City of Bones (A Harry Bosch Novel Book 8)

The more I read, the more intrigued I became by the process, assumptions, mistakes, in trying to solve a crime. That I became involved in the whole thinking process as events unfolded was a journey to the truth well traveled along with Bosch.

This was a total waste of time...the worst Connelly yet! Unrealistic situations & events...a book I could put down after each chapter...I care less and less about Bosch and his stupid antics (why doesn't his partner just tell him to f___ off?) , stupid habits (ordering lunch when starving then leaving it untouched) and stupid crime solving ideals (30 year old bones...who cares?)...I think I'm done with Michael for now.

The eighth Harry Bosch novel, published in 2002, opens when a dog unearths a human bone in Laurel Canyon in the hills above Hollywood. The dog's owner, a retired doctor, recognizes the discovery immediately and calls the police. Harry Bosch responds, climbs the hill where the dog had been playing, and discovers the bones of a child that had been buried in a shallow grave more than twenty years earlier.

An autopsy reveals that the boy had been murdered, but there are precious few clues apart from the bones themselves. A case this cold will be almost impossible to solve, but for Bosch, this case, like virtually all his others, becomes personal and he simply won't let go of it.

Harry is, ultimately, able to identify the victim, but tracking down the killer will take all of the skills he has honed through the years. Along the way, he will acquire a new love interest, and, as is almost always the case, will find himself in conflict with the department's brass who are, at least in Harry's view, much more interested in protecting the department's image than they are in achieving some sort of justice.

This is another very good entry in the series, featuring the level of detail and insight into police procedure that readers have come to expect from Connelly. One of the particular joys of this book lies in the minor characters, beginning with the doctor whose dog discovers the bones, all of whom are very well-drawn and unusually interesting. The book ends with a particularly shattering climax which will leave readers very anxious to get to the next book in the series.

It's New Year's Day but that doesn't mean much to Detective Harry Bosch. He's working anyway, holiday or not. In fact, he catches a case when a man walking his dog reports that the dog has come back with a human bone. The man is a doctor and insists he knows what a human bone looks like. Harry goes out to see and looking around, finds the dump site and several other bones.

When the scene of crime technicians are through, the collected bones are sent to the medical examiner. His report is that the bones are those of a young teen boy, probably twelve to thirteen. Cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head. Even more disturbing, the bones tell a story of continued child abuse with multiple fractures all over the boy's body. Harry and his partner are determined to bring the boy's killer to justice even if this is a twenty-year old cold case.

Of course, things are never that simple. Harry has met a new woman, a rookie cop who comes to the crime scene. He knows it's probably not a good idea to get involved with someone from work but she's hard to resist. Then there are his superiors who have always regarded Harry as a loner and a trouble-maker even if he is one of the best detectives the LAPD has. There's always plenty of office politics to interfere in Bosch's cases.

Michael Connelly is one of the stellar names in police procedurals. He has written over twenty Harry Bosch novels and Bosch is one of the detectives mystery readers recognize. The character has even had an the store Prime TV series made to follow Harry's cases. City Of Bones is the eighth Bosch novel and the one that Season One is based on. Connelly is a solid writer and gives insight into a police detective's job and all the other factors that complicate an investigation. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

City of Bones is the eighth installment in Michael Connelly’s series of novels featuring Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch. It opens on New Years Day, when Bosch is called to a home in Laurel Canyon. A dog has found a bone, and its owner, a medical doctor, is certain that it’s human. Bosch begins to investigate and unearths the majority of a skeleton. Forensic examination reveals that the body belonged to a young male who had suffered physical abuse throughout his short life.

Within days, Bosch knows the name of the victim, Arthur Delacroix, and the year of his murder, 1980. But who killed him, and why? Connelly leads readers through Bosch’s 13-day investigation with storytelling skill, leading us down investigative rabbit trails, only to corner the killer in the last pages of the book. In addition to the identity of the killer, those 13 days uncover secrets that destroy lives and families and threaten to end Bosch’s career.

