Void Moon

i am a huge fan of m. connelly and eagerly pre-order anything that he has written but Void Moon was a big disappointment--- i usually listen to the audio books as i work on some renovation project---- in Void Moon, there is a sequence with Cassie in the hotel room of "the Mark" that details how she puts electronic devices in the hotel room----- i could have written as exciting an excerpt of how i mask a room for painting--- "she first used a 5/8th inch width blue tape around the baseboard.... then expanded to a 1" tape around the wider sills...."

I give Michael Connelly's stand-alone novel, VOID MOON, a rating of three.
The prime character, Cassie Black is a mid-twenties parolee. Black is paroled from High Desert Corrections five years into a 12-year sentence for manslaughter. She spends her days at a dealership selling Porches but longs for the exciting challenges of her previous life of planning and executing major burglaries. She is soon lured back into the business by an old friend, succumbing to the temptation with the promise of big money that will provide her an opportunity to exit the country with a loved one.
The novel takes place in L. A. and Las Vegas. Cassie is a charming, intelligent and lovable character who you will fall in love with.
Connelly drags the first half of the story through page after page of boring and deadly dull detailed narration with little personalizing dialogue. The last half is way more energizing providing a compelling story of stimulating adventure with page-turning excitement.
I did not feel this stand-alone novel was up to Connelly's high standards. It felt more like he was rushing to get something on the market.
Never-the-less, with a 3 out of 5 rating, it still makes for good reading.

My review of the audio book VOID MOON read by L. J. Ganser. Cassie is on probation having completed 9 of the 24 months. As with many of Connelly’s characters, Cassie is self-absorbed and beats herself up a lot… except for caring for one other person above life itself. In the TV show the A-Team, Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith would get “on the Jaz”. Cassie reminded me of a female Smith when working a caper. For her its “outlaw juice” bringing her excitement and enhanced adrenalin just thinking and planning for a job. She loves that juice. Sjhe’s also very good at what she does in that criminal life.

I have read all the Bosch series books and have gone back to listen to his non-series and spinoff books. As far as I can recall Cassie does not reappear in any the those 15 books.

It took me a bit to warm to Cassie, but Ganser’s reading was helpful as he did a good job. I did wonder why a female voice wasn’t used as the lead character is female.

A Void Moon is an astronomical situation when the moon is moving from 1 house to another it is in no house and it is a bad luck time. Cassie gets warned to not be in the marks room for the 17 minutes of void moon. Opps… Can we guess what happens?

Things go very wrong the Cleo casino calls in help from Jack Karch, a deadly sociopathic private investigator. He is Cassie primary opponent.

Joey Marx, Joseph Marconi’s name, from a Bosch series book and the Netflix TV show, came up in the story and the fact he was gunned down.

The negatives –
1. The slow start.
2. The excessive detail of rigging things and technical stuff that reminded me again of the A-Team when they would construct something to foil the back guys.

The rest of the story was excellent, mostly following Karch tracking down Cassie. As far as I know there is no second Cassie Black book, to bad because I finally warmed to her character. 4 stars.

Michael Connelly is a former police reporter for the LA Times and now writes crime fiction. Void Moon features Cassie Black, an ex-con now living in LA and selling expensive cars. She is trying to go straight but it is not easy. In fact she gives in and contacts Leo Renfro, her former associate, to ask him to set up one big scam for her. Leo agrees and arranges a plan for her to go to a Las Vegas hotel and steal a lot of money from a presumed high roller, Diego Hernandez. The story takes off from there. At first we are not sure what Cassie’s motivation is. She has some emotional attachment to a little girl and wants to leave the country. We also don’t know what happened to her former partner and lover, Max.

The plot thickens as Cassie manages to steal the money, but in the process the mark is killed. She also has to stay in the room during the Void Moon, the time between 3:28 and 3;38 am, a time that Leo had warned her against. We then learn that the mark was really a courier from a Miami group that wants to buy the hotel and sent him with $2.5 million to give to casino manager, Vincent Grimaldi, as partial payment for his help in the deal. Grimaldi realizes that his life is on the line if he does not recover the money and brings in Jack Karch, a private investigator with murderous behaviors, to find the thief. The money is in a briefcase that Cassie takes without realizing what is in it.

Karch figures out that Cassie is the thief and sets out to get her and the money and the drama builds as he locates Leo and then Cassie. Along the way he kills a number of people mercilessly. The novel reaches its climax when Karch kidnaps Cassie’s daughter and the two confront each other in a final showdown. I don’t especially like these kind of books so that for me to rate it at four stars is high praise. The reason I rate it highly is that the reader comes to care about the main character and wishes her well despite her criminal behavior. In the end she does the decent thing and you feel sad for her.

Void Moon, which was published in 2000, is another standalone from Michael Connelly, the creator of Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller. The protagonist is Cassie Black, a beautiful young woman who was once a very skilled burglar who specialized in ripping off big marks in Vegas. But then a job went catastrophically wrong; Cassie's partner and lover was killed, and Cassie was arrested and sent to the pen for six years. Now free, she's living in L.A., selling Porches, and reporting regularly to her probation officer.

Cassie has a special reason for now walking the straight and narrow, but she still occasionally feels the outlaw juices flowing, and selling cars to rich guys doesn't do much to calm them. Then Cassie suddenly finds herself in desperate need of big money fast and so, with no other option, she agrees to do a job that will earn her enough money to flee the country and build a new life.

It means going back to Vegas and running some very high risks. It will also bring her into conflict with a very bad operator who has no compulsion whatsoever about killing the people who get in his path, even in a minor way. Inevitably, the best laid plans will go awry, and Cassie will be left to her own wits and considerable talents if she's going to survive and complete her larger mission.

This is a very taut, interesting book that grabs the reader from the beginning. Cassie is a very appealing character, and Connelly obviously did a lot of careful research for the book. The technical details, even though dated now, are especially intriguing, and after reading the book, I'm not going to feel safe in a hotel room again for a good long time. A very good read.

I'd read many of the Bosch books but for some reason didn't branch out, probably because I read Lincoln Lawyer and didn't care for it. I had Void Moon on the shelf for years and finally read it. Wow. What a book. Even the ending. I was expecting the ending to let me down because if the ending was good it meant this would be a truly great novel. And it was.One more point. Connelly seems to have gone to some trouble to get a lot of ancillary detail right. He mentions some of that in the acknowledgements at the end. This is not surprising since this novel seems like something he went all out on.

Connelly is the best genre writer plying his craft today. For my money no one comes close. But even the best writers have off moments. Void Moon is a good but not amazing work. I still feel that Connelly deserves a round of applause for trying something different here.

Void Moon reminds me a lot of Elmore Leonard. It still has the style of Connelly and the characters are not those you would find populating one of Leonards. Void Moon does however have a plot that runs very similar to those of Leonard. Its about an con artist out on parole in LA. She wants back into the life and makes it happen. The story is about what happens.

I felt that the story had a hard time getting going. It starts off with two people in a casino. It then jarringly jerks us forward 5 years. The character of Cassie is never fully fleshed out. Especially at the beginning. Maybe because Cassie is a woman, Connelly does not give her very much depth. I question her motives throughout the novel. In fact, I question the actions taken by just about everyone here. I felt that even though Connelly as always, wrote Void Moon in a believable manner this stories plot breaks out of it into the land of ridiculous.

So, I am going back over all of Connellys books and going over them for a second or third time. Void Moon does not offer up much in comparison to the Bosch series. While good, I would probably rank this story at the bottom of the authors stories.

Void Moon: I came at this book from the perspective of someone who has never read any of Michael Connelly's work before. Given that the story is told from a female protagonist's point of view, it was initially a little jarring to hear the audiobook read by a male voice, but the story is so enthralling that the reader (listener) soon forgets that fact and enjoys the story for what it is. Overall, it is a quick-paced modern-era crime thriller that is quite detailed and nuanced. It is an enjoyable read (listen).

Cassie Black is on parole in Los Angeles, having found a job as a saleswoman for a Porsche dealer. She is quite the saleswoman, but she is bored and longs for more action. Leo is her contact, her middleman. He sets up action and he has something for her that is guaranteed to have a large pay-off. Cassie initially doesn't want this job because the last time she did a job at "the Cleo" (which is a thinly disguised pseudonym for the Luxor), she ended up in prison and her boyfriend/fiancé ended up dead. She absolutely does not want to go back, but the payoff is so large that she can't turn it down.

Cassie is the consummate professional and one of the more interesting things about this book is the exquisite detail about Cassie's preparations including what items she needs to pull off the job and how she practices her craft. You would think that with this much detail the book would be tedious. It's not. Connelly provides fascinating details about how a pro would go about ripping off a mark in a Vegas hotel room.

The entire book takes place over the course of just a few days in Cassie's life, but every second of the job is infused with excitement and anticipation. And yes, a void moon is apparently something astrological that occurs between the changing of the signs and it is something that Leo advises Cassie to avoid by all means.

Although some of the plot devices might be clichés and some of the characters as well, Connelly is professional enough to pull it off and this is a very worthwhile read. Recommended.

Void Moon: I came at this book from the perspective of someone who has never read any of Michael Connelly's work before. Given that the story is told from a female protagonist's point of view, it was initially a little jarring to hear the audiobook read by a male voice, but the story is so enthralling that the reader (listener) soon forgets that fact and enjoys the story for what it is. Overall, it is a quick-paced modern-era crime thriller that is quite detailed and nuanced. It is an enjoyable read (listen).

Cassie Black is on parole in Los Angeles, having found a job as a saleswoman for a Porsche dealer. She is quite the saleswoman, but she is bored and longs for more action. Leo is her contact, her middleman. He sets up action and he has something for her that is guaranteed to have a large pay-off. Cassie initially doesn't want this job because the last time she did a job at "the Cleo" (which is a thinly disguised pseudonym for the Luxor), she ended up in prison and her boyfriend/fiancé ended up dead. She absolutely does not want to go back, but the payoff is so large that she can't turn it down.

Cassie is the consummate professional and one of the more interesting things about this book is the exquisite detail about Cassie's preparations including what items she needs to pull off the job and how she practices her craft. You would think that with this much detail the book would be tedious. It's not. Connelly provides fascinating details about how a pro would go about ripping off a mark in a Vegas hotel room.

The entire book takes place over the course of just a few days in Cassie's life, but every second of the job is infused with excitement and anticipation. And yes, a void moon is apparently something astrological that occurs between the changing of the signs and it is something that Leo advises Cassie to avoid by all means.

Although some of the plot devices might be clichés and some of the characters as well, Connelly is professional enough to pull it off and this is a very worthwhile read. Recommended.

Utterly forgettable and bland sort of thriller. Really didn't stand out in any way, even though I have fairly relaxed standards for audio books. A story of a former casino thief doing that proverbial one last job for all the right reasons. Something doesn't go according to plan and suddenly there is a psychopath private investigator on her tail. It's all pretty predictable, decently paced, comes across like a straight for paycheck sort of book. The narration itself was pretty good. At times it was oddly technical, as in very detailed technical how to steal manual circa 1999. So if you have a time travel machine and a passion for larceny, that might be the book's only redeeming feature. Then again, if you have a time machine, there are other things to do. And other places to see than 1999 Las Vegas in all its neon glory. Pass.

With VOID MOON, Michael Connelly has done a book from a different perspective from almost all his others -- nearly everyone in the story falls along the spectrum from "merely" criminal, to vicious criminal scum. The main character, Cassie Black, is clever and skilled, but shallow. For comparison, in Connelly's Harry Bosch books, Bosch is largely motivated by his conviction that he has a mission to track down murderers and deliver a measure of justice to their victims. Cassie's main motivation seems to be little more than an addiction to the adrenaline buzz of the "hot prowl" -- a sexy term for breaking into hotel rooms and robbing their occupants while they sleep. She does have one other motivation, which most readers will figure out quite a while before the story lays it out plainly, but that one is also wrapped up in an insular selfishness. There's another angle of the story that's kind of difficult to mention without a small spoiler, which is -- there's a majorly bad thing which we (not too surprisingly) eventually learn Cassie didn't do: but in the same breath we're told she WOULD have done it if it had seemed expedient, which pretty much drops her off the map morally as well as making her look lazy/not very resourceful in coming up with alternatives. There's a lot of gadgetry in the story; as in CHASING THE DIME, when Connelly's characters are weak he seems to try to fill in with techy stuff. Readers who have enjoyed most of Connelly's other books may not be too thrilled with this one.

"Void Moon," (2000) is a mystery standalone that comes a little earlier in the career of Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Detective Harry Bosch series of mystery novels, Los Angeles-set police procedurals that look at life on the "noir" side. This book, which is set in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, has a female protagonist, Cassie Black, and could, I guess, be considered more of a thriller than a straightforward mystery.

Cassie, a Las Vegas native, has walked away from her criminal past after a disastrous night in the Las Vegas Cleopatra that left her lover dead, and her facing a jail term, of which she has served five years at Nevada's High Desert prison. She has now been released on probation and gone to Los Angeles, where she is selling Porsches to young new Hollywood arrivals. Suddenly, the world delivers her another blow. She then needs money fast, and so must go back to her old trade, robbing Las Vegas casino gamblers, at which she was very technologically adept and very successful. So she's given a mark - a potential victim-- by a superstitious old friend with connections: the mark has been winning steadily at baccarat for a week. The job appears to go perfectly, until she opens the mark's briefcase, and then the trouble starts. Her superstitious friend believes that it's because she did not steer clear of the bad luck void moon on the night of the burglary, as he advised her to do. (The internet site Sky View Zone tells us "The Moon becomes void when it's not making any major aspects to the other planets. This happens every few days for a time period ranging from a few minutes to a day or more." And this is the best I can do for a definition, folks.) At any rate, Cassie's luck continues to be lousy, and then she has again crossed paths with Jack Karch, a Vegas-based private investigator by day who does black work for casino operators by night. He's the man who engineered the destruction of her life six years before.

Connelly's usual wonderful fondness for detail nearly undoes this book. He lays down a tremendous amount of technological minutiae on the reader, the action is rather slow: it's a bit boring and suffocating, and some readers may feel they could almost rob a Las Vegas casino themselves after reading it. And in Karch, he seems to have borrowed a funny-named psychotic villain from the James Lee Burke school of detective writing. Yet, somehow, the book retains enough of Connelly's trademark power. It's also got his usual excellent narrative and descriptive writing, and snappy dialogue. And it too is written with great knowledge of, and love for, Los Angeles, then his adopted home town.

We might also notice that Connelly is still sneaking a couple of his favorite ploys into the book: as he used to do in his earlier books, He is still playing with the phrase, "the wire in the blood." (In Blood Work, he mentioned that he was to collaborate on a book with Val McDermid, the Scottish tartan noir author, on a book by that name,The Wire in the Blood (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries.). Omnivorous mystery readers will know that McDermid did indeed write quite a book by that title, but without Connelly's participation. However, this book finds him still playing with the idea.)

Connelly is a former journalist, a crime beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, who certainly earned his spurs in murder while earning his daily bread. He is a wonderful writer, my favorite among American mystery authors, and I've read all his books save The Scarecrow, and his most recent, The Reversal. (Like many other readers, I imagine, I prefer his series works to his standalones: like many other writers, his mysteries seem more powerful if they are filtered through the sensibilities of his detective protagonist.) However, his recent standalones, SCARECROW, The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Harry Bosch), and The Lincoln Lawyer, have all been #1 New York Times Bestsellers. Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, his collected non-fiction journalism, was also a New York Times bestseller. But "Void Moon" can be slow going, and I wouldn't recommend it to any but his most devoted readers.

I am only halfway in, and I am hooked. The story is terrific. The flawed character is similar to those of Elmore Leonard, which basically are those of Greek tragedy: whatever bad happens to them, is because of their own character flaws. The story is also told in just the right pace, and -- for me-- is attaining the level of the early Elmore Leonard. This is not something I am saying lightly. From the beginning, you feel more than know what the end will be, who will be in it, and why. Now back to the book. I`ll come back to this review and edit if I change my view of the book, but I doubt it. The more I read, the more I like it.
***
Just finished the book. It's a solid 5 stars. The only parts that drag a little (I said a little), are the detailed descriptions of all the paraphernalia of burglary: Every jimmy, lock pick, latch and drill is described and named. It is a marvel of authorial accuracy, but beyond a certain point, I found myself skipping and looking for the action. No great harm done. The rest of the book was marvelous, imho. The heroine was flawed, and the villain was both vile and pathetic, i.e.: his evilness was flawed too. And that is how it should be.
I would consider Void Moon one of Connelly's best.
Read it.

STORY BRIEF:
Cassie was in prison. She has been out on parole for 10 months. She works for a Porsche dealership selling cars. She is unsettled about something and wants to do another burglary job. She contacts her former buddy Leo who says he has a job needing someone like her - to steal money from a hotel room safe while the mark sleeps. The mark is a gambler in Las Vegas. She takes the job, pulls it off admirably, and gets away. To Cassie's surprise, not only did she get his gambling winnings but also a briefcase with $2 ½ million in mob money. The hotel manager hires Jack (private investigator/hit man) to find the thief (Cassie) and get it back.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This is a great book for watching two very smart people outsmart each other. Jack is clever, intuitive, has guns, and uses them. Cassie has smart plans, but her most impressive abilities occur when things go wrong, and she instantly comes up with something unexpected to counter and survive. Those parts were great.

Early in the book I was frustrated because I didn't know who to root for. Just know that this is a story about thieves, killers, and criminals. All of them are after each other. It takes a while to get to know Cassie (a thief), but she's the one to root for. When Jack comes into the picture a little later, I was hoping the two of them would get together. He was impressed with her. This could have been a great romantic suspense book (with the hit man changing his life after falling in love). I'm a big fan of romance novels. But as the story continued, I realized that could not happen. Early on Jack was a good Samaritan when he saw a man abusing a woman, and he stepped in to help her. But later I learned Jack was evil. I could accept Jack killing bad guys, but when he starts killing good guys I realized he wasn't going to be the romantic hero I wanted. Since we are in the head of the bad guy chasing Cassie, this qualifies as a thriller (crime suspense thriller). It took some time to get going, but boy, the last two hours were edge of your seat! And the ending was very well done. It was a happy ending.

