The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch) by Michael Connelly
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Book Reviews of The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch)
Book Review: The Harry Bosch franchise just gets better and better!
Summary: 5 Stars
Four years ago, Harry Bosch was part of a task force assigned to find a brutal sexual serial killer known as "The Dollmaker". In the course of following a hot lead, faced with one of those terrifying life-or-death decisions that all police officers fear may eventually come their way, Bosch was forced to use lethal force and shot a completely naked, unarmed Norman Church. Despite subsequent forensic investigation having proved that Church was "The Dollmaker" and an internal police investigation that cleared the night's work as a "good shooting", Bosch is now stunned to find himself in court as the defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging improprieties from improper entry to excessive use of police force seeking millions of dollars in punitive damages. What's even worse is that his inept city-appointed defense attorney is squared off against the awesome court experienced power of well-known civil rights attorney "Money" Chandler, who has yet to meet the stone that she couldn't squeeze blood out of!
During Bosch's trial the police department receives a note that discloses the location of a body buried in the concrete foundation of a burned out pool hall. The nature of the note and the state of the buried blonde corpse seem to suggest that The Dollmaker, far from being dead, is in fact alive and well and continuing to kill with sadistic sexual abandon. Faced with the possibility that Norman Church never was "The Dollmaker" and that Bosch shot an innocent unarmed bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, things are looking mighty bleak for the outcome of his trial. But - Bosch is Bosch, after all - and in the unwavering conviction that his actions that night were not only justified but completely correct, Bosch investigates the possibility of a copycat killer that he nicknames "The Follower". The hunt is on! If Bosch can't find the new killer before the jury begins deliberations on his trial, he'll almost certainly see the end of his career as a homicide detective in LAPD.
Michael Connelly is undoubtedly today's acknowledged master in the crafting of thrilling police procedural novels. And this provides the entrée, as it were, in "The Concrete Blonde" banquet. But Connelly serves up the gustatory delights of some cleverly conceived side dishes, aperitifs and deserts as well ... stirring courtroom drama, insight into the nature of internal police politics, a warmly realistic love story that exemplifies the difficulties and worries that must face the spouse of a police officer every single day of their lives, a down and dirty close up essay on the realities of the skin flick industry and, of course, a continuing character study on Hieronymus Bosch, who has to be one of the most interesting literary characters for whom pen was ever put to paper.
If there's any weakness in Connelly's Harry Bosch series yet, I certainly don't know what it might be! Highly recommended!
Paul Weiss
Book Review: The Dollmaker and The Grim Sleeper...
Summary: 5 Stars
I write this review during the week that the Los Angeles Police Department released a 180 photo trove of the possible victims from the South Los Angeles serial killer infamously known as "The Grim Sleeper." As more lurid details emerge and unfold from the world of this real life monster (real name: Lonnie David Franklin Jr) I finish and reflect on Connelly's Concrete Blonde and the realism of his book. Connelly's character/serial killer The Dollmaker, in this case, could have only been created and imagined from the mind of a true insider and award-winning journalist. Connelly certainly deserves the same accolades that Thomas Harris once did with Red DragonRed Dragon and The Silence of the LambsSilence of the Lambs-- I love that Connelly was inspired to begin writing after he had seen Altman's film The Long Goodbye...The Long Goodbye a 70's film based on the Raymond Chandler classic (also highly recommend if you have not seen it).
Recently crime novelist Denise HamiltonLos Angeles Noir 2: The Classics (Akashic Noir) listed Concrete Blonde as part of "20 Noir Essentials" and I couldn't agree more. Considered LA Noir, The Concrete Blonde captures the classic seediness of Los Angeles and the FBI profiling that has also paved the way, been portrayed and ever popularized by television series like Criminal MindsCriminal Minds: Fifth Season and CSI.
It is staggering to know, that according to an FBI Behavioral Unit study, 85% of the world's serial killers are in America. At any given time 20 - 50 unidentified active serial killers are at work continually changing their targets and methods.
We will never understand the dark and sadistic mind's of real serial killers and the heinous crimes that take place in our society and what we read in the papers or internet or hear on the news about predators like the Grim Sleeper; it's just inscrutable. But at the end of the day we can put Connelly's Concrete Blonde back on the shelf and say "that was a great book" and Detective Harry Bosch wins. We need more detectives like Harry Bosch and more gifted writers like Michael Connelly.
Book Review: Classic Connelly
Summary: 5 Stars
I feel lucky! Why? Because having discovered Michael Connelly only recently and so far reading just three of his novels, it means that there are sixteen more to go! What a treat, especially if they come close to matching this one. It's the third in the Harry Bosch series and was written in 1994 - but don't for one minute think that it's out of date, that the best stories are the newest ones. This is as good as anything I've read this year, the only book that has matched it is The Lincoln Lawyer, by the same author.