I was familiar with the plot of City of Bones before reading it. This book, along with Concrete Blonde, is the textual basis of the first season of the store’s Bosch series. The TV series took quite a few liberties with Concrete Blonde, but it hewed closely to the narrative of City of Bones, with a few, important exceptions. Still, it is a testament to Connelly’s storytelling skill that he captured my attention through the book despite the fact that I knew who the killer was all along.

I’ve reviewed a number of books in Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, together with books in his Mickey Halley and Terry McCaleb series. With one exception, I think each of them is well crafted and engaging. As a guy who likes to read mystery series featuring a lead character and returning cast of characters, I thoroughly enjoy Michael Connelly’s books and recommend them to people with similar tastes to mine.

Read the books in order, though. Each mystery is self-contained, but the character arc of Harry Bosch is worth making the time and effort to start from The Black Echo and work your way forward.

Calamity (“he was trouble as a puppy”) was the one who changed the course of Detective Harry Bosch’s future and set a course for the following two weeks of dark memories and turbulent trouble. When Bosch was called to Wonderland in Los Angeles, he suspected the bone which had been unearthed would be the usual; a wild animal of some description. But when the almost complete skeleton of a young boy was brought to the surface; and learning the bones had been in the ground for twenty years, Bosch was determined to discover the identity of the bones, and bring the perpetrator to justice.

Bosch and his partner Detective Jerry Edgar dug deeply – unable to be spared for too long on such a cold case, they worked the clock around. And the secrets they began bringing to the surface chilled them both. Lives changed, circumstances changed – but the end result was always the same – murder. When tragedy struck, they kept going – it was imperative; personal to Bosch. Would he find the killer after so many years?

Wow! What a brilliant instalment in the Harry Bosch series - #8 – and it’s been on my TBR for over 4 years! Gripping, intense, with an extremely fast and chilling pace, City of Bones is (in my opinion) one of Michael Connelly’s best! A writer who is definitely at the top of his game, I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

First thing to say is that I am hooked on the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly but this was not one of my favorites so far. This was the 6th book in this series that I have listened to. Reading them may be different but I listen to the audio versions because I enjoy listening to books while I drive my big truck, and I work 12 hour shifts driving. My main reason of dislike was because of the narrator, all of the other books I listened to were narrated by Dick Hill and the change for this book was a big disappointment to me. I am not saying that this narrator P.J.Fernandez was a bad narrator but I was spoiled and used to Dick Hill. I believe this is the only book that PJF was used so it may be other people's opinion also. This book in general was great but was not as enjoyable to me as the other five I have listened to. I have not heard or read book #2 The Black Ice or #7 A Darkness More Than Night yet. There are 21 books in this series and I hope to listen or read them all if available to me at my local library. I would prefer to get them in order but may have to skip a few if not available to me. Had I started with this book and this narrator I may not have been hooked on this series, so if you started here with the audio version and did not care too much for this series, make sure you give some of the other prior books a chance before you decide not to continue.

I've read a dozen of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books to date...I think. With the modern trend toward short, forgettable, and often vague fiction titles, after ten years it's hard to tell even running down the series list.

More certainly, I've never been less than five stars worth of satisfied with any of them. Connelly's extensive newspaper crime reporting experience is evident as the reader always acquires some sense of the inner workings of LAPD law enforcement and/or the penal and judicial systems. That alone to me is worth the price of admission.

The author also capitalizes expertly on the inherent tensions of protagonist homicide detective Harry Bosch's job. Harry in any given book is at odds with at least one and usually more of the following: partner, fellow cops, immediate superior, chief or deputy chief, judges, defense and prosecution lawyers, members of the victim's family, and of course the perps. Vietnam vet Harry backs down from none of them, which gives all the Bosch stories a very appealing friction. To which you may add, finally, Harry's driven 24/7 personality to supply an unfailing energy.