What makes this so good is all the "showing" not telling. We see details of how clever things happen.

NARRATOR:
The narrator L J Ganser was very good.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook length: 10 hrs and 59 mins. Narrator: L J Ganser. Swearing language: strong, but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: 2000 mostly Los Angeles area, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Book Copyright: 2000. Genre: crime suspense thriller. Ending: Not mushy happy for everyone, but happy from a realistic standpoint.

OTHER BOOKS:
Most of the author's books are within the four series mentioned below. To date he has written two novels that are not part of these series. He has also done some collections and anthologies that I do not intend to read. The two novels are:
4 ½ stars. Void Moon. Copyright 2000.
to read: Chasing The Dime. Copyright 2002.

THE FOUR SERIES: Bosch, McCaleb, McEvoy, and Haller:
I recommend reading the Harry Bosch books in order, but it would be ok to try "The Last Coyote" or "Lost Light" first, just to see if you like the style. Then go back and read the rest in order. There is a date flow and the characters interact. See my review for The Fifth Witness for a list of all the books and my recommended reading order (for the four series).

As the third novel by Connelly that doesn't feature Harry Bosch, this one might not be an excellent one. It's a couple of notches below The Poet and Blood Work mainly because of two cliches that I find the most annoying in any book, film, or TV show. I don't want to give much of the plot away, but there's a plot thread that involves a kidnapping (one of the two obvious cliches in the book). How many times have we even seen a kidnapping in any form of media? It's a tired old cliche, and it's automatically predictable once it occurs in the story. Plus, the second act does tend to sag a bit, which isn't surprising since most second acts aren't that great to start with. Finally, I found the ending to be very mediocre. There really isn't anything amazing in both the climax OR the resolution. But there are still some superb stuff in Void Moon. The protagonist and antagonist (Cassie Black and Jack Karch) are solid characters, the former being a fascinating anti-heroine. There's plenty of suspense and drama in the story, so fans of thrillers/mysteries are in for a lovely treat.

Void Moon is still a satisfactory work by Connelly. It doesn't overshadow the most previous works (Angels Flight, Blood Work, etc.), but for what it is, it stands on its own quite well.

Grade: 7.6 out of 10

Also from Michael Connelly
The Black Echo: 7.1 out of 10
The Black Echo (Harry Bosch)
The Black Ice: 7.7 out of 10
The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
The Concrete Blonde: 9.7 out of 10
The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch)
The Last Coyote: 9.3 out of 10
The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch)
The Poet: 8 out of 10
The Poet
Trunk Music: 9.2 out of 10
Trunk Music (Harry Bosch, No. 5)
Blood Work: 8.2 out of 10
Blood Work
Angels Flight: 8.9 out of 10
Angels Flight

This is a good book, well written, fast moving, filled with actions and adventure. In other words there is never a dull moment. This book goes deep into the minds of criminals and what makes them tick, these in the story. The story begins in Los Angeles and moves on the Las Vegas.

Cassie Black is a parolee who must meet with her parole officer periodically. She wants to make some money, quite a bit of cash and quickly. Cassie has plans on what to do with this money when she gets it. The reader will find out why. She has a job selling new and used expensive cars. Cassie and her parole officer get along great. But she wants to throw away what she has gained going straight for a reason. As for money she calls Leo Renfro, her lovers half brother. And how she misses Max. He was killed in a caper six years ago.

There are many interesting characters in this book. There is Cassie, not long out of prison, Thelma Kibble, her parole officer, Leo Renfro, who is into astrological signs. Leo is the character who tells Cassie to beware of the "Void Moon." He sets her up to rob a mark in Vegas. After this robbery she will be able to retire from this businesss and leave the country. There is the Cleo Cassino boss Victor Grimaldi. But the most evil of these characters is Karch a private eye who cheats his customers. But his favorite job is hit man and he is good at this work,dedicated in fact. Plus there are more interesting characters the reader will meet.

I enjoyed reading the hitech parts, the way Cassie set the stage to rob the mark, the televisions keeping track of comings and goings of gamblers in the Cleo.

This is one great book that takes the reader away from reality and into the minds of criminals. Good read. I recommend it.

Connelly is the best genre writer plying his craft today. For my money no one comes close. But even the best writers have off moments. Void Moon is a good but not amazing work. I still feel that Connelly deserves a round of applause for trying something different here.

Void Moon reminds me a lot of Elmore Leonard. It still has the style of Connelly and the characters are not those you would find populating one of Leonards. Void Moon does however have a plot that runs very similar to those of Leonard. Its about an con artist out on parole in LA. She wants back into the life and makes it happen. The story is about what happens.

I felt that the story had a hard time getting going. It starts off with two people in a casino. It then jarringly jerks us forward 5 years. The character of Cassie is never fully fleshed out. Especially at the beginning. Maybe because Cassie is a woman, Connelly does not give her very much depth. I question her motives throughout the novel. In fact, I question the actions taken by just about everyone here. I felt that even though Connelly as always, wrote Void Moon in a believable manner this stories plot breaks out of it into the land of ridiculous.

So, I am going back over all of Connellys books and going over them for a second or third time. Void Moon does not offer up much in comparison to the Bosch series. While good, I would probably rank this story at the bottom of the authors stories.

Void Moon: I came at this book from the perspective of someone who has never read any of Michael Connelly's work before. Given that the story is told from a female protagonist's point of view, it was initially a little jarring to hear the audiobook read by a male voice, but the story is so enthralling that the reader (listener) soon forgets that fact and enjoys the story for what it is. Overall, it is a quick-paced modern-era crime thriller that is quite detailed and nuanced. It is an enjoyable read (listen).

Cassie Black is on parole in Los Angeles, having found a job as a saleswoman for a Porsche dealer. She is quite the saleswoman, but she is bored and longs for more action. Leo is her contact, her middleman. He sets up action and he has something for her that is guaranteed to have a large pay-off. Cassie initially doesn't want this job because the last time she did a job at "the Cleo" (which is a thinly disguised pseudonym for the Luxor), she ended up in prison and her boyfriend/fiancé ended up dead. She absolutely does not want to go back, but the payoff is so large that she can't turn it down.

Cassie is the consummate professional and one of the more interesting things about this book is the exquisite detail about Cassie's preparations including what items she needs to pull off the job and how she practices her craft. You would think that with this much detail the book would be tedious. It's not. Connelly provides fascinating details about how a pro would go about ripping off a mark in a Vegas hotel room.

The entire book takes place over the course of just a few days in Cassie's life, but every second of the job is infused with excitement and anticipation. And yes, a void moon is apparently something astrological that occurs between the changing of the signs and it is something that Leo advises Cassie to avoid by all means.

Although some of the plot devices might be clichés and some of the characters as well, Connelly is professional enough to pull it off and this is a very worthwhile read. Recommended.

Void Moon: I came at this book from the perspective of someone who has never read any of Michael Connelly's work before. Given that the story is told from a female protagonist's point of view, it was initially a little jarring to hear the audiobook read by a male voice, but the story is so enthralling that the reader (listener) soon forgets that fact and enjoys the story for what it is. Overall, it is a quick-paced modern-era crime thriller that is quite detailed and nuanced. It is an enjoyable read (listen).

Cassie Black is on parole in Los Angeles, having found a job as a saleswoman for a Porsche dealer. She is quite the saleswoman, but she is bored and longs for more action. Leo is her contact, her middleman. He sets up action and he has something for her that is guaranteed to have a large pay-off. Cassie initially doesn't want this job because the last time she did a job at "the Cleo" (which is a thinly disguised pseudonym for the Luxor), she ended up in prison and her boyfriend/fiancé ended up dead. She absolutely does not want to go back, but the payoff is so large that she can't turn it down.

Cassie is the consummate professional and one of the more interesting things about this book is the exquisite detail about Cassie's preparations including what items she needs to pull off the job and how she practices her craft. You would think that with this much detail the book would be tedious. It's not. Connelly provides fascinating details about how a pro would go about ripping off a mark in a Vegas hotel room.

The entire book takes place over the course of just a few days in Cassie's life, but every second of the job is infused with excitement and anticipation. And yes, a void moon is apparently something astrological that occurs between the changing of the signs and it is something that Leo advises Cassie to avoid by all means.

Although some of the plot devices might be clichés and some of the characters as well, Connelly is professional enough to pull it off and this is a very worthwhile read. Recommended.

Utterly forgettable and bland sort of thriller. Really didn't stand out in any way, even though I have fairly relaxed standards for audio books. A story of a former casino thief doing that proverbial one last job for all the right reasons. Something doesn't go according to plan and suddenly there is a psychopath private investigator on her tail. It's all pretty predictable, decently paced, comes across like a straight for paycheck sort of book. The narration itself was pretty good. At times it was oddly technical, as in very detailed technical how to steal manual circa 1999. So if you have a time travel machine and a passion for larceny, that might be the book's only redeeming feature. Then again, if you have a time machine, there are other things to do. And other places to see than 1999 Las Vegas in all its neon glory. Pass.

I give Michael Connelly's stand-alone novel, VOID MOON, a rating of three.
The prime character, Cassie Black is a mid-twenties parolee. Black is paroled from High Desert Corrections five years into a 12-year sentence for manslaughter. She spends her days at a dealership selling Porches but longs for the exciting challenges of her previous life of planning and executing major burglaries. She is soon lured back into the business by an old friend, succumbing to the temptation with the promise of big money that will provide her an opportunity to exit the country with a loved one.
The novel takes place in L. A. and Las Vegas. Cassie is a charming, intelligent and lovable character who you will fall in love with.
Connelly drags the first half of the story through page after page of boring and deadly dull detailed narration with little personalizing dialogue. The last half is way more energizing providing a compelling story of stimulating adventure with page-turning excitement.
I did not feel this stand-alone novel was up to Connelly's high standards. It felt more like he was rushing to get something on the market.
Never-the-less, with a 3 out of 5 rating, it still makes for good reading.

A fast and exciting read, but the plot is so improbable it seriously detracts from enjoying the book. Many holes in the plot don't make any sense, such as the singular fact that the guy who presumably gets paid a seven figure annual salary to run a casino is willing to risk it all with a convoluted murder plot to steal only $2.5 million. Why? This same guy constantly views the casino floor from a "crows nest" despite the fact cameras are everywhere and he could keep track of everything from the comfort of his office. Then there is the fact that this same casino boss allows the money mule to carry around a briefcase containing $2.5 million in cash for three days while staying at the casino. He puts it in the hotel safe during the day, but takes it to his room at night so it can be stolen by a "hot prowler" when he goes to bed with the briefcase full of money handcuffed to his wrist. Really? And according to the plot, the casino boss intended all along for the money to be stolen so he could recover it and blame a scapegoat, who he planned to kill. His grand plan included the fact that the woman who stole it was not in on the deal and he didn't even know who she was. Nonetheless, he would be able to find the thief and recover the briefcase full of money. Pretty confident guy.

The female thief - who is said to be a competent pro - pulls the caper using a stolen van with the kidnapped van owner tied up in the back. The van is caught on casino cameras, but it has no license plates. So the thief is driving around Las Vegas with a van with no license plates with a kidnap victim inside. Maybe she has a plan if she is stopped by the cops for driving around without license plates. But if so, this is never explained.

With VOID MOON, Michael Connelly has done a book from a different perspective from almost all his others -- nearly everyone in the story falls along the spectrum from "merely" criminal, to vicious criminal scum. The main character, Cassie Black, is clever and skilled, but shallow. For comparison, in Connelly's Harry Bosch books, Bosch is largely motivated by his conviction that he has a mission to track down murderers and deliver a measure of justice to their victims. Cassie's main motivation seems to be little more than an addiction to the adrenaline buzz of the "hot prowl" -- a sexy term for breaking into hotel rooms and robbing their occupants while they sleep. She does have one other motivation, which most readers will figure out quite a while before the story lays it out plainly, but that one is also wrapped up in an insular selfishness. There's another angle of the story that's kind of difficult to mention without a small spoiler, which is -- there's a majorly bad thing which we (not too surprisingly) eventually learn Cassie didn't do: but in the same breath we're told she WOULD have done it if it had seemed expedient, which pretty much drops her off the map morally as well as making her look lazy/not very resourceful in coming up with alternatives. There's a lot of gadgetry in the story; as in CHASING THE DIME, when Connelly's characters are weak he seems to try to fill in with techy stuff. Readers who have enjoyed most of Connelly's other books may not be too thrilled with this one.

"Void Moon," (2000) is a mystery standalone that comes a little earlier in the career of Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Detective Harry Bosch series of mystery novels, Los Angeles-set police procedurals that look at life on the "noir" side. This book, which is set in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, has a female protagonist, Cassie Black, and could, I guess, be considered more of a thriller than a straightforward mystery.

Cassie, a Las Vegas native, has walked away from her criminal past after a disastrous night in the Las Vegas Cleopatra that left her lover dead, and her facing a jail term, of which she has served five years at Nevada's High Desert prison. She has now been released on probation and gone to Los Angeles, where she is selling Porsches to young new Hollywood arrivals. Suddenly, the world delivers her another blow. She then needs money fast, and so must go back to her old trade, robbing Las Vegas casino gamblers, at which she was very technologically adept and very successful. So she's given a mark - a potential victim-- by a superstitious old friend with connections: the mark has been winning steadily at baccarat for a week. The job appears to go perfectly, until she opens the mark's briefcase, and then the trouble starts. Her superstitious friend believes that it's because she did not steer clear of the bad luck void moon on the night of the burglary, as he advised her to do. (The internet site Sky View Zone tells us "The Moon becomes void when it's not making any major aspects to the other planets. This happens every few days for a time period ranging from a few minutes to a day or more." And this is the best I can do for a definition, folks.) At any rate, Cassie's luck continues to be lousy, and then she has again crossed paths with Jack Karch, a Vegas-based private investigator by day who does black work for casino operators by night. He's the man who engineered the destruction of her life six years before.

Connelly's usual wonderful fondness for detail nearly undoes this book. He lays down a tremendous amount of technological minutiae on the reader, the action is rather slow: it's a bit boring and suffocating, and some readers may feel they could almost rob a Las Vegas casino themselves after reading it. And in Karch, he seems to have borrowed a funny-named psychotic villain from the James Lee Burke school of detective writing. Yet, somehow, the book retains enough of Connelly's trademark power. It's also got his usual excellent narrative and descriptive writing, and snappy dialogue. And it too is written with great knowledge of, and love for, Los Angeles, then his adopted home town.

We might also notice that Connelly is still sneaking a couple of his favorite ploys into the book: as he used to do in his earlier books, He is still playing with the phrase, "the wire in the blood." (In Blood Work, he mentioned that he was to collaborate on a book with Val McDermid, the Scottish tartan noir author, on a book by that name,The Wire in the Blood (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries.). Omnivorous mystery readers will know that McDermid did indeed write quite a book by that title, but without Connelly's participation. However, this book finds him still playing with the idea.)

Connelly is a former journalist, a crime beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, who certainly earned his spurs in murder while earning his daily bread. He is a wonderful writer, my favorite among American mystery authors, and I've read all his books save The Scarecrow, and his most recent, The Reversal. (Like many other readers, I imagine, I prefer his series works to his standalones: like many other writers, his mysteries seem more powerful if they are filtered through the sensibilities of his detective protagonist.) However, his recent standalones, SCARECROW, The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Harry Bosch), and The Lincoln Lawyer, have all been #1 New York Times Bestsellers. Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, his collected non-fiction journalism, was also a New York Times bestseller. But "Void Moon" can be slow going, and I wouldn't recommend it to any but his most devoted readers.

I am only halfway in, and I am hooked. The story is terrific. The flawed character is similar to those of Elmore Leonard, which basically are those of Greek tragedy: whatever bad happens to them, is because of their own character flaws. The story is also told in just the right pace, and -- for me-- is attaining the level of the early Elmore Leonard. This is not something I am saying lightly. From the beginning, you feel more than know what the end will be, who will be in it, and why. Now back to the book. I`ll come back to this review and edit if I change my view of the book, but I doubt it. The more I read, the more I like it.
***
Just finished the book. It's a solid 5 stars. The only parts that drag a little (I said a little), are the detailed descriptions of all the paraphernalia of burglary: Every jimmy, lock pick, latch and drill is described and named. It is a marvel of authorial accuracy, but beyond a certain point, I found myself skipping and looking for the action. No great harm done. The rest of the book was marvelous, imho. The heroine was flawed, and the villain was both vile and pathetic, i.e.: his evilness was flawed too. And that is how it should be.
I would consider Void Moon one of Connelly's best.
Read it.

STORY BRIEF:
Cassie was in prison. She has been out on parole for 10 months. She works for a Porsche dealership selling cars. She is unsettled about something and wants to do another burglary job. She contacts her former buddy Leo who says he has a job needing someone like her - to steal money from a hotel room safe while the mark sleeps. The mark is a gambler in Las Vegas. She takes the job, pulls it off admirably, and gets away. To Cassie's surprise, not only did she get his gambling winnings but also a briefcase with $2 ½ million in mob money. The hotel manager hires Jack (private investigator/hit man) to find the thief (Cassie) and get it back.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This is a great book for watching two very smart people outsmart each other. Jack is clever, intuitive, has guns, and uses them. Cassie has smart plans, but her most impressive abilities occur when things go wrong, and she instantly comes up with something unexpected to counter and survive. Those parts were great.

Early in the book I was frustrated because I didn't know who to root for. Just know that this is a story about thieves, killers, and criminals. All of them are after each other. It takes a while to get to know Cassie (a thief), but she's the one to root for. When Jack comes into the picture a little later, I was hoping the two of them would get together. He was impressed with her. This could have been a great romantic suspense book (with the hit man changing his life after falling in love). I'm a big fan of romance novels. But as the story continued, I realized that could not happen. Early on Jack was a good Samaritan when he saw a man abusing a woman, and he stepped in to help her. But later I learned Jack was evil. I could accept Jack killing bad guys, but when he starts killing good guys I realized he wasn't going to be the romantic hero I wanted. Since we are in the head of the bad guy chasing Cassie, this qualifies as a thriller (crime suspense thriller). It took some time to get going, but boy, the last two hours were edge of your seat! And the ending was very well done. It was a happy ending.

