black Ice” is just painfully average. The book moves slow, nothing happens for about two thirds and its a long read too which is not a good combination. Bosch seems to get involved in the plot because “the author wants to” because quite honestly he has no reason to risk his life and his job investigating the murder of a guy he once met for ten minutes. I mean the only reason the author comes up with is basically that the dead guy's wife was hot and Bosch wanted to get to know her “intimately”. Which he he does. For a lonely guy Bosch sure gets a lot of action, that's for sure. There's a bit of that “Marlowe vibe”, the more people tell him to back off the more he stays on the case but its all very flimsy as a motivation for taking on a drug cartel. The same lack of motivation happens to the reader. Like in the first book there's not much to care about here. The victim is a dirty cop, pretty much in the cartel's pocket so why should I really care who killed him? Literally nobody in the book cared but Bosch. Even the guy's wife was more or less “eh whatever”. The second half also seemed like a bad “Miami Vice” episode with Bosch in Mexico and the DEA and seedy undercover agents... its not bad but not really what I would expect from the series. It stopped being a sort of noir-ish loner cop investigating a murder to helicopters chasing drug lords, machine-gun battles and a fight with a bull... literally a bull! So yeah... its a decent book but nothing more. Its long, slow and even the twist at the end was more than predictable. Maybe at the time, when the book came out, it felt fresh and entertaining. Today, for me, it just felt... eh... whatever...

As far as modern American Noir, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The protagonist, Harry Bosch, is a complicated mixture of Saint and Sinner, Vice and Virtue. He is both virtuous and cynical. He struggles with his past. Michael Connelly does a really good job of developing Harry Bosch as a character and weaves his character into the story and interactions with other characters. Next a disclaimer, I am a retired 39 year police officer and 31 year detective. As this story unfolded there were lapses that were so obvious to me that they might as well had appeared with red lights and sirens. As far as a mystery I never got out from under those lapses and was waiting for certain shoes to drop. Now I also need to say that I have witnessed such lapses myself in real life. So…. I don’t know…. But that does not mean that I did not enjoy the novel as a Noir reading experience. I did, very much. My reading is eclectic. I am drawn to American Noir as a moth to a flame. I intentionally make a point of not overdoing it. Thus far I have read three Michael Connelly novels and really liked all three. After perhaps a month or two I fully intend to read the third Harry Bosch novel, The Concrete Blonde. Thank You for taking the time to read this review.

Good condition! Good book!

OK

“Just the facts ma’am” were the words constantly uttered by Dragnet’s Detective Joe Friday. But Harry Bosch is a cop who learned early on that ‘facts’ were mostly isolated puzzle pieces; that what crime solving really took was finding that “thing” – that one piece needed to connect all the others into a solvable whole. In The Black Ice, Harry’s starting point is a dead cop, and from there he travels a path leading from his home turf in LA to dangerous and deadly locales south of the border where he finds himself in serious jeopardy. Connelly writes a taut, fast-paced tale that is everything a reader of crime thrillers could ask for - suspense, intrigue, surprising plot twists - that’ll keep you turning page after page. With this book, Connelly again shows Bosch to be a hard-hitting cop who doesn’t always play by the rules. He has created a realistic, believable character who’s solidly positioned as a fan favourite.

The Harry Bosch series is superb. Please read

schon vor fast 30 Jahren hatte ich black ice und auch black echo gelesen. Es ist genug Zeit vergangen, um die Bücher erneut zu genießen. Der Hintergrund ist wie immer hervorragend recherchiert.