Those traits, as noted, appear to be constants. What does "City Of Bones" offer specifically? Well, a Labrador Retriever's discovery of a long-hidden scattering of human bones in a hilly wood is a can't-miss in Connelly's hands. Who? When? How? Why? Medical examiner rules a 10-13 year old boy in a 20-25 year old homicide, with signs of severe physical abuse possibly dating back to age three. Tying the fatal trauma in with the long term abuse, the ME tells Harry and his partner: "On a purely personal level, I hope you find the person who did this. They'll deserve whatever they get, and then some".

And of course they eventually do break the case, with several twists and tragedies enroute. You expect no less from Connelly. Actually, I DO expect less; at least for once. But it just hasn't happened yet.

I am not familiar with this author but picked up the book on chance that it would be good. Certainly the title is intriguing. I found the book engrossing, a fast read and entertaining. There are a few twists that keep the reader looking for more. There is a good touch of realism that keeps the characters from being impossibly lucky or witty. The ending was a little weak but I would recommend this book for entertaining reading. It is not life changing but a good alternative to TV.

As usual, Harry Bosch is a fascinating enigma; Michael Connelly is a master at the police procedural. It is New Year’s Day and a dog finds a bone in the Hollywood Hills. The dog’s owner, a physician, knows the bone is human – a 10 to 12 year-old boy.

Thus begins an intriguing case that makes lots of hard turns. The murder occurred 20 to 25 years before and the victim was brutalized on a regular basis.

The case is fascinating, Harry’s love interest and their relationship is not. Julia, a ‘boot,’ is a mature woman who went through the police academy months earlier.

As sharp as Harry is, he begins a relationship with her rather quickly – even though it is against LAPD’s policy for a supervisor and new recruit to be romantically involved. I just didn’t feel that the relationship was real; the interactions seemed wooden.

One of the things that I like about Michael Connelly is that he isn’t afraid to take chances with his main character, Harry. The case provides one surprise after another but the ending was a shocker.

Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly
1. The Black Echo (1992)
2. The Black Ice (1993)
3. The Concrete Blonde (1994)
4. The Last Coyote (1995)
5. Trunk Music (1996)
6. Angels Flight (1998)
7. A Darkness More than Night (2000)
8. City Of Bones (2002)

As the title implies, Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" is a ghastly vision of a piece of Los Angeles that has turned into a necropolis of sorts. In this case, the discovered bones of a young boy, missing since 1980, sets the foundation. The trail of the crime takes several turns, many of them logical and, for the sake of the plot, intriguing. As always, Connelly's language, especially law enforcement lingo, gives the reader a sense of authenticity: that we can be secure that the author knows what he is talking about.

There's another trail, however, that runs even deeper in "City of Bones"--the trail back to Harry Bosch's childhood and his distraught, murky memories of it. Connelly does a brilliant job of conveying this background without resorting to facile pop-psychology. It is a complex system of memory and reflex that keeps Bosch going in this cold case. This inevitably leads to a larger theme that had been touched upon since the very first Harry Bosch novel: the loss of innocence. (No, not the "loss of innocence" in more traditional writing: this is innocence scarred, mangled and killed with the body that housed it.) Bosch has seen so many children and teenagers robbed of their youth and robbed of their lives that a part of him believes he is immune to the effect. Another part of him realizes he is definitely not.

Like the coyotes he sees digging for scraps, Bosch continues digging for clues. (The publicity starved M.E. is a different type of scavenger.) With plenty of dirt under his fingernails, he gets to the truth, as always. "City of Bones" is another absorbing, successful entry into the Harry Bosch series.

This was a total waste of time...the worst Connelly yet! Unrealistic situations & events...a book I could put down after each chapter...I care less and less about Bosch and his stupid antics (why doesn't his partner just tell him to f___ off?) , stupid habits (ordering lunch when starving then leaving it untouched) and stupid crime solving ideals (30 year old bones...who cares?)...I think I'm done with Michael for now.

Review of audiobook CITY OF BONES, 8th Harry Bosch book, may have misspellings. Hold Fast… once tattooed on Bosch’s hands. Read by a new narrator Peter Jay Fernandez. Fernandez is no Dick Hill, but he did a better job than Richard M Davidson in A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT. This book was used in part for the Netflix TV show.