What makes this so good is all the "showing" not telling. We see details of how clever things happen.

NARRATOR:
The narrator L J Ganser was very good.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook length: 10 hrs and 59 mins. Narrator: L J Ganser. Swearing language: strong, but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: 2000 mostly Los Angeles area, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Book Copyright: 2000. Genre: crime suspense thriller. Ending: Not mushy happy for everyone, but happy from a realistic standpoint.

OTHER BOOKS:
Most of the author's books are within the four series mentioned below. To date he has written two novels that are not part of these series. He has also done some collections and anthologies that I do not intend to read. The two novels are:
4 ½ stars. Void Moon. Copyright 2000.
to read: Chasing The Dime. Copyright 2002.

THE FOUR SERIES: Bosch, McCaleb, McEvoy, and Haller:
I recommend reading the Harry Bosch books in order, but it would be ok to try "The Last Coyote" or "Lost Light" first, just to see if you like the style. Then go back and read the rest in order. There is a date flow and the characters interact. See my review for The Fifth Witness for a list of all the books and my recommended reading order (for the four series).

As the third novel by Connelly that doesn't feature Harry Bosch, this one might not be an excellent one. It's a couple of notches below The Poet and Blood Work mainly because of two cliches that I find the most annoying in any book, film, or TV show. I don't want to give much of the plot away, but there's a plot thread that involves a kidnapping (one of the two obvious cliches in the book). How many times have we even seen a kidnapping in any form of media? It's a tired old cliche, and it's automatically predictable once it occurs in the story. Plus, the second act does tend to sag a bit, which isn't surprising since most second acts aren't that great to start with. Finally, I found the ending to be very mediocre. There really isn't anything amazing in both the climax OR the resolution. But there are still some superb stuff in Void Moon. The protagonist and antagonist (Cassie Black and Jack Karch) are solid characters, the former being a fascinating anti-heroine. There's plenty of suspense and drama in the story, so fans of thrillers/mysteries are in for a lovely treat.

Void Moon is still a satisfactory work by Connelly. It doesn't overshadow the most previous works (Angels Flight, Blood Work, etc.), but for what it is, it stands on its own quite well.

Grade: 7.6 out of 10

Also from Michael Connelly
The Black Echo: 7.1 out of 10
The Black Echo (Harry Bosch)
The Black Ice: 7.7 out of 10
The Black Ice (Harry Bosch)
The Concrete Blonde: 9.7 out of 10
The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch)
The Last Coyote: 9.3 out of 10
The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch)
The Poet: 8 out of 10
The Poet
Trunk Music: 9.2 out of 10
Trunk Music (Harry Bosch, No. 5)
Blood Work: 8.2 out of 10
Blood Work
Angels Flight: 8.9 out of 10
Angels Flight

This is a good book, well written, fast moving, filled with actions and adventure. In other words there is never a dull moment. This book goes deep into the minds of criminals and what makes them tick, these in the story. The story begins in Los Angeles and moves on the Las Vegas.

Cassie Black is a parolee who must meet with her parole officer periodically. She wants to make some money, quite a bit of cash and quickly. Cassie has plans on what to do with this money when she gets it. The reader will find out why. She has a job selling new and used expensive cars. Cassie and her parole officer get along great. But she wants to throw away what she has gained going straight for a reason. As for money she calls Leo Renfro, her lovers half brother. And how she misses Max. He was killed in a caper six years ago.

There are many interesting characters in this book. There is Cassie, not long out of prison, Thelma Kibble, her parole officer, Leo Renfro, who is into astrological signs. Leo is the character who tells Cassie to beware of the "Void Moon." He sets her up to rob a mark in Vegas. After this robbery she will be able to retire from this businesss and leave the country. There is the Cleo Cassino boss Victor Grimaldi. But the most evil of these characters is Karch a private eye who cheats his customers. But his favorite job is hit man and he is good at this work,dedicated in fact. Plus there are more interesting characters the reader will meet.

I enjoyed reading the hitech parts, the way Cassie set the stage to rob the mark, the televisions keeping track of comings and goings of gamblers in the Cleo.

This is one great book that takes the reader away from reality and into the minds of criminals. Good read. I recommend it.

The author made his bones with his Harry Bosch series of police procedurals, but he has occasionally taken time off from those generally very good novels to invent other characters and situations. These are obviously meant to be stand-alones, but Connelly's protagonists have a way of turning up as supporting characters in each other's stories. In this case, the focus is on Cassie Black, a very talented professional thief who specializes in the "hot prowl" -- slipping at night into the target's hotel room (prepped by her in advance, if possible) and robbing him while he sleeps. But one such foray in Las Vegas a few years before ended in disaster with the violent death of her mentor, partner, and lover, and now Cassie is on parole from prison and just trying to get along selling expensive cars for a dealership in Los Angeles. She has a secret, though, involving a little girl living with a nice family nearby, and when she discovers the family is about to sell their house and move to Europe, she knows she's going to need a lot of money fast. And that means going to her old caper-arranger (and quasi-brother-in-law) for another hot prowl. Which means it's back to Vegas, which she hoped never to have to visit again. The most fascinating thing about the story is following Cassie as she lays her plans, gathers her equipment, and sets up the job -- which turns out to be a scam in which she and those closest to her are the marks. Connelly does an excellent job laying out the personalities of his principal characters and describing the action in almost cinematic fashion. And yet he's strangely prone to stilted phrasing and awkward word choices of the sort one might expect and accept in a first novel -- but not in this author's ninth outing. Cassie isn't one of the Good Guys, certainly, but she's not vicious, either. And she has her chance at selfless heroism, though she's also guilty of having gotten a number of innocent people (and a few not so innocent) killed. It will be interesting to see what she does with her life next.

Void Moon is yet another example of Connelly's expertise in storytelling. When it's clear that he puts everything he has into a book, as he has done several times throughout his career, it's amazing. Void Moon is one of his books that just feels so well-crafted and so different that I just felt amazed when I finished it.

It's interesting in that the story takes place almost entirely in the underworld. It cuts from main character Cassie Black, a thief, to a man, Jack Karch, chasing her. He's not a cop, but a private investigator/hitman, and, not being a cop, he doesn't have to follow any procedures, giving him free reign to do what he wants, including killing anyone who might lead back to him. The characters are compelling, and once the book turns from a heist story to a chase, it's releneless in its pacing. The opening few chapters start out a bit slow as Connelly deliberately leaves you in the dark with regard to many characters' motives, which are explained later. But once Void Moon picks up it's very hard to put down.

The story creates a fantastic sense of place both in Las Vegas as well as Los Angeles, as is typical of Connelly. The way he pulls you into the world these characters inhabit make this one of his best, and how he describes Las Vegas, especially in a chapter towards the end, is pretty crazy. Some aspects of the resolution confused me slightly and could, I think, have used a bit more explanation, but otherwise this was a great read and though we haven't really seen these characters since (well, one makes a cameo in The Narrows, but that's about it) it'd be great to see another novel in this universe.

There are things in this world that really baffle me. Like Void Moon getting any 1-star reviews at all. This is a well-crafted story, and Michael Connelly is one of the best American detective novelists out there. To find better, of course, you need to turn to British authors, but we all know that. Since good American authors are few and far between, it would behoove us to encourage talents like Connelly.

I have paid dearly for letting myself be led by the the store book review ratings for certain authors/books. Probably the most egregious travesty is the high ratings given to Vince Flynn's so-called political thrillers. They're absolutely atrocious yet most people love them. It takes a certain kind of American to love writing like that. There are apparently a lot of those kinds of Americans. John Grisham is another highly-rated author with poor output.

In any event, I have been reading Connelly chronologically and he has entertained me every time. It takes very little time to go through one of his books because they grip you with a fair amount of suspense and they're hard to put down.

I've just finished re-reading this book and it just affirms in my mind what an excellent author Connelly is. This book could be a blueprint for budding authors if they want to know what a good book should be.

I'm trying to dissect exactly what makes this such a good book and why it is so well written.

1) It's all about the characters. The characters are well fleshed out, but not overly done. Unlike amateur authors who resort to clumsy statement of facts to describe their characters: eg. "John was really a nice guy", Connelly never does that. Instead he puts them in situations where his characters react and from these reactions, you see what kind of a person that character is. i.e. what makes the character so real is you decide what kind of a person the character is, the author doesn't need to write it down.

And Connelly doesn't overpopulate his book with too many main characters like some authors do. The bit parts only get bit parts in the book, but they are so well written and so concisely written that he doesn't need to spend pages describing them.

eg. The parole agent Thelma only appears twice, but she is so well written in her first appearance that when she appears again, she is already a favorite and you feel for her. With Thelma, it's her dialogue and her sharp remarks in her first appearance which does it. He really makes her larger than life. (page 27)

eg. The same goes with Martin. He has only a small part in the book, but in his appearance on page 109, you get a very good idea of the type of person he is because of the dialogue Connelly gives him. And why is that? It's because people in his job talk exactly like that. You've heard people like that speak a thousand times and Connelly has captured it expertly, so from his dialogue, you know exactly what Martin would be like if he were a real person. I'm beginning to feel that this type of writing is a talent, and just like painting, or music or throwing a football, some people have it and some people don't.

All the toughs and heavies in this book were well described and menacing. Well done. A small point, but Connelly has done a great job of naming is characters. Grimaldi wouldn't have been that menacing with a name like Jones.

2) Plot. Connelly does a great job here. There is one main plot with a few big a small subplots woven in and the whole flow of the book just goes together real well. The part where Cassie preps and carries out the theft is just great. It's exciting and so well written that I almost felt like I was there.

The world of the underworld was very well written. I'm afraid to ask how Connelly knows so much about it, but it's very realistic, interesting, and scary. This is a major part of this book which is different from his Harry Bosch books.

But the twist at the end was almost too cliche. Does every book have to have a twist? Can we not have one??? But this book was published in 2000, and maybe it wasn't so overused then.

3) Easy to read. Very important. Some author's books are just awful to read and a chore to follow, it becomes work, not pleasure. But this book flows easily.

4) Logic. Also very important. Don't have huge gaps in logic and make the characters do stupid things. I soon lose patience when things don't make sense in a book. Happily this book is intelligently written.

5) Last but not least, a satisfying ending. I suspect most people feel the same. I do not want my characters, whom I've gotten attached to in the course of the book, get blown to smithereens or lose the love of their lives, etc. A book is most of all an escape, and when we are in the book we are living our lives vicariously through them, so heck yes we want them to get the money and the girl.

So, without giving anything away, Void Moon is an excellent book, a solid 10/10. A great plot, great characters, easy to read and a satisfying ending.

Michael Connelly is well known as the author of the Harry Bosch series (THE BLACK ECHO, THE BLACK ICE, THE CONCRETE BLONDE, THE LAST COYOTE, TRUNK MUSIC, ANGELS FLIGHT and still more). Although that is a popular and successful series, Connelly occasionally departs from chronicling Bosch's adventures to tell different types of stories, such as 1995's THE POET, about a serial killer who targets homicide detectives, and 1997's BLOOD WORK, a thriller that featured a heart transplant recipient. Connelly has once again chosen to write a stand-alone novel, this time about a criminal tortured by tragic events in her past.

Six years prior to the events of VOID MOON, Cassie Black was involved in a robbery that resulted in the death of her husband, a professional thief named Max Freeling. Apprehended at the scene, she was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. Paroled after five years, Cassie set out to rebuild her life, trying to achieve the dream that sustained her during her time in prison. Living from day to day, Cassie prays for enough time to achieve that dream. But fate is not kind to Cassie, and outside forces beyond her control force her to take desperate measures.

Needing a large amount of cash, Cassie decides to return to her past life, contacting friend and criminal go-between Leo Renfro in search of a job "big enough to disappear on." Leo finds a job that should provide an appropriately substantial payoff. There's one catch, however -- her mark is staying at the Cleopatra Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, the very place where Max died, apparently committing suicide by leaping through the plate-glass window of a 20th floor luxury suite. Reluctant but desperate, Cassie takes the job, setting out to rip off high roller Diego Hernandez.

Before she departs, Leo secures her promise not to act during a celestial event he calls "the void moon." He explains that this is an "astrological situation" due to occur during the night she plans to hit Hernandez. "It's a bad luck time, Cass. Anything can happen under a void moon. Anything wrong." As proof, he mentions that Presidents Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy were all inaugurated during a void moon. "Clinton, too, and he might as well've been shot, what happened to him." Cassie remembers his caution when she is trapped in Hernandez's closet after a phone call wakes him during the burglary. Waiting for him to return to sleep, Cassie cannot act until the time of the void moon. Emerging from the closet, she discovers that the money she thought was in a safe is instead in a briefcase handcuffed to her victim's wrist. The action ends as Hernandez stirs, roused by Cassie's attempts to remove the briefcase -- Cassie draws her gun as the scene fades to black.

When next we see her, a distraught Cassie is consulting with Leo, telling him that the job has gone terribly wrong -- instead of the $500K score they expected, the briefcase contained $2.5 million. At first awestruck, the pair quickly realize they are in big trouble. "Sometimes," notes Cassie, "you can steal too much."

Trouble takes the form of one Jack Karch, a shady private detective hired by the mob-connected head of casino security to investigate the murder and robbery of Hernandez, who, unbeknownst to Leo or Cassie, was carrying funds belonging to a Miami crime cartel. Known as the "Jack of Spades" due to the part he played as a child in his father's Vegas magic act, and his habit of personally digging the graves of his victims, the murderous and efficient Karch quickly picks up Cassie's trail, leaving numerous victims in his wake.

Connelly has come up with yet another gem, a well-crafted crime tale that evokes Richard Stark's hard-boiled Parker novels, and, fittingly, OCEAN'S ELEVEN by Jack Finney, to which Connelly provides a specific nod late in the book. There's more, much more, to this plot, but I don't want to ruin the myriad surprises Connelly has in store for his readers. As ever, the author delivers well-rounded characters -- Karch and Cassie are complex, captivating, and convincing. Their individual histories are rich and colorful, furnishing plausible psychological motivation for the choices they make. Connelly also provides telling background for his supporting cast; although they are onstage only briefly, Leo Renfro and parole officer Thelma Kibble often threaten to steal the show. Add to this Connelly's painstaking attention to detail (his descriptions of Cassie's high-tech tools and of the inner workings of Las Vegas casinos are fascinating), and you end up with high-octane entertainment.

Every once in a while, Michael Connelly will take a break from his excellent Harry Bosch series to write a novel about another character. In VOID MOON (written in 2000), Connelly introduces Cassie Black. Cassie is a con-artist who's just been released from prison and is trying to go on the straight and narrow. She works in LA selling Porsches to cocky Hollywood screenwriters. But, Cassie has bigger plans. She wants to get away. She contacts her friend Leo, who agrees to try and set her up on a job.

Leo gets Cassie a job in Vegas and its at the same hotel where Cassie performed her last job, and where she was caught, and where she lost her lover, Max. Despite the pain, Cassie goes through with the job. Something goes wrong, and a hired thug named Jack Karch is sent out to make things right.

The novel revolves around Cassie and Karch. We're either following Cassie as she plans her scheme or tries to get away from Karch, or we're following Karch as he methodically tries to figure what went wrong in the hotel room and where the money went.

VOID MOON is a good novel, but I guess there's a reason Cassie Black hasn't made a return in a Connelly novel. She's really a haunted person, a thief. She's a good character, but this novel tells her entire story. Karch is featured a lot, and is a good, ruthless villian. Fans of Connelly that have just read 9 Dragons or the Scarecrow, should go back and check this out. It is slow at times, but contains some of the same pathos that makes Harry Bosch so popular.

Supposedly Connelly’s worst book, I’ve been holding off reading this stand-alone thriller. But it turns out to be quite good — better than a couple of the Bosch books. I wish the main character had been fleshed out better, but Connelly seldom does that. It’s just a good noirish plot — in this case, about ripping off a high roller at a casino. B+

P.S. The main character is a woman so I think the audio version — which is good — would have been better with a female narrator.

I wouldn't want to describe the plot of "Void Moon" in 100 words or less or even in 1,000 words. It's that complicated as the action shifts from past to present, from one point of view to another. Usually, in the hands of a less skilled writer, this would be cause for confusion, but Mr. Connelly pulls it off--spectacularly, I might add. It starts as a rather ordinary break in of a casino hotel room in order to steal the winnings of a very successful baccarat player. There's nothing ordinary in short order. Instead of finding his expected winnings, the take is in the millions. And that means real trouble.

The atmosphere is Los Angeles and especially Las Vegas, two cities that I've never found very interesting. It works well here, however. The descriptive detail is superb. The dialogue is quite good, as in all of Connelly's novels.

If there is a flaw in this book, it is in the characters, not that they are not well drawn, but in the fact that not one person (with the possible exception of the little girl who arrives late) worthy of our sympathy. There are thieves stealing from thieves, murderers, liars, gamblers, wastrels--not one of whom I'd want to know personally. But I have no suggestions to remedy this. The story is about a burglary that goes awry, and one can't expect to meet too many saints in such a plot. Moreover, I suspect that there are few Las Vegas casino denizens who will qualify for beatification.

The book certainly kept my attention, and I can only compare it with a Dostoyevsky novel, say, "Crime and Punishment," with respect to the way that the author peels the onion, as we go deeper and deeper into the motives of the people and into what actually occurred.

I've been reading all the "Harry Bosch" series in order, and have loved them all. I picked this book up as the next in order written, but it's not a Harry Bosch book. In fact, it's totally opposite of any of the Bosch books, cause the entire main cast of characters are sleezy criminals. The first part of the book, reads like a 'How to wire up a hotel room, for surveillance' book. Was very boring, so I skimmed through those parts. Then, the book really picked
the momentum up, with one character on a murder spree. Trouble is, all the characters were criminals, and I didn't care if they all wiped each other out, which seemed to be the case. Cassie Black the main character was even out to do more crime and ruin a good family's life. Skip this book and give me more of Harry Bosch.

From page one, Cassie Black's story intrigues. Connelly masterfully hints at a past that while memorable is also painful and retribution seeking.

Grant you, Connelly does not have the luxury of developing Cassie's character over a series of books as he does in his Harry Bosch novels, but within the 300+ pages, the reader gets a satisfactory portrayal of a woman in transition.