It does, however, remind me vaguely of two other novels of times past: Mark Billingham's Scaredy Cat and Mo Hayder's The Treatment. I'll say nothing more other than quote the punchline from the cover of Scaredy Cat - "Serial killers normally work alone". But The Concrete Blonde is in fact heavily built around a courtroom drama that spreads its full length, because Bosch (or more correctly the LAPD) is being sued by the widow of a man he killed four years earlier, a man he was sure was a multiple murderer known as the Dollmaker. The plaintiff has a hot-shot female lawyer on a big retainer to represent her case for the prosecution in this civil (i.e. not criminal) trial, while Bosch must depend on a less-than-impressive, overweight and sweaty youngster who is paid the same salary whether he wins or loses. As the trial progresses, the reader becomes more and more resigned to an inevitable loss for the defendant, but the conclusion is anything but predictable.
Running in parallel to the events in the courtroom, Bosch is investigating a new case that bears worryingly similar hallmarks to the works of the deceased Dollmaker. A new body is found, and as the investigation develops, not only the reader but even Bosch himself start wondering if he shot the right man four years ago. I had at least two suspects in mind and oddly enough Bosch chose these two as well, although I wondered if this was clever reader manipulation on the part of the author. In the end I was caught out, it was someone not even on my `might be' list. I have to admit that I enjoy courtroom theatrics, and even though Bosch didn't really care if he lost, Connelly still manages to make the trial gripping and sometimes moving as well, as unknown secrets about Bosch's life are cold-bloodedly made public. Characterisation is of a very high standard throughout, not least of course that of the tortured soul that is Hieronymus Bosch. Strongly recommended.
Book Review: Past and Present Murders Collide During a Civil Suit for Damages
Summary: 5 Stars
If you liked The Black Echo, don't miss this book!
Only Michael Connelly would dream up a story where a beleaguered police detective being sued for use of excessive force would spend every hour outside of the trial tracking down a serial killer. The Concrete Blonde picks up on the back story behind the first book in the series, The Black Echo, in which Harry Bosch it is reported that Bosch had been previously demoted from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division to the Hollywood Division's homicide squad for not having followed the procedure of calling for a back up before shooting and killing a serial murder suspect while the suspect was reaching for his toupee. The Concrete Blonde opens with the scene in which Bosch shot the suspect.
The City of Los Angeles and Harry are being sued by the widow of Norman Church, the man Bosch killed. The widow has a tough attorney and Bosch has a stumble bum from the city attorney's office. The case seeks to exonerate Church from having killed anyone. But Bosch knows better. The evidence pointed to Church being the Dollmaker, a serial killer who applied extensive make up to the victims.
During the trial a shock arrives. Another dead body is found that looks like it has been killed by the Dollmaker . . . but the body is fresher than Church's death. Does this mean that Church wasn't the Dollmaker . . . or is there some, more sinister, explanation?
While Bosch is defending himself in court, another deadly game is being played behind the scenes. Who will win?
For me, The Concrete Blonde nicely captured the strengths of The Black Echo that made that book such a remarkable detective story that introduced this outstanding series. I was glad to see Mr. Connelly return the series to its excellent roots.
Have a ball!
Book Review: If you liked the first two, this one is even better.
Summary: 5 Stars
A civil lawsuit is brought against Detective Harry Bosch for the wrongful death of a man that Harry believed to be a serious criminal. Harry had no doubts that the man was the rapist and murderer he was investigating -- until a new body is found and it matches the killings Harry thought he had stopped. Is there a copycat killer who somehow knows intimate details of the prior murders, or did Harry kill the wrong man?
This is the third Harry Bosch book and it is easily the best so far. I loved the duality of the investigation and the trial. I will admit my bias due to my interest and training in law, but I found it very interesting how Connelly developed the court case. Another factor that may have contributed to my enjoyment was that when Harry was in court he was vulnerable. And a vulnerable Harry Bosch is a better read than a Harry Bosch who is always in charge -- he often gets too over-the-top cowboy in those situations and it becomes unrealistic (see my review of Harry Bosch #2 - The Black Ice).
One thing that I like about Michael Connelly is how well he writes frustration. I find that many other authors who write serial detectives will always have them unsure of a situation to keep the story believable, but with those other authors you never really get a sense that the bad guy might get away. Granted, there are times when Connelly gets away from this, but I have already detailed that for you.
I'm through three Harry Bosch books now and they seem to be written more quickly than I read them (I don't like to read a series back-to-back), but I am still interested enough to try to catch up. And if the others are as good as this one, that catching up will be well worth my time.