This is the story where Harry meets a female BOOT patrol officer that is still assigned with a trainer. Like in the TV show, they begin a relationship, which is against department policy, because Harry is a D3 and has supervisory duties. Her fate in the book is very different than the TV show.

One interesting part is the setting up of a reporter that doctored a televised interview with Bosch, which implied that he leaked to her. Fake News. The story did not follow up with what ended up happening to her or the detective that did leak the information. The TV reporter probably got a pay raise for creativity.

A doctors dog finds bones on a wooded hill of a teen that seemed to have undergone significant abuse. The story goes back and forth as suspects are sought and rejected.

Internal affair and Deputy Chief Irvin Irving provide aggravating pressures on Bosch just to add to the hassles of doing his job. Bosch has 25 years in so Irving suggests that he code 7, a reference to the end of ones shift, and signifying retirement… also called, pulling the pin.

The book is sufficiently different, that I could not guess who the perp was. Fernandez reading presented a characterization of Bosch more similar to Dick Hill in style and tone so I liked this book a lot. 5 stars.

The eighth Harry Bosch novel, published in 2002, opens when a dog unearths a human bone in Laurel Canyon in the hills above Hollywood. The dog's owner, a retired doctor, recognizes the discovery immediately and calls the police. Harry Bosch responds, climbs the hill where the dog had been playing, and discovers the bones of a child that had been buried in a shallow grave more than twenty years earlier.

An autopsy reveals that the boy had been murdered, but there are precious few clues apart from the bones themselves. A case this cold will be almost impossible to solve, but for Bosch, this case, like virtually all his others, becomes personal and he simply won't let go of it.

Harry is, ultimately, able to identify the victim, but tracking down the killer will take all of the skills he has honed through the years. Along the way, he will acquire a new love interest, and, as is almost always the case, will find himself in conflict with the department's brass who are, at least in Harry's view, much more interested in protecting the department's image than they are in achieving some sort of justice.

This is another very good entry in the series, featuring the level of detail and insight into police procedure that readers have come to expect from Connelly. One of the particular joys of this book lies in the minor characters, beginning with the doctor whose dog discovers the bones, all of whom are very well-drawn and unusually interesting. The book ends with a particularly shattering climax which will leave readers very anxious to get to the next book in the series.

It's New Year's Day but that doesn't mean much to Detective Harry Bosch. He's working anyway, holiday or not. In fact, he catches a case when a man walking his dog reports that the dog has come back with a human bone. The man is a doctor and insists he knows what a human bone looks like. Harry goes out to see and looking around, finds the dump site and several other bones.

When the scene of crime technicians are through, the collected bones are sent to the medical examiner. His report is that the bones are those of a young teen boy, probably twelve to thirteen. Cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head. Even more disturbing, the bones tell a story of continued child abuse with multiple fractures all over the boy's body. Harry and his partner are determined to bring the boy's killer to justice even if this is a twenty-year old cold case.

Of course, things are never that simple. Harry has met a new woman, a rookie cop who comes to the crime scene. He knows it's probably not a good idea to get involved with someone from work but she's hard to resist. Then there are his superiors who have always regarded Harry as a loner and a trouble-maker even if he is one of the best detectives the LAPD has. There's always plenty of office politics to interfere in Bosch's cases.

Michael Connelly is one of the stellar names in police procedurals. He has written over twenty Harry Bosch novels and Bosch is one of the detectives mystery readers recognize. The character has even had an the store Prime TV series made to follow Harry's cases. City Of Bones is the eighth Bosch novel and the one that Season One is based on. Connelly is a solid writer and gives insight into a police detective's job and all the other factors that complicate an investigation. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

City of Bones is the eighth installment in Michael Connelly’s series of novels featuring Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch. It opens on New Years Day, when Bosch is called to a home in Laurel Canyon. A dog has found a bone, and its owner, a medical doctor, is certain that it’s human. Bosch begins to investigate and unearths the majority of a skeleton. Forensic examination reveals that the body belonged to a young male who had suffered physical abuse throughout his short life.