Cassie, an ex-con, works in a Porsche dealership in the L.A. that Connelly uses as a backdrop in most of his novels. The routine of her job combined with her regular parole visits jolt suddenly when she discovers that another far more important and unrevealed portion of her routine will be disrupted. In an instant, the old need for what Connelly describes as "outlaw juice" hits her, and she decides that instead of the quiet life of the reformed thief, she desires nothing more than to go back to her old life of precarious excitement in Las Vegas. She makes the connections she needs with the precision of a Swiss watch, and within days a job is set into motion that places Cassie in the path of Jack Karch, one of Connelly's sleazier villians in an already excellent portfolio of the underworld's sleaziest characterizations.

I'll admit that when the story switches from the third person Cassie Black viewpoint to that of Jack Karch, I was a little disappointed as the direction in which the novel heads becomes easier to track. But Connelly keeps up the pace and I found myself reading page after page until at 3 AM I finished the book and decidedly spent the ensuing day happily sleep deprived. Once Jack rears his ugly head, the story catapults into a satisfying tale of "the caper" with all the adrenaline inducing charge of film stories like "The Italian Job" or "The Thomas Crown Affair" told in the more world weary underbelly of Las Vegas and L.A. while still maintaing its ability to depict a complex animal like Karch and reveal all his Freudian impulses in a complete and unboring fashion.

I will not reveal the plot; its certainly provides enough entertainment for anyone who enjoys probing the psyches of the amoral within the confines of a fast-paced popular novel. While the overall outcome of the story could be worked out by the reader, the manner in which it all is accomplished is successfully employed by Connelly and the outcome provides an entertaining respite from the reader's routine world. Recommended to all who like a quick well-done suspenseful read where there is no need to lessen the pace to look up a word in the dictionary.

Cassie Black has been out of prison for 10 months, after a crime caper gone wrong in Las Vegas left her lover dead and saw her behind bars for five years. Cassie now sells Porches at a Hollywood dealership and does surveillance on a five-year-old girl at her home and school nearby. When the little girl's home goes up for sale and Cassie finds out her family is moving to Paris, she sets a plan in motion that unleashes a violent chain of events.

Cassie calls an old contact from her days as a thief and asks him to get her two passports...and one last job. The job that comes along gives her a chill of foreboding; it's in Las Vegas at the same hotel, on the same floor where her beloved Max met his demise. But, Cassie needs the money, so she takes the job of robbing a hot-streaking casino player while he sleeps. When she gets back to LA with the briefcase she was supposed to steal, however, she realizes she's in way over her head; the briefcase is holding a lot more than the $500 thousand she had been told it contained. Cassie gets another unpleasant surprise when a playing card from a deck she was using to kill time before the robbery turns up, and she knows someone is onto her. She has to think fast on her feet in order to survive and pull off her plan.

Probably the only nice person in this novel is the little girl, Jodie Shaw. Everyone else is from the underbelly of society-professional thieves, thugs, and mobsters. They're all involved in a cat-and-mouse game where one false move means death. There are double-crosses and triple-crosses, all fueled by an underlying sense of doom. Though I pieced most of it together, there were still a few surprises, and I had no idea who was going to come out on top. All I knew was that I absolutely had to keep reading because I had to know how it was all going to end. This is no quaint little mystery to be solved by sharp-witted old lady detectives. This is a hard-edged, violent, sometimes bleak story that gripped me in suspense, leaving no small detail or character to insignificance. If that's what you're looking for, this book delivers in spades.

This book reads nothing at all like Connelly's other works (the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller novels). However, that's not to say that it's a bad thing, and it's certainly good to see established authors branching away from that which made them famous. This was a fun heist novel with a few interesting twists. My favorite part was how Connelly chose to spend roughly 50% of his time with the protagonist and 50% with the antagonist, building them into characters who were very deep and likable, but for completely different reasons. Yes, even the antagonist is very likable, even though he's a deranged psychopath. He uses magic in his "routines", which is pretty darned cool, and his troubling past makes him a bit sympathetic. The cat and mouse game that occurs between these two turns into a high staked, stressful game, and the showdown between the two of them is nothing short of epic.

Michael Connelly is a predictable pleasure for those who like their crime and mystery yarns on the gritty side. An expert at depicting the conflicts generated by the intersecting interests of high rollers and bottom feeders, Connelly has turned out one successful book after another. With complex characterizations and deftly twisting plots, his books are almost all 'page turners' that grab a reader and won't let go. Void Moon, his latest book, shares many of these qualities but also has some problems. Cassi, the main character, is never fully rounded out. Much of what makes her tick - and that would explain her behavior - is left to be revealed until the end of the book. And the plot, for the most part as satisfying as any Connelly has concocted before, suffers, I believe, because of a little too much of the 'synchronicity' that the psychotic bad guy tries to set up. The attempt at irony is a bit much and because it seems contrived, deprives the ending of the punch it would otherwise have had. Also, because the bad guy is a psycho, his character is a bit too evil, too over the top, to relate to fully. And finally, anytime a plot turns to the kidnapping of a child to be used as a pawn in whatever is at stake, the book in question runs the risk of descending into melodrama. So there are some false steps here.
That being said, the Connelly magic for presenting great dialogue, an interesting cast of characters and a complex plot with enough quick turns to make the reader dizzy, is all here. While not the best of Connelly's books, Void Moon is still better than the great majority of what is being turned out by other writers in this genre; and it's a good bet there will be more and better books to come.

Michael Connelly hits another home run as he temporarily leaves Harry Bosch behind and writes about the other side of the law.
Cassie Black is a convicted felon who has sustained several major losses in her young life. First, she lost the love of her life, then she lost the child who was the product of that love. Then, she loses he freedom as she spends more than 5 years in prison for felony murder for her part in the death of her lover Max during a Las Vegas casino burglary gone sour.
This book has all of the tension fans of Connelly have come to expect through the Bosch novels. His spare but incisive prose makes the reader want to get to the end of the story but then lament that it is finally over. He creates sympathetic and understandable characters and we feel for Cassie. We do not feel for the men who have hurt her and betrayed her as she tries to find peace and reclaim her daughter.
How Connelly puts this storyline together is what makes it so successful. We want to know how Cassie will get out of her predicament and I cheered when I saw how she did. Like the rest of us, she is a flawed being. But in her case, there is still a sense of morality and rightness. In the end, Cassie choosese the "hard" right in place of the easy wrong.
I recommend this book to Connelly's fans and those who have never read him. For those who haven't discovered the Bosch novels, this will be an unexpected treat because there is no Bosch to compare too.
Connelly proves once again, that he is rapidly becoming "the" master (without peer) of this genre. Read VOID MOON and find out why.

Void Moon is an excellent thriller from Michael Connelly. It was certainly the hardest to put down of the three I have read so far. Our heroine in this novel is a "baddie", one Ms. Cassidy Black, who surreptitiously steals a far greater swag than was intended in a daring cat burglar raid on a sleeping gambler in his apparently secure hotel room. With 2.5 million dollars in her custody and some dubious developers enraged by its loss, there are some very powerful and evil forces at work trying to recover the money and eliminate Cassie.
There are no "goodies" in this book, only "baddies", so the reader is behind Cassie all the way. Believe me, she is a lot less bad than all the rest. Just like "Trunk Music" the action takes place in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The story line is set early in the novel and from that point there is no shortage of violence, suspense and surprises. The descriptions of advanced security systems used in the casinos to watch the gamblers and record just about every public space from corridors to elevators and car parks have been very well researched and written.
This book is a standalone book, at least until a sequel is written, so there are no earlier stories to read first. I mentioned this in my review of "Trunk Music" which had a couple of back references. If you want to see the sequence of all Connelly's books, find out a lot more about the author and see actual photographs from many of the scenes in his books you need to visit the author's web site at [...]
I'm giving this five stars for its excitement and for keeping me glued to the story until my eyes were drooping.

Nice book by Michael Connelly whose whole life seem to have taken place between L.A. and Las Vegas. The books starts of breathtakingly, the first part being a tour-de-force for any fan of "the great bank robbery". After that, though the book deteriorates a little and Connelly starts stretching the story to get his pages full.
The Story:
Cassie Black your perfect professional robber, out on probation. Circumstances let her have take on the last, big thing, which eventually leeds her back to the place where she lost the big love of her life, finally putting her against those responsible for his death.
The execution:
The build-up and the robbery itself is described in perfect manner, but Connelly does the mistake of stopping the action in the middle, switching the point-of-view and leave the rest of the robbery unexplained until the end. The second part of the book concentrates on the hit-man sent out for her and how he finds out about her. Enjoyable piece of investigation, but not really suspenseful. The last part is the showdown with each chapter changing the point-of-view. Though we're in for some surprises - as is usual with Connelly - the narration cannot pick up the speed again.
The Verdict:
If you're new to Connelly this is as pleasant an entry as it can get, since the book is very much outside of his usual universe and so you don't miss any background knowledge. For hardened Connelly followers there is one rule "There are no coincidents" and once you've learned that one, the book becomes too predictable. Enjoyable.

Cassie Black is running scared. And she has good reason to be. She just pissed off the wrong people, the same people who killed her partner-in-crime boyfriend and the same people who are now responsible for leaving a trail of bloody bodies and pinning the blame on her. Just recently released on parole from prison...she can't turn to the law to help her. Besides, she just robbed a man of over 2 million dollars, a man who is found shot dead in his Las Vegas hotel room bed the following morning. She needs the dough, but didn't expect quite the amount that she ended up with. She decides to keep it though, to start a new life for her...and her daughter. The reader learns of this little 'secret' part of the way into the story, but is not given enough time to adjust to believing that Cassie actually cares for her...yet that is her motivation for doing all that she does.
It's on this premise that Michael Connelly builds his latest work. Well-written, with enough suspense to hook the reader all the way through, the story itself lacks. The characters come across as mere facades for more promising, better-developed characters lurking just beneath. While Connelly delivers a technically accurate and exciting story...he seems to leave out the meat---the emotional development. Had the characters been more detailed, the motivation which carries the plot might have come across as a much stronger foundation. Since that doesn't happen, the story seems a bit flat and underdeveloped. The action is intense...if that's all you're looking for.

Michael Connelly is best known for his Harry Bosch novels, especially now that the character is starring in an the store TV series. But he has a few standalone novels out there, and I’m am trying to work them into my reading schedule as well. That’s what brought me to Void Moon, which is different in some ways and classic Connelly in others.

Cassie Black is an ex-con who served five years after the robbery of a guest in a Las Vegas casino went horribly wrong and is 10 months into her parole. She’s managed to get a transfer approved to Los Angeles, and she is working at a Mercedes dealership.

Despite Cassie’s desire to go straight, she finds herself needing cash in a hurry, so she decides to go back to her old life for one last crime. In fact, she becomes part of a plan to rob a high roller at the very casino where her life fell apart six years ago. Will things go better this time?

I’m being vague on purpose because this is one of those wonderful plots that you need to watch unfold for yourself. And in this way, this book is classic Michael Connelly. He creates fabulous stories and executes them perfectly for maximum suspense. I got very caught up in this story and had to know how it would all play out. I did feel the beginning was a bit too slow and technical, but once the book really took off, I was hooked, and it became a first-rate thriller.

On the other hand, the characters in this book could be better. I hate rooting for criminals, so it took me a long time to truly begin to root for Cassie. As the book goes along, it becomes impossible not to root for her as the other characters are just as nasty. Still, this book doesn’t have the clear-cut line between good and evil that I normally want in my fiction. I have an issue with Oceans Eleven for the same reason.

I actually listened to the unabridged audio book as read by L. J. Ganser. He does a great job of bringing Cassie and this world to life.

While this book is technically a standalone novel, it does have some references to the events of an earlier Harry Bosch book. It isn’t necessary to have that background to understand this book, but it is a delightful Easter egg for Connelly’s fans.

Don’t get me wrong, Void Moon is a wild, thrilling ride from a true master. I had enough of a problem with the characters that I couldn’t love it, but they probably won’t be an issue for most readers.

Connelly's book is nicely bracketed by the use of two
words : cocaphony of the opening sentance to synchonicity
of the finale. They describe well the style -- apparently
discordant events are brought into harmony by the end,
clues and events explained and tied together, the threads
combined into a coherent tree.
Good stuff.
I recently reviewed "Easy Prey" in which I lamented the lack
of key elements of good crime fiction there. This book is the
opposite -- it has it all. The two most important are
"mystery" and "suspense", the former the challenge to explain
unexplained past events, the latter the challenge to predict
future ones. Both of these elements are present in spades.
They keep the pages turning, often with the wonderful
"Aha! I should have predicted that!" moments which make
good works in the genre so rewarding.
I strongly recommend this book. The only perhaps weakness
is character development is a bit shallow -- it isn't Connelly's
strong point, and here he's tackled the challenge of going from
his speciality of male law enforcement figures by presenting
a female law-breaking protagonist. But he pulls it off
competently, allowing the other elements of the book to show
their strength.

Unlike Connelly's other works, which focus on murder mysteries, this book is a heist novel. This sub-category of the mystery genre focuses on a clever theft which often goes awry and the ensuing complications. As such, it invites comparison to the great heist novels by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) with Parker, and it holds up well in this fashion.
There are distinct differences from the Parker books, starting with the main character. Cassie Black is much more "human," a woman with a past that haunts her and motivates her to continue her life of crime. This in turn makes the story much more emotionally engaging than the coolly fun Parker stories.
Unlike Connelly's other books, however, there are weaknesses in this story. Cassie is an interesting but not very sympathetic character, and there are twists at the end that are either unnecessary or out of left field. These are, overall, minor gripes, however, and do not really take away from the good quality of the book.
For many other authors, this might be a five-star book, but for Connelly - a consistent five-star writer - this book merits less as it is below his usual work. That is not to say this isn't a good book, but it's not as great as his other works. Even weak Connelly beats many other authors at their strongest.

I needed to read this more quickly than I did. Not because it wasn't good - it was - and I devoured it but over the two and a half weeks I lost track of the details as there were a lot of moving pieces. Leo Renfro, the Shaws, Cassie, Max, Thelma... But a solid read and I didn't find myself looking fo Bosch as much as I thought I might.

I liked the ties into the Bosch series especially with Joey Marks and the character development of Black. She was a much more believable character than Barch, Grimaldi and while I loved the early and middle chapters, I felt the ending contrived and rushed. I wish there were more Cassie Black books as I like that fallen hero.

I think many people come to Connely books expecting Harry Bosch or Terry McCaleb. When their favorite protagonists are absent, they feel that a sense of entitlement has been betrayed and hold it against the author.

I have thoroughly enjoyed both books by Connelly I've read without his star detectives, "Chasing the Dime" and "Void Moon", currently under review. I have jet lag at the moment and stayed up all night reading Void Moon; I got about three hours sleep and got up and finished it by late this afternoon. I thought it was fantastic. One thing I'm not that fond of in some Connelly novels is the manichean split between good and evil. No one is purely good in this novel, except perhaps a 5-year old girl. Cassie's maternal instinct is pure enough, but she is also hooked on that adrenaline rush which gets Connelly's characters into so much trouble. True, the character development was not tremendously profound (I don't even have a very good mental image of what Cassie looks like), but I thought the construction of the plot was brilliant--classic Hard Boiled material. I might mention that the style of this novel was more poetic than in the Bosch novels, which are sometimes overly austere. All in all a great way to enjoy jet lag.

Void moon may not be the one that you should really start off on. If you read "void moon" without having already read the other "Harry Bosch" detective series or the non-Harry Bosch novel "poet", you'd probably end up with the feeling that MC is not a very imaginative writer. Actually, it's far from the truth as here MC has deliberately wrote a down to earth novel which pretty much runs like a very standard movie thriller. In fact, even for a movie, it certainly is a very predictive story. This is not to say the book is bad, it's just that MC could have been a bit more imaginative with a little more twists and turns.

The Story is basically about an ex-con "Cassie Black" who earlier convicted on manslaughter charges (for indirectly being responsible for the death of her partner-in-crime/boyfriend Max Freeling) has just got out on parole due to her good behaviour and good intent to start over. But She is continuously haunted by her past. Max was her mentor and along with Max they were a great team pulling off robberies in casinos, specially targeting high rollers in Las Vegas who had ostensibly won large amounts of cash. For a reason I will not reveal, so as to not spoil the book, Cassie decides to do one last big con so that she can have the money to escape to Tahiti which she has been planning for quite long. This means she will be going back to the life of crime that got her in jail in the first place but she is prepared to take her changes for her last shot at her only surviving dream.

The book is about this last con gone wrong. And this con supposedly goes wrong because it happens at the time of "void moon" that is the time the moon is astrologically between two houses or in other words, inauspicious time. Cassie is told to avoid the void moon time-slot during the time she is pulling off the heist. This she is told by the brain-behind-the-plan-colleague who gets her this project in the first place.

After she pulls it off, she comes to know that she actually stole more money than they were counting on and this money was actually a high-stakes shady pay-off. This gets an assassin called Karp on Cassie's trail. Karp is the sort of guy man for hire who makes all your problems go away. From here it is a chase movie, where the karp is nearing Cassie and along the way a lot of people get killed. MC makes Karp kill almost anyone he finds on his travel tour leading to Cassie Black. I don't really think, a real assassin would draw attention to himself in this manner by just pulling off unjustified killings which have no purpose or are not totally mandatory to the purpose of the job at hand which for Karp is "to get the stolen money back and offcourse to get rid of Cassie + those directly involved" . There is a Predictable cliché ending with a cheap twist put at the end. But really, it didn't work for me.

No surprises here, just a very basic story. You can read all the other MC novels first. Afterwards, probably out of curiosity you can probably scan throught this novel, that's if you want to read every MC on the shelf.

