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alifromkc1907's review against another edition
5.0
Gut Instinct Rating: 5
Characters: 5
Believability: 5
Uniqueness: 4
Writing Style: 5
Excitement Factor: 5
Story Line: 5
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 4
Overall: 4.78
Characters: 5
Believability: 5
Uniqueness: 4
Writing Style: 5
Excitement Factor: 5
Story Line: 5
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 4
Overall: 4.78
pziemlewicz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
grantf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kshea1's review
4.0
4 STARS
A nice combination of mystery, crime investigation and emotion - with an ending that ties everything up with a big red bow.
A nice combination of mystery, crime investigation and emotion - with an ending that ties everything up with a big red bow.
bookhawk's review
4.0
Micheal Connelly is a very good writer. He creates flawed characters like Harry Bosch that I sometimes wonder whether I should like them but he puts it just over the edge so you like them but with clenched teeth of accepting their problems. Connelly put in plenty of twists and turns along the way and pulls you through a strainer to get there. Ultimately his style works but it would be hard to read a bunch of Bosch books consecutively. Recommended reading if you enjoy police crime mysteries.
gmvader's review
4.0
Hollywood Detective Harry Bosch is living in his condemned house, damaged in an earthquake, and he’s been suspended for assaulting his commanding officer. On top of that he’s required to meet with a therapist once a week to talk about his anger issues and stress.
I have to admit my prejudices coming into this novel. I have not had a great deal of luck reading popular mystery writers (I’ve only read a few), Dan Brown is atrocious to the point of comedy and David Baldacci is boring to the point of comatose. Lets not even bring up James Patterson. I expected this book to be more of the same and I planned on hating it, and I did, until I didn’t.
Harry Bosch is a normal kind of detective, he’s good at his job, but he has anger issues. He holds people to a high standard of behavior and is almost always disappointed in the way they react to him. He’s also a little paranoid. When people try to help him he is immediately suspicious that they are trying to either get something out of the deal or setting him up for failure.
Sometimes it’s justified. Sometimes it isn’t.
Harry Bosch doesn’t punch his way through dozens of giant toughs to expose corruption like Jack Reacher does, he doesn’t deduce people’s behavior by looking at obscure clues the way Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and Fox Mulder (and nearly every other detective) do. He looks at real evidence, talks to people and pieces together what is going on.
Most importantly, though, he has a life, outside of his job – which is even more essential for a book where he no longer has his job.
I enjoyed this book significantly more than I expected to. The writing is solid and story and characters are real. The mystery also has some nice twists to it that make it an actual mystery – something that most ‘mystery’ books do not have.
I have to admit my prejudices coming into this novel. I have not had a great deal of luck reading popular mystery writers (I’ve only read a few), Dan Brown is atrocious to the point of comedy and David Baldacci is boring to the point of comatose. Lets not even bring up James Patterson. I expected this book to be more of the same and I planned on hating it, and I did, until I didn’t.
Harry Bosch is a normal kind of detective, he’s good at his job, but he has anger issues. He holds people to a high standard of behavior and is almost always disappointed in the way they react to him. He’s also a little paranoid. When people try to help him he is immediately suspicious that they are trying to either get something out of the deal or setting him up for failure.
Sometimes it’s justified. Sometimes it isn’t.
Harry Bosch doesn’t punch his way through dozens of giant toughs to expose corruption like Jack Reacher does, he doesn’t deduce people’s behavior by looking at obscure clues the way Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and Fox Mulder (and nearly every other detective) do. He looks at real evidence, talks to people and pieces together what is going on.
Most importantly, though, he has a life, outside of his job – which is even more essential for a book where he no longer has his job.
I enjoyed this book significantly more than I expected to. The writing is solid and story and characters are real. The mystery also has some nice twists to it that make it an actual mystery – something that most ‘mystery’ books do not have.
youpie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
kathyemmons's review against another edition
3.0
Poor Harry. His angst continues, this time in the form of a cold case homicide some thirty years unsolved. The emotional turmoil is ratcheted up due to the victim being none other than ... Harry's mother. I love Harry -- his perpetual bad mood, his unerring pessimism, and his core belief in right v wrong. "Everybody matters or nobody matters." It's like he's almost real.