Within days, Bosch knows the name of the victim, Arthur Delacroix, and the year of his murder, 1980. But who killed him, and why? Connelly leads readers through Bosch’s 13-day investigation with storytelling skill, leading us down investigative rabbit trails, only to corner the killer in the last pages of the book. In addition to the identity of the killer, those 13 days uncover secrets that destroy lives and families and threaten to end Bosch’s career.

I was familiar with the plot of City of Bones before reading it. This book, along with Concrete Blonde, is the textual basis of the first season of the store’s Bosch series. The TV series took quite a few liberties with Concrete Blonde, but it hewed closely to the narrative of City of Bones, with a few, important exceptions. Still, it is a testament to Connelly’s storytelling skill that he captured my attention through the book despite the fact that I knew who the killer was all along.

I’ve reviewed a number of books in Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, together with books in his Mickey Halley and Terry McCaleb series. With one exception, I think each of them is well crafted and engaging. As a guy who likes to read mystery series featuring a lead character and returning cast of characters, I thoroughly enjoy Michael Connelly’s books and recommend them to people with similar tastes to mine.

Read the books in order, though. Each mystery is self-contained, but the character arc of Harry Bosch is worth making the time and effort to start from The Black Echo and work your way forward.

Calamity (“he was trouble as a puppy”) was the one who changed the course of Detective Harry Bosch’s future and set a course for the following two weeks of dark memories and turbulent trouble. When Bosch was called to Wonderland in Los Angeles, he suspected the bone which had been unearthed would be the usual; a wild animal of some description. But when the almost complete skeleton of a young boy was brought to the surface; and learning the bones had been in the ground for twenty years, Bosch was determined to discover the identity of the bones, and bring the perpetrator to justice.

Bosch and his partner Detective Jerry Edgar dug deeply – unable to be spared for too long on such a cold case, they worked the clock around. And the secrets they began bringing to the surface chilled them both. Lives changed, circumstances changed – but the end result was always the same – murder. When tragedy struck, they kept going – it was imperative; personal to Bosch. Would he find the killer after so many years?

Wow! What a brilliant instalment in the Harry Bosch series - #8 – and it’s been on my TBR for over 4 years! Gripping, intense, with an extremely fast and chilling pace, City of Bones is (in my opinion) one of Michael Connelly’s best! A writer who is definitely at the top of his game, I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

First thing to say is that I am hooked on the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly but this was not one of my favorites so far. This was the 6th book in this series that I have listened to. Reading them may be different but I listen to the audio versions because I enjoy listening to books while I drive my big truck, and I work 12 hour shifts driving. My main reason of dislike was because of the narrator, all of the other books I listened to were narrated by Dick Hill and the change for this book was a big disappointment to me. I am not saying that this narrator P.J.Fernandez was a bad narrator but I was spoiled and used to Dick Hill. I believe this is the only book that PJF was used so it may be other people's opinion also. This book in general was great but was not as enjoyable to me as the other five I have listened to. I have not heard or read book #2 The Black Ice or #7 A Darkness More Than Night yet. There are 21 books in this series and I hope to listen or read them all if available to me at my local library. I would prefer to get them in order but may have to skip a few if not available to me. Had I started with this book and this narrator I may not have been hooked on this series, so if you started here with the audio version and did not care too much for this series, make sure you give some of the other prior books a chance before you decide not to continue.

I've read a dozen of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books to date...I think. With the modern trend toward short, forgettable, and often vague fiction titles, after ten years it's hard to tell even running down the series list.

More certainly, I've never been less than five stars worth of satisfied with any of them. Connelly's extensive newspaper crime reporting experience is evident as the reader always acquires some sense of the inner workings of LAPD law enforcement and/or the penal and judicial systems. That alone to me is worth the price of admission.