I received this novel completely by accident. I forgot to send back the little paper telling the book club I didn't want it. When I read the jacket, however, I was intensely interested. The book featured a strong female character, Cassie Black. She's an ex-con currently trying to get her life back on track while on probation and working for a car dealership in LA.
Cassie went to prison after a burglary in a Las Vegas casino went sour. She did her time and came out trying to be straight. Unfortunately, she has secrets, and she desperately wants to leave the country. For that she needs money. A lot of money. She takes another job in Las Vegas. It also ends badly, and now she's on the run from Jack Karch, a pretty scary dude who likes to bring folks out into the desert, shoot them dead and bury them.
One of the more interesting parts about this book is that none of the characters are what we would traditionally call good. They're pretty much all ex-cons, killers, or other folks who fracture the occasional law. Cassie is what we might call an anti-heroine, as after all, she does rob people of their winnings in Las Vegas. Despite that, she's still human and feels love and loss like anyone else. The book holds several surprises, some of which are revealed in the other reviews here (bad form, people!). The author deliberately holds back certain details until the right time, which makes it an excellent piece of storytelling.

I've recently started reading Michael Connelly's work in chronological order (which is the only way to do it in my opinion) and just finished Void Moon. It is a good book but very different from Connelly's earlier works....so if you are looking for typical Connelly you might not like it. Connelly introduces his first female primary character, Cassie Black. Cassie is a former convict who served five years for burglarizing the rooms of high rollers in Las Vegas (with them in it!!). Void Moon's plot is intricate and well thought through which is typical of Connelly. He didn't leave any loose ends although some details were tied up a little too easily (like the passports on the floor). What makes this book so unexpected is that there are no law enforcement characters...no LAPD, FBI or Las Vegas police...it is all about the bad guys...burglars, mafia, general thugs, middle men, etc. The last page is a little disappointing...I would have liked a little more finality...but overall it was a good book that was hard to put down.

Let's face it; all of the characters in this book are not very evolved. First there is the heroine, Cassie Black. It is difficult to develop much feeling for Ms. Black, the author telling us only that Cassie is in her early thirties. Even though we are tired of male authors describing their heroines as physical goddesses, we would like to have some, minimal description of the young lady that we are going to spend several hours with. She's a convicted felon who, after giving it a lot of serious thought, has decided to return to a life of crime. Cassie gets put onto a job robbing a high roller in a Vegas casino. Using high tech equipment she steals big bucks from this gentleman's bedroom. This upsets lots of bad persons, and they start murdering numerous people while tracking Cassie. Various undesirable people meet untimely ends, and if you are a good person, then undoubtedly you will also be killed, seriously injured, or emotionally traumatized as punishment for showing up in this novel. Does our tarnished heroine escape those forces even more evil than herself? Given the 391page length of the novel will it be possible for the author to find time to adequately punish all of the psychopaths wandering the book's pages?
Now for the good news. This is a fairly quick moving thriller, and for the most part it does hold your attention. If you like to see characters exit a book as a result of fatal injuries, well then, you've got an extra bonus here. Mr. Connelly is an excellent writer. If you have not read any of his books then your assignment is to read all eight of his other novels before picking up this one. That way you will see him at his best, and be more forgiving of the flaws found in Void Moon.

Cassie Black is out on Parole after serving time for the manslaughter of her partner in a Vegas robbery that ended with him taking a dive from twenty stories up onto a craps table. Life is going according to plan, she has a great job in an LA Porsche car yard and is content to wait out her parole but unforseen events she has no control over force her to need money real fast. Her ex crime contact Leo sets her up with a high paying robbery scheme, only thing is she has to go back to Vegas and to the Cleopatra as well, which is where Max her partner died.
A late night phone call to her victim while she is in his room forces her to stay during the time of the void moon as she awaits his return to sleep. Bad luck happens when there is a void moon. There was one when Max took his dive as well. Jack Karch an evil, soulless individual who works for the Cleopatra has been assigned the job of getting back the money and ridding the world of those who participated in the crime. Cassie should have got out of that room before the void moon.
This is a pretty good action packed crime thriller. It will keep you reading until the last page.

"Void Moon" is the third non-Harry Bosch book written by Michael Connelly, and the first book in which the main character is not a law enforcement (or ex-law enforcement) investigator. In fact, no character in the book is in law enforcement, well, except for one minor character who is a parole officer. Nope, this book is populated by burglars, fences, mobsters, and a murderer/amateur magician.
The main character, Cassie Black, served five years on a manslaughter charge when a burglary she was involved in went south. Her lover and accomplice died during the crime, and she was charged under felony-murder. At the beginning of the novel, she's been out on parole for 10 months, working at a Porsche dealership. She needs to leave L.A., though, because (the reader infers quickly) her daughter -- given up for adoption -- is about to be moved to Paris, and she wants to be near her.
Going legit hasn't paid off, so Cassie decides to get back in the business for one quick score, enough for her to retire on. Unfortunately, things never turn out like you expect, and the score leads to all sorts of other problems . . . such as Jack Karch, a sometime PI and sometime wet work man for a mobster who just happens to run the casino where Cassie's previous burglary took place.
"Void Moon" displays a lot of the usual trademarks of Connelly's writing: sharp dialogue, fluid narration, vivid characters. Cassie is generally likeable, even though she's an unredeemed criminal. Karch is pretty interesting too, even if he is quite ruthless.
The only problem with "Void Moon" is the ending, which just doesn't really hang together with the rest of the book.
If you like this book, you might take a look at Philip Kerr's "A Five Year Plan." Not to mention the other Connelly books. (I would recommend "The Concrete Blonde" and "Trunk Music.")

Cassie Black served prison time for a Las Vegas heist that went bad. Now, she is on parole in L.A. and trying to stay on the straight and narrow. The trouble is, she has a sudden need for a large sum of money. She decides to take a chance on pulling another burglary, even though the job is in the same place she was caught six years ago. Worse still, things continue to go wrong. Not only does the job not go as planned, but it turns out that things were different than they seemed initially. People start dying and Cassie finds herself running for her life.
VOID MOON is the fifth book by Connelly that I've read and the first one that didn't feature Detective Harry Bosch. The Bosch tales were all excellent and this one continues in that vein. It is taut, suspenseful and keeps you turning the pages even in those instances when you think you know what's going to happen next. It's also very well researched. Cassie is a sophisticated, high-tech crook and every aspect of what she does is related in fascinating detail. It's another Connelly book that I simply didn't want to put down. I recommend it highly.

I never had a problem putting this book down. Sure it reads fast, but it didn't grip me. Though I enjoyed the book, I never found myself looking forward to picking it up and reading it. I never stayed up into the wee hours reading or read instead of doing more constructive activities. One of the literary mechanisms Connelly employs is to drop hints, or character memories or semi-cryptic dialog throughout the book enticing you to read further in order to discover their hidden meaning. I don't remember if he used this device in either The Poet or Blood Work, but in this book I found it tedious and annoying. Maybe I'm just being cranky and overly critical, but it did nothing to entice me to pick up the book and read more or prevent me from putting the book down. Hey, your mileage may vary.
Overall, it was a good read. I've read a lot worse and a lot better, but I am not disappointed that I read this book or feel it was a waste of time. It was worth it just for the ending. Next to revenge plots, I love a triple-double-double-super-duper-double-cross ending. I'd recommend it as good book for a trip or some escapist reading.
For more details, go to aj.huff.org. Thanks.

It's not usual for a book to have no real "heroes" in it. At least not the upstanding, moral heroes we're used to in thrillers. With "Void Moon," Michael Connelly gives us Cassie Black, a casino robber par excellence, who finds herself in jail for manslaughter on a hit that went terribly wrong, and cost her the life of her lover, and as the reader finds, even more. Cassie then finds herself lured back into one more crime so that she can start a new life. Of course, that's not always so easy. From start to finish, this is an exceptionally riveting and brutal exercise in crime. So even though Cassie is not the most "moral" of heroines, she is someone you root for and admire for what she does.
The main villain, Jack Karch, rivals Gary Soneji (from James Patterson's books) as one of the most vile and disgusting killers in modern fiction. There are some really brutal scenes in this book, but they are depicted with such ferocity, you can feel the visceral impact.
The concept of the "void moon" is also eerily employed in striking fashion.
THIS IS A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK.

Synchronicity, what a concept. Here, it worked to a tee. Page turners follow a formula, but need to incorporate surprise [magic] to make them succeed. This one did that to a great degree. Job well done.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book. I picked it up a "take-a-book/leave-a-book" bookshelf in our building's community room. I wondered at various points whether I had read it before. Indeed, I've read a fair number of Michael Connelly's but not this.

This one was interesting. Karch, VinCENT, and Cassidy all have their histories, and their goals of what to achieve going forward. Interesting to try to do a game theory model or something to analyze all the options and predicted outcomes. Oh well. For Cassidy, it did work out OK and I'm happy about that. Good for the kid too.

I admit that I enjoyed _Void Moon_, but I didn't absolutely love it, the way I did such books as _Angels Flight_ and _Blood Work_. This is an interesting deviation from the sorts of material--police procedurals, serial killers, intricate plots, etc.--that Michael Connelly usually presents in his books. Ultimately, though, it just wasn't as good.
Maybe part of the problem is that I've just come from a year wherein I read the complete Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) Parker series, about an amoral thief and his carefully organized heists. It's hard to measure up to that standard.
Cassie Black, the protagonist in _Void Moon_, is an ex-convict who once specialized in burglarizing the casino/hotel rooms of high rollers, with her lover, Max. Some years ago, the two of them ran into some misfortune and, due to the Byzantine laws in effect in Las Vegas, Cassie was imprisoned for manslaughter in Max's death, even though she was waiting for him in a casino lobby at the time. Now out on parole and working in a Porsche dealership (a pretty comfortable, high-profile gig for an ex-con), she's inexplicably drawn back to attempt one more job, in the same casino where things went so wrong.
In the course of the job, she crosses paths with private detective and psychopathic casino dirtywork man, Jack Karch, the son of a deceased magician of some renown. Karch is an effective creation, a scarily-convincing bad guy, who very quickly picks up Cassie's trail in an effort to retrieve the money she's stolen.
On the whole, though, this wasn't as ingenious a plot as I'm used to with Michael Connelly. I guess I've come to expect more twists and turns, a more carefully, deviously plotted story. This is a good book, don't misunderstand me, but I just don't feel that it lives up to some of his previous novels.

Void Moon, by Michael Connelly, one of my favorite authors, immediately got me involved. This time with a beautiful woman in a Porsche--an ex-con no less! Robert B. Parker said, "In Void Moon, as in all of Michael Connelly's books, you care about the people, you care what happens to them, and you can't stop reading until you find out. Connelly is so good he's beginning to annoy me." Now, don't you dare ask me who Robert B. Parker is? Surely he's one of your must-read authors? In any event, Parker is right--these people who are right in the midst of acts of crime draw you in so quickly that you are hoping the bad guys don't get caught, because you think they are the "really" bad guys, but fortunately are not! Sound a little confusing? Well, Connelly is known for that...there is just no way that you can sit down with Michael and not become totally controlled by his books until you are finished...So, what about the beautiful woman in the Porsche...well, I'll tell you...she did steal the money...Get the book...you'll be glad you did!

Those who need goodies and baddies in a novel may not like this book. Because, by our standards, we only have baddies here. Cassie is a thief, Karch is a killer. The law is virtually non-existing in this book. But isn't this as it is in reality? How many cases have to be left open by the police? Or how many cases never even get recorded by the police? We have here a detective novel without detectives. So what? This time Connelly is not interested in the psyche of a cop, like Bosch or McCaleb, but in the thoughts and emotions of criminals. And this results in a more or less open manipulation of the readers. We take sides with a thief, we want her to have success, and we want her to get away. And we enjoy being manipulated, too. The moralist question why or if Cassie gets away with what she has done is secondary and hypocritical. Our sympathy with her shows that we all have our darker social sides. And we'd better accept this because this helps us to control ourselves and to better suppress antisocial urges in ourselves.
An excellently written book - as always.

Michael Connelly hooked me and many others with Harry Bosch, so I had my doubts about getting to grips with a completely new cast of characters in Void Moon. But no worries, Connelly's skillful story telling and dark vision remain compelling.
The plot elements are described elsewhere on this site. Suffice to say that Connelly weaves it tight and gripping and doesn't let the reader go until the last page. Unlike some best-selling writers, Connelly is adept at both plot and characterisation. The dramatis personae are all horribly convincing, from the fallen angel female protagonist Cassie to the lugubrious Jack Karch. There's even some credible character background. For gadget lovers the author plots in some neat technical details that make a real contribution to the whole, but it's the characters and story line that keep things engrossing.
On the other hand, if you feel like a little light reading to lift your spirits and restore your faith in people, you'd be well advised to steer clear of Void Moon.

I thought I'd read all of the Connelly books, but I discovered I had missed this one when I found it
on aunt's bookshelf when I visited. I really enjoyed this book. Well researched (though outdated about technology by the time I read it), like all of Connelly books. Interesting. Kept me guessing and kept my interest to the end.

"Void Moon" is Michael Connelly's ninth book, and was first published in 2000. It's only his third book not to feature Harry Bosch, giving a starring role to Cassie Black instead. However, Cassie is a little different to Connelly's other heroes - instead of a cop, a lawyer, a retired fed or a journalist operating on the 'right side' of the law, Cassie is an ex-con currently on parole.

When we meet her, Cassie is working in a car dealership on LA's Sunset Boulevard. Although she spent time in prison in Nevada, she managed to have her parole transferred to LA and knows she was lucky to get the job. She suspects it's because the boss - Ray Morales - hopes their relationship will move beyond the professional. Her parole is due to run for two years and, although she's on minimun supervision and she has a very likeable parole officer in Thelma Kibble, Cassie is starting to get a little twitchy.

Cassie's past is only given away gradually : exactly what she was convicted for, who Max was and what happened to him and why a five year old girl called Jodie Shaw is so important. Cassie has been keeping a close eye on the Shaw family, and it's their proposed move to Paris that (apparently) causes Cassie's twitchiness. She's maybe a little too honest with Thelma in a parole meeting, even (foolishly) asking about the possibility if seeing out her parole in France. When it's made clear that isn't going to happen, her decision is made : one last job, with a big enough dividend to disappear on. She's barely out of her meeting with Thelma before she's on the phone to her old contact DH Reilly. DH (as in Dog House) is actually the Leo Renfro's alias and is someone she had worked closely with in the past. He had also practically raised his step-brother, Max. Roughly two weeks after Cassie makes contact with Leo, he gets back in touch with her : he's managed a identify a job that matches her requirements. Unfortunately, it sees her return to a place she'd never have wanted to see again : Las Vegas. Her problems with Vegas aren't limited to personal, however - her new assignment throws up quite a few professional difficulties also.

A very enjoyable book, and - with both Cassie and Thelma Kibble - two very likeable characters. (In fact, both have been given very small cameos in subsequent Harry Bosch books). Cassie presents two mysteries, in a way - her current job and her past life...in particular, why the Shaw family is so important to her. Connelly has been one of the best mystery writers of recent years, and "Void Moon" is no disappointment - very much recommended.

These books--thrillers, crime novels, whatever you want to the call genre--are often cliche ridden, filled with hollow characters and dialogue, and have all too neat endings. Connelly avoids all of that. He writes exceptionally well and the characters here are fleshed out and vivid. I have not read any of the Harry BOsch novels; sticking only to COnnelly's stand alone works. This is a very interesting story; with a compelling lead character. Connelly writes Cassie as a strong, flawed, and very real woman. Karch is a wonderful foil for her. I wasn't thrilled with the use of the little girl in the climax, but suprising it avoids most cliches. I particularly liked the subtle twists in the last 75 pages. Connelly does not stretch his scenes. He lets them stand on their own power. Another strength...the last chapter. It is not a "neat" ending, but a good one. One note--beware how the publisher is trying to wring every last dollar out of you. Try not to buy the "trade" paperback; the bigger and more expensive one. IS it worth the extra 6 bucks? I don't think so. I hate when they are that transparent in their attempts to make money. Oh, well. That isn't Connelly's fault.

Void Moon by Michael Connelly Little Brown 2000
This is not a Harry Bosch book but has the high quality writing and taunt style that we are used to. Cassie Black, on parole, after spending 5 years in jail for the death of her partner and lover, Max, in a robbery attempt gone bad, decides to get back into the robbery game. The planning and execution of the robbery are excruciatingly tense and keep you glued to the page. When the casino she robbed hires Jack Karch, known as "Jack of Spades" because he keeps a spade in the trunk of his car to bury bodies, to find Cassie and the 2.5 million dollars inadvertently part of the loot things begin to heat up. Psychopathic Jack is clever and ruthless but Cassie has some strengths of her own and when it becomes clear that she wants to escape with her daughter Jodie, adopted by another family while Cassie was in prison, motivation is all on Cassie's side.
The writing is concise and taunt and Cassie and Jack are developed into believable characters. I enjoyed the book immensely but still look forward to the next Harry Bosch.

Cassie Black has paid her dues & is trying to be a model parolee in an imperfect system. Even though she's thriving at selling Porsches in Los Angeles, she's still got one more secret & one more bid for happiness.
Cassie's trade was robbing casino gamblers & she was very good at it until one disastrous night when everything went wrong & she wound up doing time. Now, after years of attempting to be a model citizen, something crops up that sends her spiraling off into panic & she sets about honing the only skills that ever made her money to spare. She seeks out an old friend for a fast, goof-proof job.
The job goes perfectly until she checks out her cache & crosses paths with her old nemesis, a private investigator with very dirty hands & murder on his mind. In the final twist of a riveting plot, Cassie Black steps out of the shadows & does the right thing. A satisfying read! Do check out my full review.

Cassie Black is an ex-con who's worked hard to stay on the straight-and-narrow. But she has a dream that keeps her going. When that dream is threatened she quickly goes back to her old hot-prowler ways for the one score that will allow her to disappear and live her dream. But it falls apart and before long she finds herself pursued by Jack Karch, amoral trouble-shooter for the Las Vegas syndicate.
Michael Connelly is an excellent writer. This book delves behind the scenes of Vegas casinos showing both the security measures and how they're circumvented by thieves. I found this fascinating. But it also shows us the complicated character of Cassie Black and Jack Karch. Neither are either all good or all bad which makes them very real. The pace is excellent as is the plot. My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is at the very end I felt left hanging. Since Cassie broke the law I was wondering how she was going to get away with it but the book stops short of supplying the answer. I still recommend this book highly anyway.