The author also capitalizes expertly on the inherent tensions of protagonist homicide detective Harry Bosch's job. Harry in any given book is at odds with at least one and usually more of the following: partner, fellow cops, immediate superior, chief or deputy chief, judges, defense and prosecution lawyers, members of the victim's family, and of course the perps. Vietnam vet Harry backs down from none of them, which gives all the Bosch stories a very appealing friction. To which you may add, finally, Harry's driven 24/7 personality to supply an unfailing energy.

Those traits, as noted, appear to be constants. What does "City Of Bones" offer specifically? Well, a Labrador Retriever's discovery of a long-hidden scattering of human bones in a hilly wood is a can't-miss in Connelly's hands. Who? When? How? Why? Medical examiner rules a 10-13 year old boy in a 20-25 year old homicide, with signs of severe physical abuse possibly dating back to age three. Tying the fatal trauma in with the long term abuse, the ME tells Harry and his partner: "On a purely personal level, I hope you find the person who did this. They'll deserve whatever they get, and then some".

And of course they eventually do break the case, with several twists and tragedies enroute. You expect no less from Connelly. Actually, I DO expect less; at least for once. But it just hasn't happened yet.

I am not familiar with this author but picked up the book on chance that it would be good. Certainly the title is intriguing. I found the book engrossing, a fast read and entertaining. There are a few twists that keep the reader looking for more. There is a good touch of realism that keeps the characters from being impossibly lucky or witty. The ending was a little weak but I would recommend this book for entertaining reading. It is not life changing but a good alternative to TV.

As usual, Harry Bosch is a fascinating enigma; Michael Connelly is a master at the police procedural. It is New Year’s Day and a dog finds a bone in the Hollywood Hills. The dog’s owner, a physician, knows the bone is human – a 10 to 12 year-old boy.

Thus begins an intriguing case that makes lots of hard turns. The murder occurred 20 to 25 years before and the victim was brutalized on a regular basis.

The case is fascinating, Harry’s love interest and their relationship is not. Julia, a ‘boot,’ is a mature woman who went through the police academy months earlier.

As sharp as Harry is, he begins a relationship with her rather quickly – even though it is against LAPD’s policy for a supervisor and new recruit to be romantically involved. I just didn’t feel that the relationship was real; the interactions seemed wooden.

One of the things that I like about Michael Connelly is that he isn’t afraid to take chances with his main character, Harry. The case provides one surprise after another but the ending was a shocker.

Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly
1. The Black Echo (1992)
2. The Black Ice (1993)
3. The Concrete Blonde (1994)
4. The Last Coyote (1995)
5. Trunk Music (1996)
6. Angels Flight (1998)
7. A Darkness More than Night (2000)
8. City Of Bones (2002)

As the title implies, Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" is a ghastly vision of a piece of Los Angeles that has turned into a necropolis of sorts. In this case, the discovered bones of a young boy, missing since 1980, sets the foundation. The trail of the crime takes several turns, many of them logical and, for the sake of the plot, intriguing. As always, Connelly's language, especially law enforcement lingo, gives the reader a sense of authenticity: that we can be secure that the author knows what he is talking about.

There's another trail, however, that runs even deeper in "City of Bones"--the trail back to Harry Bosch's childhood and his distraught, murky memories of it. Connelly does a brilliant job of conveying this background without resorting to facile pop-psychology. It is a complex system of memory and reflex that keeps Bosch going in this cold case. This inevitably leads to a larger theme that had been touched upon since the very first Harry Bosch novel: the loss of innocence. (No, not the "loss of innocence" in more traditional writing: this is innocence scarred, mangled and killed with the body that housed it.) Bosch has seen so many children and teenagers robbed of their youth and robbed of their lives that a part of him believes he is immune to the effect. Another part of him realizes he is definitely not.

Like the coyotes he sees digging for scraps, Bosch continues digging for clues. (The publicity starved M.E. is a different type of scavenger.) With plenty of dirt under his fingernails, he gets to the truth, as always. "City of Bones" is another absorbing, successful entry into the Harry Bosch series.