I love Michael Connelly and have been tearing through his books in the last year or so and this was by far the ONLY disappointing one. One thing that typically sets Connelly apart from other contemporary crime writers is his ability to avoid gaping plot holes. This book however pivots on a point that is revealed in the last ten pages or so that is just so silly and far fetched as to just ruin the whole book for me (not that I was even that into it before). I would actually suggest not reading this book, fan or no fan.

Another great one, yes indeed. Michael Connelly is a good writer and one that I can say I enjoy very much. Void Moon is a book that will take you in many directions and each character, good guy or bad buy is someone that you will enjoy reading about.
Cassidy Black is the main focus, a woman with a past, on a job to make some quick money and has her own agenda. Jack Karch, the bad guy, but the one you enjoy following.

The characters are ones you can easily follow and you are given the opportunity to learn things as they learn. Reading this book is not escaping but rather a ride a long with a good guy/bad guy and a good girl/bad girl. Toward the end of the book you learn a few things, but it is not as though you learn things that are mind boggling. You just have a better picture of the person.
I enjoyed Jack Karck. He as a bad guy, a ruthless one too, but his methods and patterns are ones you will enjoy.

After "Blood Work", this book really just didn't cut the mustard. The protagonist of the story, Cassie Black, just isn't a believable character, and this does not make a good basis for the story. She's two dimensional and chock-full of the stereotypes that male authors all too often attribute to their female characters.
The spiel on the inside cover (or back, if you own the paperback version) of the book would have you believe that this is going to be a tense, roller coaster ride of a story. Not so. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a secret that Cassie has a daughter, but if it was, then the dust cover gives it away immediately.
The main villain of the piece, Karch, is also not very engaging. I believe that all villains should be inherently likeable, or so abhorrent that they make you want to rip a page out of the book. Karch is neither of these; he is simply a bad charicature of every Las Vegas hitman you've ever seen in a movie or soap opera.
Connolly tries his hardest to bring a sense of mystery and tension to the book, but is humiliatingly defeated by the fact that it's a completely predictable storyline. By far his weakest work yet.

As a Connelly fanatic (I've read each of his books at least twice and several of them more times than that), I eagerly awaited VOID MOON. Connelly's Bosch books are so outstanding that everything else he writes has to be compared to them. By that standard, VOID MOON has some minor flaws, but still stands far and above anything any other mystery/adventure writer has yet penned. Cassie Black is a far better character study than Terry McCaleb was in BLOOD WORK; and the evil genius who relentlessly pursues her is more macabre than any character Steven King could dream up in his most creative writing. The juxtapositioning of the heroic ex-con and the despicable law enforcer shows, once again, the genius of Michael Connelly as a mystery writer. If you only read one book in your lifetime, make it Bosch. If you've read all the Bosch books and hunger for more, read THE POET. But before you reach for a book by any other author, treat yourself to VOID MOON. You'll be glad you did.

It is always risky to criticize a popular author, but "Void Moon" stands in sad juxtaposition to "The Poet", another of Michael Connelly's diversions from his superb Harry Bosch series. "Void Moon" is simply a vacuum of character and a cheesy plot. It reads as if it were knocked off over an afternoon of martinis at The Ivy. "OK. First you got this tough-as-nails-with-a-heart-of-gold female protagonist, Cassie, an innocent aider and abetter who sealed her lips and took the fall for her boyfriend who got set up in a big Vegas heist and took his own fall through the casino's glass ceiling. Years later, Cassie jumps parole for one last score so she can go live in Paris or maybe Tahiti with her daughter who was taken from her at birth, see, 'cause she was doing time. You know, 'the system'. Follow me?" "Yeah, I got it. Cameron Diaz." "Then we got this evil detective, Karch, who pops all the nice folks like the tough-as-nails-with-a-heart-of-gold female parole officer. This Karch is seriously screwed up 'cause his old man was a first-rate magician who never got top billing, see, and therefore Karch likes to off little girls. Follow me?" "Yeah. I see comeback for Michael Douglas." "Yeah, like, you know, evil is good, good is evil. Both characters are trying to get revenge, but different, see. So we give it a twist. Mr. Evil pops Mr. Bigger Evil." "Wow!" "And you get two swan dives through the glass, plop on the craps table. They'll love it. And all the time we keep panning to this void moon - like twenty times - you know, mysterious, voodooy." "Yeah, but does Cassie make it?" "Oh yeah. She wrecks a Porsche, whacks the bad guy, saves the little girl, does the right thing, breaks your heart, gets some dough, you know, like a couple of mil, retires. Perfect. The American Dream." "Hasn't this been done before?" "Nah. This is original 'cause it's so real. Want some nachos?"

The unique thing about this book is that the main character is a criminal, kind of a "bad guy". BUT- you like her. You sympathize with her, you enjoy her.
Void Moon takes place in Las Vegas and is about Cassie Black, who was recently released from prison and who is now on parole for involuntary manslaughter. The death took place while she and her partner were robbing a man who had just won thousands, only to find that a crime they were veterans at, went awry. Now, struggling between a "normal" life and the fast-paced exciting life of crime is where Cassie finds herself. Then enters an offer to make money she's never known, in a crime that's taylored for her...but the gamble is huge- will she survive or ruin her life trying?
Void Moon is not my favorite of Connelly's, but I certainly enjoyed it. It is fast-paced, and with a setting like Las Vegas, the tapestry is rich and filled with quirky and memorable characters. Definitely be sure to check out other books by Connelly in his Harry Bosch series- including Angels Flight and A Darkness More Than Night.

i was very disappointed with this one. I just couldn't get into it at all. I didn't find myself at all "connected" to the main character, and she didn't seem very real to me at all. And, as soon as i felt i might be warming to her, Connelly takes the focus off her and puts it on a new, disalikeable character, and from then on skims between the two. I couldn't get excited about the crime at all, and the plot i found completely uninspiring. The writing was undoubtedly good, and there were some nice quirks in the plot to stop it sinking to cliche, and, as always with Connelly, the plot did seem very real and authentic.
The only other Connelly book i didn't have much enthusiasm for was Trunk Music, which was also set in Vegas. With this book, Connelly does a MUCH better job of describing Vegas, and i found that i quite liked the passages when the city seemed to begin to breath in all its glitzy commerciality.
The book does improve as it goes along, but not a great deal. The ending scenes are certainly good and there are a couple of really sophisticated twists which improve it, and there are one or two parts along the way i did enjoy a lot, but overall, i was disappointed.

Even though as another reviewer noted, there are no good guys in the story, I found myself rooting for Cassie Black the heist. At that point in life she seemed to have little choice but to take on the job proffered to her. I admire her decision at the end - but that can only be a decision made on her behalf by a man. I wonder if any woman would make that decision in real life.

Two minor flaws I found in the story:

1. There is no logical reason for Jack Karch the private investigator to kill at the car dealership - he already located Cassie at that point.

2. There is no way Cassie could have sneaked into the hotel room Trojan Horse style toward the end. Karch, as smart as depicted in the book throughout, surely would have detected something wrong in the weight of the service table.

Nonetheless I consider this the best book by MC. It is interesting to see a bad guy with all the traits of Harry Bosch.

I had read all the Harry Bosch stories and started branching out to Connelly's other books when I reached Void Moon on the list. It was ok, 3 stars, when I'd give the first 3 Harry Bosch novels by Connelly 4.5- 5 stars, Angels Fight too, I think.
Read the other reviews for plot specifics. Here is my lowdown; spend the money to buy the book and you'll feel ok about it in the morning. It is not his best stuff, but this one had some trademark Connelly twists, nice research and detail into the topic (thievery) and reasonably well rounded characters. On the down side it felt a little too contrived, a little too pat, almost like this was written as much by the author as by the editor and publisher. The criminal is the hero so we have to like her. It is hard to make a felon the good guy, and in doing so it stretches the believability quotient a bit.
Connelly has been successful long enough to be a brand name, and not simply an artist as he was in the beginning with Black Echo and Black Ice. The result is that he is expected to produce a new novel every 2 years, whether it is worth publishing or not. This one was ok, but don't make it your first experience with Michael Connelly.

Wow! Isn't Connelly a great thriller writer! I have never read any of his work before and I loved it!
Connelly gets the reader straight into the action with the opening of Cassie and Max working together, as thieves who rip off casino gamblers, that win big time. Fast forward to 6 yrs later, where Cassie is in need of scoring some big dollars and she needs to work again, unfortunately for her, she rips off the wrong guy and so the story continues. You actually want her to get out unscathed - even though she is the 'bad guy' in this book. Usually, the author makes you rooting for the police, ME, detective, PI etc etc, but this is the opposite!
I read this in 1 day as I couldn't put it down. It was a sensational thriller and is highly recommended if you are tired of the usual crime genre.

I have now read every single book that Michael Connelly has written and I believe that each book definitely gets better and better. I enjoyed Void Moon and Angels Flight the most. Void Moon was so good. I kept picturing a movie in my mind the whole time because the scenes were so intricate in detail and the description of the characters and their surroundings were so well done. Action, suspense, betrayl, and death are all in this book. I couldn't believe how so many people died in this book! Jack Karch is one evil man. Mr. Connelly created a wonderful lunatic to chase Cassie across Las Vegas and the state. I hope Cassie Black is back in his future novels because she is a great character, although you can definitely call her a "Bad Girl" considering the fact that she robs people when they're asleep, she is still portrayed as the protaginist. I can't wait for "A Darkness More Than Night" on January 23, 2001!

This is a fast paced story of a professional thief by the name of Cassie Black who's "hooked on outlaw juice," the thrilling world of crime.
Cassie's out on parole and obsessed by the death of Max, her lover and partner in crime. Because of a well kept secret, she's willing to risk her life and freedom to perform one last big time robbery. Jack Karch adds the sinister touch to the story.
Our lady thief makes a very sympathetic and likable character which is what makes this story work. It was also interesting to read the exacting details of planning a big robbery. I was very amazed to read how much technical knowledge and skill that a master thief needs to have.
Michael Connelly is one author who knows how to entertain and keep the reader interested. I've read and enjoyed every book that he's written.

This is another fast paced, well written crime novel from Michael Connelly. In this story about a Las Vegas casino scam gone bad, Connelly tells the main story while he gradually fills the reader in on "the rest of the story" (to quote Paul Harvey). This technique really adds to the effect.

One of the most interesting aspects of this crime drama is that virtually everyone is "bad." Only one law enforcement officer appears in the entire book, and that is almost a cameo. It is literally bad guy v bad guy all the way with lots of bloodshed and plot twists throughout. Of course, some of the bad folks (Cassie and Leo) are actually quite likeable, and the reader tends to pull for them and forget that they too are criminals. But then again, when a thief robs a thief, is it really a crime?

Anyway, I thought this was an excellent story masterfully told. "Lincoln Lawyer" is still my favorite Connelly novel, but this is right up there.

3.5 stars. I felt like this one was a bit convoluted. I lost track of what was going on at times. Nevertheless, the story was interesting. I like that most of the characters were flawed in some way. A good book, but not my favorite from Connelly.

While The Poet, is in my opinion, this author's best work, Void Moon is a page turner that will hold the reader's interest throughout. Cassie Black, a thief you would like to love, has a problem...well, she has two, but she doesn't find out about the second until the Jack of Spades gets on her trail. Her first problem is to steal enough money so that she can get far away from her probation officer and the threat of being returned to jail. She becomes involved in a very intricate plan to accomplish this and she almost gets away with it. Her second problem presents her with a third problem. Staying alive. The story weaves it's way through the remainder of the book, as the bodies pile up and leaves the reader more than satisfied at the end.

This was the first Connelly book I read. (on the advice of a friend i trust). Those who know Connelly from his Harry Bosch series won't be a bit surprised at the tense, exciting REAL quality of this novel.
Connelly really gets you into the head of his main character, Cassie Black, a reformed thief who is forced into one last job by circumstances beyond her control. Connelly really gets inside the head of this woman, who has some secrets in her past, and wants to begin a new life.
The intricate plot also leads to new information about the death of Cassie's lover and mentor. To say much mroe would spoil your enjoyment. Check out this literate thriller by ex-crime reporter Connelly.

This is the type of thriller that will keep you interested as its intricate plot renders great twists and turns as the events unfold. There is no need to discuss the plot or to give anything away. Thrillers are rarely great literature, but they serve a function of their own, diversion and relaxation. Most are marked by improbabilities to which the authors must resort to tie their plots together. This one is far better than most. It is well-written. Its story has a logic of its own that does not rely on jarring improbabilities, although it is not entirely free of them either. Its settings, Los Angeles and the casino world of Las Vegas are fairly realistic and often interesting, as are its characters. Void Moon is certainly one of the better works in the thriller genre. It should be picked up by a movie studio.

I usually really enjoy a Michael Connelly book, however, this one was only fair. I nearly quit reading the book several times in the first 100 or so pages, but I kept on thinking it had to get better. Thank goodness it did.Cassie Black is a n ex-con who is returning to her old ways. This time she again runs into Jack Karch who was around when her old boy friend, Max, was killed. Jack is a case by him self. HE is about as sorry as they come. There is several dollars involved, a little girl and lots of killing. The boss of the casino, Victor Grimaldi, is another villan. Cassie goes through lots of, over by head, wireing tricks and crawling through air ducts to get the job done. A little to much for me. Give me a good Harry Bosch anytime.

I finished this in one day, but I'm sorry I did. (My parents always made me eat my vegetables, so I would hurry to finish them in order to get on with the good stuff.) This was my first Michael Connelly. I bought it as a gift for my Significant Other, who read it and might rank it higher than I do. I felt the plot had quite a few logical holes and an explanation of the villain's motivation at the end of the book that was more like daytime soap operas than I care to read in an adult thriller. This guy writes pretty good descriptive narrative, but the characters lack the dimension one finds in, say, Elmore Leonard. It will probably make an entertaining and forgettable movie.

This is my first novel that I've read by Michael Connelly and it won't be my last. Fast paced, full of action, as I was reading it I could see it as a movie and it would be a kicking movie too! It did remind me of the movie, "Long Kiss Goodnight" slightly. Cassidy Black is our heroine and she is currently on parole. She ends up being lured back into business by an old accomplice who swears it's an easy target. Cassie ends up back in Vegas where her last job went bad; it ended up with her lover being thrown out a window on the top floor of the Cleopatra hotel. The new job takes her back to that scene. The job goes well, but the mark has too much money, about 2 million more than expected. From there this novel is on a roller coaster. Just try to hang on to the end, it's a fantastic ride!

I'm a huge Michael Connelly fan, but this book didn't do it for me. Initially, I thought the problem was that it wasn't a Harry Bosch novel, but then Poet and Blood Work weren't and I didn't hate those the way I hated this book. In fact, Poet is one of my favs.
No, the biggest problem is that Connelly didn't make me care for the main character, or her plight. She's an ex-con whose life was turned upside-down by her own poor choices and now she's making another bad choice thinking that it will fix the things she's messed up in the past. Personally, I didn't really care if she did what she set out to do or not.
Then there's the reason she's doing it all--to get back a daughter she gave up years before. My thought as I was reading the book: "You've already caused the kid enough trauma. Why add to it by making her feel like a yo-yo or a tug-of-war rope?"
Some parts of the story were just unbelievable--from her easily acquired high-tech burglary equipment to the fact that's she's a washed up burglar going after a stake even bigger than she planned and, of course, being chased by the people she stole from. Then Connelly added in bit of information about a dead ex-husband,who I cared even less about than the main character. The ex-hubby was also a thief but not lucky enough to be jailed for his last crime--he died while committing it. And now, many of her tasks take her into the same footsteps as that fateful night that she lost him. (snore) Even the glitzy Las Vegas wasn't enough to breath excitement into this dull book.

Despite having mixed feelings about some aspects of Michael Connelly's work, his books are addictive page-turners, and I have read them all since this beginning of this year, this one being my last. This is Connelly's most uncharacteristic book in many ways:

1. It's his only female protagonist.
2. It's one of very few that uses multiple points of view without any of them being in the first person- maybe the only since The Black Echo. And the way the second POV is introduced is a pretty daring jolt, introducing a character that perhaps upstages the protagonist at nearly the halfway mark.
3. It's his only book where the protagonist isn't a cop, retired cop, lawyer, or semi-everyman.
4. It's not a mystery- at least, not really. Yet the number of twists is still almost comical. I mean that in a good way.

It also avoids every single problem that I have had with his other other books:

1. His dialogue has hardly ever been better than functional, and his inconsistent use of contractions in particular is jarring. Here there are only a couple slips in that regard, he makes use of devices like capitalization and italics to convey tone (which he rarely does elsewhere) and best of all, it is probably his least dialogue-intensive book. Stretches of it play out like the literary equivalent of the heist scene in Rififi.

2. There is no boring love interest that will inevitably die/pull the "oh Harry I just can't handle being with a cop" between books or in the next sequel.

3. Connelly only indulges his penchant silly names once- knowing him, I assume Leo and Max must be a Producers reference- and he doesn't call attention to it for once.

Oh, and also, the book basically just flat-out rips from start to finish. I can't believe they made movies out of Blood Work and The Lincoln Lawyer and not this.

Connelly conceives a great read with taut ticking supense that does not let go until the very end, this time without Harry Bosh, a different approach and a plot featuring two strong antagonist characters coursing to their final clash. However, after a breathtaking start, it was possible to find some flaws in the ending that don't hang together with the rest of the story, the mistakes were made creating big expectations during the anticipation of key events that were suddenly obliterated through his adding of not credible twists to help his likeable heroine Cassie Black, behaving more like a lifesaver on the beach than the top notch writer that he actually is.

This was good; certainly better than Michael Connelly's initial Harry Bosch books, but not as good as his Lincoln Lawyer series. This book was read as a known stand-alone, with no others following it -- but, who knows, maybe Connelly will think of a way to bring Cassie Black back?

His best, at least its my favorite. I loved the Cassie Black character. I loved the darkness of this book. I have read quite a few of the Harry Bosch books and like them, although after a while I started to get tired of them. Then I picked up The Poet, an excellent book, also five stars. But Void Moon blew me away. Now I'll keep trying his other non Harry Bosch books, but I doubt any will come close to this one and The Poet.

I was reluctant, initially, to read Void Moon since it was not a Harry Bosch novel. However, since I decided to read all of Connelly's novels in order, I took the plunge...and was rewarded for doing so. Void Moon is not only a well told tale full of twists and interesting characters but really is an inside look into the world of thieves and casinos. The detailed description of the heist makes you feel that you are right there with Cassie at every step. Connelly must have consulted with more than one top notched burglar to be able to write with so much knowledge! What makes Connelly so good is the authenticity of his characters. After reading the novel you are not only left with enjoyment of a well told tale that challenged your mind with its unexpected plot but with the feeling that you have had an inside glimpse into a world that you never knew even existed. I place this right there with my other favorite works by Connelly.

This is an excellent book it keeps you reading page after page and makes you think two or three things about the security systems in Las Vegas.
If you think that security of any Las Vegas hotel is always with the good guys you will have to read this book to convince yourself.
The book has three stories in one, the private investigator, the security manager and a gifted thief who knows everything of the casinos.
The book begins with a robbery of half million dollars and Cassie robs 2.5 million, of course she thinks that is money from the casino until she discover that the mafia is after that money, but not only the mafia...
Thinking better, this book deserves SIX STARS.

Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, without exception (OK, "Darkness More Than Night," but does that really count?), are among the most enjoyable in contemporary "popular fiction" (whatever that is). Bosch is Philip Marlowe (and his City of Angels) brilliantly reinvented. When Connelly strays from Bosch, though, he strays as well from his otherwise superb work. "Void Moon," like "The Poet," is tiresome, predictable and -- worst of all -- not believable. The setup is ludicrous and Cassie Black's motives are incomprehensible (right, let's return to a life of crime and, while we're at it, separate our daughter from the only home and parents she has ever known). Oh, and let's pull off a world-class heist with some off-the-shelf technology, even though we've been out of the business for years. It's difficult to believe that this is the same author who consistently delivers the complex and compelling Harry Bosch books. Clearly, Bosch needs Connelly to survive; as clearly, Connelly needs Bosch.

Although I have not really been a fan of M.C.'s non Bosch novels, I had nothing else to read so I picked up a copy of Void Moon and was happily blown away by it. By far this is the best "non Bosch" story he has written so far. It holds all that I look for in a mystery/suspense novel. The plot is deep and finely carved with no holes in it, the characetrs are well defined and easy to believe in, and the action is non-stop and drawn out very nicely. Though I am still panting for the next Harry Bosch novel this book definately quenched my thirst for a new book by Michael Connelly . I would recommend this book to any one who wants a fast paced, action packed thriller that won't easily be forgotten. Actually, I have already recommended this book to two people and I'm glad to report that they are still my friends afterwards! Everyone I know has just loved this book, and if you read it, I'll all but guarantee you that you'll enjoy it just the same. This is simply one novel not to be overlooked. Bravo Mr. Connelly, keep it up!

Having read several Harry Bosch novels by Connelly, and not having been satisfied by the last one I'd gotten to (City of Bones, a well-written but dull story), I had no preconceptions of what to expect when I picked up Void Moon. Well, what a surprise. Connelly starts us off in LA as usual, but takes us back to Las Vegas almost immediately-- six years back to a crime that went awry. His heroine, Cassie Black, is on parole and bored selling Porsches, still picking up the pieces of the casino-hotel burglary that cost Cassie her freedom and her lover and partner-in-crime his life. Cassie's got a secret, and in order to stay connected to it, she's got to do one more job. When she does, the complications come fast and furious.
The buildup is slow but smooth and the heist is thrilling, but it's the aftermath-- when the heavies, led by a psychopath PI named Jack Karch, go after the booty Cassie stole-- that kicks the story up to a very high level. Connelly perfectly depicts Karch's brilliant criminal mind and thought processes, and he's a damned scary operator. Meanwhile, Cassie becomes increasingly human and understandable; ultimately, she's just a sad young woman whose life seems to have already passed her by. Yet she doesn't have a spare minute to feel sorry for herself-- she must act, and act fast.
Great characterizations, none of which ever slow the story down (Grisham should be reading this author as a how-to on this count). Connelly is a master of the genre. My only (minor) criticism is that the final plot twists and revelations between Karch and his boss, Vincent Grimaldi, seemed too slick and all-encompassing, and not really necessary. But overall, this is a top-notch thriller with great characters and marvelous details (the high-tech burglary stuff was jaw-droppingly smart). An engrossing read.

I, like some of the previous reviewers, am a big fan of the Harry Bosch books. I have also read Michael Connelly's non Bosch books. While I have not liked any of them as much as "Harry", they have all been enjoyable reads. "Void Moon" is no different. I was quickly engrossed in the storyline and the book never bogged down. I think that Connelly keeps the "Harry Bosch" character fresh by doing other works. In my opinion Michael Connelly is the best crime/mystery author writing now and you won't be disappointed with "Void Moon".

Literally one of my favorite authors, but I couldn't even finish this book. It was slow and somewhat predictable. So disappointed. This is the first book,of his, that I didn't rate as a four or a five.

This looked like some decent beach reading material so I took it with me on my Hawaiian vacation. Read about half on the plane and finished the rest a few days into my trip. In short, worthy beach reading. The protagonist is Cassie Black, a "hot prowl" thief, recently out of a 5-year jail stretch. She needs money and takes another job, ripping off a money man staying at a Las Vegas casino. Soon she has a psychopath tracking her down and killing people along the way. Not a whole lot of character development going on, but the story moves fast and holds your interest until the end. Fun book, very light reading, but I'd still like something a bit more substantial next time. (Even for a beach read). (23 APRIL 2001)

Love Michael Connelly's book and this was no exception. Kind of a complicated plot and the characters were well defined but not people you could like much. However they were clever and the girl did do the right thing in the end. I looked the part about her child. If you want to steal you sure can do it if you have the nerve and the patience. I agree with a 4 for this book and recommend it.

I came to Michael Connelly's work through his Harry Bosch novels, but this book is a bit darker. Seedier, perhaps. Secrets abound, and everyone has a story or two they take their own sweet time in telling. The pacing is steady, and the book is another page-turner you can't put down. More great stuff from Connelly.

Literally one of my favorite authors, but I couldn't even finish this book. It was slow and somewhat predictable. So disappointed. This is the first book,of his, that I didn't rate as a four or a five.

This looked like some decent beach reading material so I took it with me on my Hawaiian vacation. Read about half on the plane and finished the rest a few days into my trip. In short, worthy beach reading. The protagonist is Cassie Black, a "hot prowl" thief, recently out of a 5-year jail stretch. She needs money and takes another job, ripping off a money man staying at a Las Vegas casino. Soon she has a psychopath tracking her down and killing people along the way. Not a whole lot of character development going on, but the story moves fast and holds your interest until the end. Fun book, very light reading, but I'd still like something a bit more substantial next time. (Even for a beach read). (23 APRIL 2001)

Love Michael Connelly's book and this was no exception. Kind of a complicated plot and the characters were well defined but not people you could like much. However they were clever and the girl did do the right thing in the end. I looked the part about her child. If you want to steal you sure can do it if you have the nerve and the patience. I agree with a 4 for this book and recommend it.

I came to Michael Connelly's work through his Harry Bosch novels, but this book is a bit darker. Seedier, perhaps. Secrets abound, and everyone has a story or two they take their own sweet time in telling. The pacing is steady, and the book is another page-turner you can't put down. More great stuff from Connelly.

Having read all the Harry Bosh novels to date, I was pleasently surpirsed with VOID MOON. Connely should write more non-Bosch novels!

The author writes this one with a real sense of urgency as far as the characters are concerned and to use the old cliche 'page turner' is very appropriate.

I'm a B I G fan of Matt Helm and Travis McGee, and have always thought that Harry Bosch came in a VERY distant third. Connelly shows that he has the stuff of a great mystery writer with VOID MOON.

This is a slightly strange story that doesn't work in parts and is not too satisfying in the end, but of course Connelly is a terrific writer who keeps you turning the pages.
Kameel Nasr is author of The Museum Heist

Michael Connelly reminds me of one of those high-wire performers at the circus. It's impressive enough to be able to walk across a thin wire for 100 yards or so at nosebleed height. Just to make sure the audience is awake, however, the guy waits until he's a few feet away from his platform, does a double backflip and then walks across the rest of the wire on his hands.

Where does Michael Connelly fit in with this comparison? Well, he has written a number of novels involving a private investigator named Harry Bosch, exponentially increasing his audience along the way. He could undoubtedly build a very comfortable career writing nothing but Harry Bosch novels. Only, every so often, he gives us a novel featuring a whole new group of characters and takes his readers to other places. He's not marking time here, either, because Connelly is good enough that just about anything he chooses to present is worth a look --- a long look --- whether Harry Bosch is in the mix or not.

This brings us to VOID MOON. Harry Bosch is nowhere to be found. No matter; there is a sympathetic protagonist in Carrie Black, who has recently completed a five year stint as a guest of the state of Nevada following a heist that in just a few moments went terribly, irrevocably wrong. Carrie is selling Porsches by day and nursing a secret at night, and it is that secret that leads her to risk throwing her new life away by seeking one last, major heist. Her target is a high-rolling casino gambler. She succeeds. In fact, she succeeds all too well.

Max, her deceased lover and partner in crime, had always said that it was possible to steal too much. Carrie quickly discovers the terrible truth of that canard when she finds that what she has stolen does not belong to the mark, but to his bosses. She soon find herself pursued by two rival organized crime groups who want the money --- and her. Leading the pursuit is Jack Karch, an amoral sociopath who was responsible for Max's death.

Carrie Black is not the main protagonist of this novel, however. VOID MOON is a book about Las Vegas, which has gone from mob campground to family resort without anything really changing. This is a book about the people who repose in shadow and make the glitter and the magic work, and who are never seen by the vacationers, honeymooners and conventioneers, nor by the few winners and the many, many losers who come to relax, to enjoy, to win --- and who are usually disappointed on at least one count. Connelly knows this world and shares it with his readers, weaving the city into a tale of greed, remorse, double-crosses, tough choices and bittersweet endings.

With VOID MOON, Connelly strikes a balancing act. His Harry Bosch fans will be anything but disappointed; while those who have never read him will busily begin correcting the oversight. Incidentally, VOID MOON will undoubtedly increase sales of door jams among business travelers and vacationers. Read it. You will see why.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub for Bookreporter dot com

This latest work by Michael Connelly has kept me interested for about a week. I found it quite entertaining and was never bored. My only complaint is that I did not feel sympathy for any of the characters. Every one here is dirty, compared to the characters of Connelly's Harry Bosch series where the reader roots for Harry. Connelly deftly weaves a Los Angeles plot with one in Las Vegas. He also reveals an evil character in his creation of Jack Karch. I know comparisons are cheap, but I see this as a bit of an Elmore Leonard tribute book. The themes of an ex-con making one more score reminds me of Riding the Rap or Out of Sight. If you enjoy a good mystery that incorporates cultural references, especially Los Angeles, pick up this one or any of Connelly's other excellent books. I have read all of his books but Black Ice and have yet to find a dud. Thank you, Mr. Connelly.

I love Michael Connelly's books most all of the time...his Harry Bosch mysteries are wonderful. But this nightmare is the worst Connelly book I've read, let alone being one of the worst books I've read, period! What a mess! None of the characters are likable so it was tough for me to decide who I wanted to see killed- off at the end. These people have no morals or integrity. It's really sad that Connelly makes Cassie Black, the main character, a hero of sorts. This screwed up woman is willing to kidnap her own child and shoot people at random as a way of working through her anger and sadness at getting arrested six years before and losing her lover and child in the process. The book started out with promise, but as it progressed one mess just turned into another unbelievable mess, and so on....and so on....and so on.... "Void Moon" reads like a bad made-for-tv movie. It's so predictable and the storyline is absurd. Don't bother with this one. If you want GREAT Connelly read "The Poet" or "Angel's Flight."

How do you capitalize on your previous job experience? You write about it!
Michael Connelly books have mesmerized readers with his working knowledge
of the California Law Enforcement community. Not even some of his main characters
are saved from the evil that lurks there. My thoguht is: If once you delve into his world of characters, and you don't find yourself fully engaged, you might want to check your sanity.

Any new novel by Michael Connelly is an event, and Void Moon is no exception. I have read all of Connelly's books, and while I am a huge fan of the "Harry Bosh" series, none of his 'non-serial' works suffer by comparison. All the elements of a Connelly book are here: the one and two line descriptions that capture mood and character in ways that are lifelike and authentic-his ability to create not only the outer life of where his characters live (in this case Los Angeles and Las Vegas) but he also manages to capture, just as truthfully,his characters' inner lives as well. Some of the previous reviews have mentioned that this novel might not be in the same catagory as "The Poet", and there is some truth to that. There is a richness and texture to that novel, as well as the Harry Bosh novels, that this book lacks. But don't be shy about picking this one up: reading one of Connally's novels is always a treat, and if you are new to his work, you have quite a treat ahead, and if you are an old fan, then the familiar feel of Connally with his characters and place will not be diminished.

Unless you feel like you have to read every novel by Michael Connelly, this one you can skip.

Void Moon is a crime story that will teach you more than ever wanted to know about how to do a hot prowl (steal from someone who is sleeping in the room). Detailed sections explain how to take a lock apart so that it doesn't lock (but seems to be locked), crawl through the HVAC conduits, and install remote cameras to steal the combination to a safe. I know you've always wanted to know those things. As a bonus, you'll also learn how to do some simple sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Just to be sure you don't get bored, Mr. Connelly also teaches you about astrology (the "void moon" reference). Have you got all that?

All those details aside, Void Moon is a story about parolee Cassie Black who sells expensive sports cars for a living by playing up to "overnight geniuses" who have just signed with the studios for big bucks. She used to do hot prowls and misses the excitement. Suddenly, something shifts in her life, and she decides it's time to make a big score. The rest of the book describes her pursuit of that score and what results. Along the way, the plot deals heavily in synchronicity to reinforce the theme of "fate" in our lives.

Cassie Black is an appealing character is a story that has more unpleasant parts than pleasant ones. This story is perfect for those who like to be pessimistic by expecting bad things to happen. Her nemesis turns out to be an unusually unappealing psychopath. Here's where the story becomes drenched in unnecessary evil and gore. Yuck!

Void Moon is a fast-paced, entertaining thriller that will hold your attention. However,in comparing Void Moon to Connelly's other non-Bosch thrillers-- The Poet and Blood Works--Void Moon is not as good. Comparatively, it does not measure up on the extent of surprises, believability, and depth of character development (although Cassie Black and Jack Karch ARE interesting characters). If Void Moon is your first book by Connelly you might give it a higher rating than the '3' I gave it (which I actually would have rated a '3 1/2' if the store had such a rating), but it's hard for me to evaluate this book without comparing it to The Poet and Blood Works, which I would highly recommend. Keep in mind, that a '3' (or a '3 1/2') is a good rating and, as I said, Void Moon is worth reading.

After the forays of other favorite authors away from their signature characters(think "Billy Straight"), I was leery about Viod Moon, especially given some of the negative reviews.
I can honestly say I enjoyed this book more than the Harry Bosch series. Although the main characters are morally corrupt, I found this story to be more suspenseful (and better written) than the past couple of Bosch installments.
Highly recommended!

This was an interesting enough read although not a great one. The story is exciting and keeps your attention. It is also pretty violent and graphic at times given that one of the main characters is ruthless and seems to have no feelings of guilt at all. If that's not your cup of tea then you may want to stir clear of this book. Otherwise, read, enjoy its twists and turns and anticipation of the final resolution.

I was a little put off when I realized that Connelly's latest didn't feature the conflicted Harry Bosch. But my misgivings faded fast. Void Moon is VERY good. It's a page-turner of a thriller, and one that swirls around several mysteries--better even than that, though, is that Connelly's characters are marvelously drawn. Connelly just gets better with each new book. And this one's great. I'd rate it 5 stars but, hey, it ain't Moby Dick.

One thing people haven't commented on yet is Connelly's nice handling of a story that centers on a female lead character. It can't be an easy thing to do when you've always written from a strong male point of view, but Connelly pulls it off. Cassie Black is very believable. While he doesn't go as far as female authors like Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky in capturing a woman's thoughts and actions, for a man he pulled it off pretty darn well. Another point to make is that this is a "caper" book -- with a complex, drawn out plan for a burglary -- that harkens back to his first book, THE BLACK ECHO (the first Harry Bosch book) and its great bank robbery caper. By the way, my pick for Connelly's best book ever is THE CONCRETE BLONDE (the 3rd in the Bosch series).

I won't belabor that all the "heroes" of Void Moon are theives or worse, what's terrific is that Connelly has made them likeable, fascinating, and complex. There's nothing to fault -the pacing, action, high tech details, compelling ambience, and great characters make for a slick, terrifically fun read. No redeeming morality here, but masterful plotting that's hard to put down.

Many writers can develop decent plots but Connelly also does a great job developing his characters. Karch is the kind of great villian who would be right at home in a James Bond novel. From the main characters to the bit players Connelly uses superb dialogue to create an unforgetable cast. A fast exciting read. This is the 2nd Connelly book I've read and I will be reading more.

This was a page turner. It was very interesting to read about people whose parents emigrated to Las Vegas when Las Vegas was just starting to grow. These children of the first generation are a rotten bunch, but no one more rotten than Jack Karch. Call him whatever you want, ..., a psychopathic murderer (yes, he's that, too), a guy who knows some cool magic tricks, and a guy who gets so involved in his work he can go without sleep or food for several days. Karch makes the book, but of course he's the villain so he has to die in the end, a gruesome death at that. I liked Karch, as a character. I don't think many people do and I don't think I'd actually want to meet someone like Karch in "real life," but as a villain he's so grotesquely evil that he just makes the book. For Cassie Black, the heroine, I had no feeling. She does seem a little mixed up, but then she's second generation Las Vegan also, so maybe that explains that. Read it and weep. Diximus.

I really like this book. It was very interesting and entertaining. It gave great detail about different security precautions in Las Vegas hotels and explained alot of different surveillence devices that was really informative.
The second thing i really liked was the characters. My favorite was Jack Karch. A psychopathic Las Vegas fixer. They also call him Jack of Spades. Through the book he performs these little magic tricks that are a little corny but he makes up for it by being a very cool porkpie hat wearing, slick suit wearing tough guy. An the look Connelly descrbed for him made him seem even cooler. hair balck as a limousine and eyes the color of a grey sidewalk.
The character Cassie Black was good too, but not as interesting as Karch. (HERES THE SPOILER) If Karch hadn't been killed, I think Connelly should have made novels based on HIM. A Jack Karch Novel. Sounds good.

This author is amazing. I have been reading crime/mystery books for the last 35 years and not since Ross MacDonald has an author consistently written one good book after another. This guy just keeps on getting better each time out. Void Moon kept my attention from page one to the very last. It's one of those books you can't put down and when you do finish you have a hard time finding another book worthy to read. This author could offer a guarantee with each book and none would be returned. Treat yourself to the best author in North America, buy this book and buy his other's you won't be disappointed.

A fast and exciting read, but the plot is so improbable it seriously detracts from enjoying the book. Many holes in the plot don't make any sense, such as the singular fact that the guy who presumably gets paid a seven figure annual salary to run a casino is willing to risk it all with a convoluted murder plot to steal only $2.5 million. Why? This same guy constantly views the casino floor from a "crows nest" despite the fact cameras are everywhere and he could keep track of everything from the comfort of his office. Then there is the fact that this same casino boss allows the money mule to carry around a briefcase containing $2.5 million in cash for three days while staying at the casino. He puts it in the hotel safe during the day, but takes it to his room at night so it can be stolen by a "hot prowler" when he goes to bed with the briefcase full of money handcuffed to his wrist. Really? And according to the plot, the casino boss intended all along for the money to be stolen so he could recover it and blame a scapegoat, who he planned to kill. His grand plan included the fact that the woman who stole it was not in on the deal and he didn't even know who she was. Nonetheless, he would be able to find the thief and recover the briefcase full of money. Pretty confident guy.

The female thief - who is said to be a competent pro - pulls the caper using a stolen van with the kidnapped van owner tied up in the back. The van is caught on casino cameras, but it has no license plates. So the thief is driving around Las Vegas with a van with no license plates with a kidnap victim inside. Maybe she has a plan if she is stopped by the cops for driving around without license plates. But if so, this is never explained.

This is a page turner and highly recommended! Great plot and characters...wish he d write another one with this female character and ive looked but dont see one. I dont care much for the harry bosch books but Void Moon is really awesome so dont pass it up!

This is the first Michael Connelly book I have read. Larry King recommended this book in his Monday column in USA Today so I got on the list at the library for it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not put it down. I learned about the history of Vegas and Vegas slang. This book was very well paced and original. I learned what a void moon is and who was inaugurated during a void moon. After reading this I am going to buy a Lucinda Williams CD and listen to her songs. I'll also have to buy an old Frank Sintra CD with Summer Nights on it. This is a must read. I loved it.

I enjoyed this book from the first page to the last. Fast paced, a wide range of well developed characters, some surprising twists along the way, and a different protagonist than one might expect from Michael Connelly... well done!

It's a quick moving story that drives forward, and written well enough that you don't notice or mind that back stories getting filled in a long the way. By the end of the story the pieces all fit together nicely, and I ended up caring about the good characters and the bad ones too. I felt they were all believable and their actions matched their motivations.

to please. Everyone LOVES Harry Bosch and we can NEVER get enough of him and his adventures. This takes us away from Harry and the result is just as pleasing. Cassie Black is an ex-con trying to go straight. She is lured back into a final caper and things go very bad. Character development is good and the plot gets your blood pumping. We will all have more Harry soon enough. Great Summer Read!!

I am surprised to read people rate the Harry Bosch books higher than this one. I have read all MC books I could lay my hands on, and I am getting bored by Bosch - he is so perfect, everybody is so lazy and unmotivated and he is so morally superior..and the police "cop-speak" BS was getting just too thick..stuff like "maintain investigative velocity", yuck.
Enter this super cool book...loads of atmosphere, cool David Lynch/Chandler/Macdonald air...gangster world, jargon, the Vegas mix of glamour and decay, is just marvellous..great book.

Being a Michael Connelly fan I was eager to read this book. Being a Harry Bosch fan I could hardly wait for this book to come to print. I was very disappointed. Non of the characters in this book are likeable and I had no sympathy for any of them. Poor characters, predictable plot; not the makings of a good book. I'll wait for Harry's return!

Michael Connelly is an author I put at the top of my favorites in mystery/noir. He doesn't diasappoint this time out even though this isn't a story with Harry Bosch. Seeing this story through the eyes of the criminal was interesting and fun. Cassie Black, Vegas, and a void moon, all add up to thrills and chills. Great fun.

A very average book from a great author. This was the only Connelly book I have ever been disappointed with. A simple story which moves forward chronologically with the mandatory plot twist at the end. The book was either written for him, written rather quickly. or written to fulfill a book contract requirement. Try any one of the other Connelly books and enjoy.

Who cares if the protagonist is a thief! This a work of fiction. Get over it. I read to be entertained and this book did just that. The pace was unrelenting.
Cassie Black is back in the life of ripping off high rollers in Vegas one time so she can get the money she needs to go on the run after she kidnaps the daughter she delivered in prison from the girl's adoptive parents. OK, it's not really that dumb, but in one sentence, what do you expect? Cassie's problem is that her mark was a bagman for a payoff to get the license approved to get the casino sold to some undesirable buyers. The casino puts PI Jack Karch on the trail of the money and he leaves a trail of bodies in the wake as he pursues Cassie.

I enjoyed the characters and the plot. Cassie is likeable and your sympathies go with her from the start. She is smart and strong. Her sense of right and wrong is believable. A good story that is well paced. I highly recommended Void Moon.

I read The Poet first, and then thirstily (I know it's not a word!) went back and read each and every Michael Connelly novel ... and found almost each and every one to be a page-turner. Connelly's newest, Void Moon, while an interesting plot, did not hold my interest ... I actually spent two days reading Void Moon rather than my one-day from start-to-finish read of a "very good book!" While Cassie Black was hugely appealing as a conflicted woman and the pace of the book was okay ... I felt that the considerable research, thought, and editing that seem to be standard fare in Connelly's books were missing ... almost as if now that he's really made it, he just writes! To close, I wouldn't pass Void Moon up, but it's not a "buy the hardcover the minute it comes out" kind of book like most of Connelly's have been.

Being a Michael Connelly fan I was eager to read this book. Being a Harry Bosch fan I could hardly wait for this book to come to print. I was very disappointed. Non of the characters in this book are likeable and I had no sympathy for any of them. Poor characters, predictable plot; not the makings of a good book. I'll wait for Harry's return!

Michael Connelly is an author I put at the top of my favorites in mystery/noir. He doesn't diasappoint this time out even though this isn't a story with Harry Bosch. Seeing this story through the eyes of the criminal was interesting and fun. Cassie Black, Vegas, and a void moon, all add up to thrills and chills. Great fun.

A very average book from a great author. This was the only Connelly book I have ever been disappointed with. A simple story which moves forward chronologically with the mandatory plot twist at the end. The book was either written for him, written rather quickly. or written to fulfill a book contract requirement. Try any one of the other Connelly books and enjoy.

Who cares if the protagonist is a thief! This a work of fiction. Get over it. I read to be entertained and this book did just that. The pace was unrelenting.
Cassie Black is back in the life of ripping off high rollers in Vegas one time so she can get the money she needs to go on the run after she kidnaps the daughter she delivered in prison from the girl's adoptive parents. OK, it's not really that dumb, but in one sentence, what do you expect? Cassie's problem is that her mark was a bagman for a payoff to get the license approved to get the casino sold to some undesirable buyers. The casino puts PI Jack Karch on the trail of the money and he leaves a trail of bodies in the wake as he pursues Cassie.

I enjoyed the characters and the plot. Cassie is likeable and your sympathies go with her from the start. She is smart and strong. Her sense of right and wrong is believable. A good story that is well paced. I highly recommended Void Moon.

I read The Poet first, and then thirstily (I know it's not a word!) went back and read each and every Michael Connelly novel ... and found almost each and every one to be a page-turner. Connelly's newest, Void Moon, while an interesting plot, did not hold my interest ... I actually spent two days reading Void Moon rather than my one-day from start-to-finish read of a "very good book!" While Cassie Black was hugely appealing as a conflicted woman and the pace of the book was okay ... I felt that the considerable research, thought, and editing that seem to be standard fare in Connelly's books were missing ... almost as if now that he's really made it, he just writes! To close, I wouldn't pass Void Moon up, but it's not a "buy the hardcover the minute it comes out" kind of book like most of Connelly's have been.

This is the first Michael Connelly book that I read and I enjoyed it a lot. I like reading mystery/crime novels when I have time. The only somewhat annoying thing is that the author describes in too much detail many technical aspects - for example of how to install and operate surveillance equipment. If one needs to learn technical details one should get a manual - I consider this lost time and space in a fiction book, a useless filler. Otherwise it is a very good book - I will definitely buy more from Michael Connelly.

This book is absolutely his best, and one of the best I have ever read. It will grab you from page one, and hold you to the very end. You'll never guess how this one turns out. It combines fabulous suspense, a tug at the heart, outrageously delicious plot twists, and characters that are just cliche enough (intentionally so, I'm sure) to make you shake your head and smile. A true treasure of this genre.

As a thriller writer (as yet unpublished) I find Cassie to be the most believable female hero I have ever met.

Harry is the product of his experience -- Cassie seems to draw her strength from some inner well of resource -- and that is fascinating.

I loan this book to my lady friends, and I hope Michael will do another one about Cassie.

RZ

Helen Hunt asked Robert B Parker to write a character for her. She should look at Connelly's new book. It's totally different from any of his previous novels, very exciting. Reminds me of Richard Stark's Parker novels (root for the bad guy). Hope we get more of this type of book from Mr Connelly

I normally like Connelly but 'Void Moon' reads like the screenplay for a TNT movie of the week.
Nothing surprises, the dialogue is cliched, the characters we have seen hundreds of times before, the plot senseless.
Guess he was under a publishing deadline when he scribbled this one out.

With Void Moon Mr. Connelly visits the edgy terrain of James Ellroy while retaining the highly visual, snappy pace of Elmore Leanard. Jack Karch's scenes are a lyrical exposition of evil. Cassie Black, the author's first effort at a central female character, is a sympathetic protagonist in spite of her felonious tendencies. The prose is stripped-down and finely tuned. Technicalities of the hot prowl are thoroughly but not overwhelmingly presented. This book is well researched and written and stands head and shoulders above everything that has been recently published in the genre.

I've read several of Connelly's other books and liked them all. I thought Void Moon was a nice change of pace with a female protagonist, but retained the taut pacing, viable plot, and page turning qualities of his other novels. I enjoyed it even more than Angel's Flight.

Any one who has read Connelly beofre will well advised not to miss this one. Another one of his non Harry Bosch (like The Poet and Blood Work) Void Moon is a well written read that pulls you along like a mother with a little child who cannot help but move along with her. Cassie Black you know is good even if she is dark and sad and when you found out why you root for her all the way. I wa slucky enough to read Micheal Connoly from the first book The Black Echo and all of his books have only gotten better. If you like James Patterson and John Sanford then try him and enjoy the ride under the Void Moon.

The combination of great characters and a fast paced storyline make this one a winner. Also fascinating was the glimpse into the world of high tech burglary. I've read a few of Connelly's other books, including The Poet and I look forward to reading his other works.

This was unfortunately Connelly's weakest book thus far. The idea is very good, but there's simply not enough style in the execution. It's really too bad...there's too much attention to technical detail, but the characters are more sketched than ever...I think he could have benefited from a female co-writer here.

Michael Connelly is a gifted author, and I enjoy his Harry Borsch novels. Void Moon is a nonseries book about a female ex-con named Cassie Black. I enjoyed Mr. Connelly's story involving her struggles and her choices. I also feel the novel captured the essence of Las Vegas. Void Moon is an excellent book.

When I read Michael, I expect a home run each time!Not so in this case. The characters all seem beryond belief in this story. I wasa really disappointed. However, I will continue to read him--until he goes the way of Ludlum.

Having now completed the complete cycle of Connelly's novels in--oh, I'd say 7 months, maybe--I wondered how he would handle a criminal point of view. Sublimely. Without excusing the unintended evil and consequent guilt felt by his antiheroine, Cassie Black; Connelly creates a vivid and excting tale of misplaced parental love gone wildly wrong. And the little bit of redemption that ennobles Cassie and maybe gives us all some hope. Bravo! More, please!

If you're a Michael Connelly fan, Void Moon will be a real disappointment. Although the plot moves along at a fast pace, the characters are one dimensional and the story reads like a movie of the week. It's all very predictable with no real surprises.

This story (not apart of the Harry Bosch series) was interesting and that's about it. It had lots of information in how high tech hotel robberies are carried out. But the story line was ho-hum. I guess I have come to expect greater things from this author.

Fun and entertaining right from the beginning. A thrill ride between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. FAST paced reading, can't put it down. FURIOUS characters take you on a thrill ride. Exciting to the very end!

I enjoyed having a female protagonist to relate to. The plot is simple, straight-forward. The character of Cassie is sympathetic, likeable. There are interesting twists and turns along the way. It is a fast-paced read, enjoyable for both men and women. Connelly is a good writer who can keep a reader involved.

A great standalone book by Michael Connelly. Surprisingly strong character casting with superb interplay between the characters. Great theme and plot that moves at a good nip. Superb scenery drawn of action and atmosphere in Las Vegas casinos. Nice ending. Really liked it.

I've read about 8 or 10 Connelly books and have liked them. For me, Michael Connelly is someone I can grab off a shelf and be sure I'll enjoy it. Not this one, though. After 120 pages of very detailed writing of a woman getting back into her criminal ways - how to set up the scam she will commit - I gave up on this one. The beginning shows how bored she is while trying to live the straight and narrow and the writing is, well, boring. I guess that was the point, but come on!
I won't give up on his books because this one wasn't to my liking.

BRING BACK HARRY BOSCH! WE ARE PRESENTED WITH LOW LIFE CHARACTERS NOT WORTH LEARNING ABOUT, DEAD CHARACTERS FROM THE PAST WHO SHAPED THE LIVES OF THE LIVE CHARACTERS WE DON'T CARE ABOUT, AND A WEAK PLOT TO BOOT WITH A ENDING, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, RIDING OFF INTO THE SUNSET. READ LIKE A DIME NOVEL AND WE HAVE COME TO EXPECT MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR. BRING BACK THE SUCCESS AND STAY WITH THE WINNING FORMULA!

Michael Connelly's new book "Void Moon" is an exceptional read. The author has an indescribable knack for creating compelling characters, great dialogue, and page turning excitement to keep you reading on into the night. I finished it in less than two days. Could not put it down. Bravo! I have read all of Mr. Connelly's previous books and have enjoyed them immensely. Buy this book...you won't be disappointed.

Although somewhat entertaining to read, this story by highly recommended Michael Connelly just misses success. A narrative slow in progression with a weak background story. Nice to see a female lead in a caper. Interesting note- one of the characters in Void Moon is mentioned in Michael Connelly's excellent book "City of Bones".

This was a very enjoyable novel. Without a doubt Michael Connelly has a real way with words. At the beginning of the book it seemed too familiar. But as it advanced I was pulled in and had a hard time putting the book down. I was really pulling for the lead charater and the ending was full of surprises.

This is an awesome book. I do have a feeling it's a screenplay turned into a novel though (something like a John Grisham novel).
I read this book in two sittings and I have not found a book that has made me do that in years. I wish Angels Flight and Blood Work were as good.

Michael Connelly did it again! This time with a new protaganist and female to boot-Cassie Black. This novel like so many of Michael Connelly's will keep you entertained and anticipating the next step and twist to the major plot with its many minnie climaxes. You must read this one!

Following in the wake of The Poet and Blood Work, I expected another great book, but came away disappointed. Void Moon lacked the narrative drive found in the other two books and the characters just weren't as compelling. Still, it's a good read, although not up to Connelly's usual standards.

I could not even finish this book it was so boring! The main character was very dull and I really didn't care what happened to her. There was no suspense, action, or mystery in this book. Michael Connelly is a wonderful author but, I don't know what he was thinking when he wrote Void Moon. He should stick to cops and murders.

I have read many of Connely's books about Detective Bosch, this
book was NOT about Bosch, and yet I think it's one of the best
books I've read in a long time. If you liked Runnaway Jury (Grisham) or The Winner (Baldaci) you love this one!

Having recently begun reading Michael Connelly, I was disappointed with the book VOID MOON. The characters were not likeable and there were none whom I could appreciate or admire. I finally gave up on the book and hope to get to Harry Bosch again with my next book. While Harry has his flaws, he is still a strong protagonist who is strong, determined and essentially good.

Fairly choppy in the beginning, Void Moon unfolds into a spell-binding story about a state-of-the-art cat burglar who constantly surprises and captivates the reader. Held my interest through the last page.

I HAVE ENJOYED READING MICHAEL CONNELLY'S EIGHT PREVIOUS BOOKS.BUT THIS BOOK WAS A TOTAL WASTE OF THE PAPER IT WAS PRINTED ON .I HAVE COME TO EXPECT A MUCH BETTER LEVEL OF WRITING FROM MICHAEL CONNELLY.HIS OTHER BOOKS TRANSPORTED THE READER INTO THE WORLD OF HIS CHARACTER'S.I DO HOPE HIS NEW BOOK "A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT " IS AN IMPROVEMENT.

I am a real fan of Connelly so I can't find anything I really don't like about anything he writes...some are better than others but I like his style and his dedication to detail. I won't summarize the story as a teaser is available before purchase. His Bosch books are his best...or I think so as he paints Bosch as a flawed guy but a fine detective who never gives up.

I could not finish this book. I have LOVED all of Michael Connelly's books (love Harry Bosch) but this book was very dull. I could not find a way to like or even care about the main character of Cassie. I read well over 100 pages, but it was a complete waste of my time.

It's a story that's perhaps not on the level of Bosch, but your sympathy is with the main character right until the end. It's not a five star story, but the characters are built up nicely and that makes it more than your average sto