Another excellent tale from one of the very best in the crime writing business.

LAPD detective Harry Bosch finds himself investigating the decades-old killing of a young boy, after some bones are uncovered on a hillside. At the same time Bosch is dealing with a variety of personal and workplace issues (leaks to the media and a superior who is still trying to push him out of the force), the possibility of a new relationship, and more.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys a well-written crime novel that along with a page-turning plot has quite a bit more to it, in terms of character, settings, and making you think of things beyond 'whodunnit'. Bosch continues to evolve as a character, and Connelly demonstrates he's one of the finest contemporary crime writers around, with his knack for telling details, and the way he layers his tale into an expose of modern-day issues.

This is the first Michael Connelly Harry Bosch novel that I have read, and while I probably would rate it as only a 2, it is just the same a very good book. It was a good, quick read and hard to put down. The problem with a lot of your police procedural novels is that the main character is difficult to like. It's kind of like having hives - it makes you itch and scratch a lot. Nevertheless, this being said, I really do like police procedurals. They are just an acquired taste.
Connelly put a lot of effort and research into the Harry Bosch character, and there are a lot of Harry Bosch novels. I am quite sure that I will be reading more of this series. Not to sound cliché, but Bosch is a detective's detective. He wears his job and the particular case like yesterday's suit and clothes. Connelly's writing reminds me of the Jonathan Kellerman Alex Delaware series. I see a lot of similarities here.
"City of Bones" begins with the discovery of the remains of a young boy on an undeveloped hillside in a residential area. You would definitely classify this as a cold case. There is no identification at the site. Bosch and his partner take on the case of the boy like a bulldog with a tennis ball. They pursue the case as if it were the most important case of their career. They follow leads and would-be leads as if there is no tomorrow. Along the way, Bosch's new lover is shot and killed. The book gets very interesting here and the reader cannot wait to see what is coming down the pipe. Connelly keeps the fish hooked just enough.
As I said, I would probably rate this book a 2 (actually a 2.5), but this does not take away from the book. It is a good read. I would have no problem recommending this book to other readers. I actually expect other books in the Harry Bosch series to be more interesting. However, this is not to take anything away from "City of Bones." Even though I am critiquing the book, I could only dream that I could write this good.

Cam

I'm in the process of filling all the holes now. I've read over half of the Harry Bosch series and am now catching those I've missed in-between. Since I haven't read them in order, there is a lot of history I either know about already or am learning after-the-fact. Knowing that ahead of time, I didn't let it bother me. I still found this story a fascinating read.

The plot details have already been hashed out over the 200+ reviews already done, so no need to do it again. The author's ability to nail the police procedural and all the while weave in Harry's personal foibles is part of the fun. He kept it in solid third-person with no head-hopping which made for a very easy read. The exposition never felt forced or in a lecturing way. What was said needed to be there.

I'll admit to not being entirely happy with the ending. I didn't get a great warm fuzzy off the final confrontation with the guilty party. After that, there was a decision Harry made that left me scratching my head. I sort-of understood it, but still wasn't quite sure what was going on. I supposed it will be explained in Lost Light, the next novel except I'll never read it because to my great disappointment, Mr. Connelly wrote it in first-person. I hate that point-of-view!

Despite the minor quibbles, it kept me glued to my seat for two days and kept me from doing anything else useful which says something about the story and the writing. There were plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep things interested and the love interest for this installment certainly didn't turn out like I expected. Highly recommended.

This book is a great police procedural for any fan of crime fiction. It starts with a dog finding a set of bones from decades earlier and Detective Harry Bosch jumps right onto the case with precision, but of course, several headaches are in store for him, including many false leads and this book even shows how difficult getting a conviction can be for a police officer even when there is a confession. I also loved the way Connelly describes Bosch's partner, Jerry Edgar's manner of knocking on doors as if it is some earth-shaking boom. Excellent writing and definitely a page turner.

The price here is well, yeah. I bought mine a long time ago. However, I would definitely recommend any reader of crime fiction to check this title out in one of the other formats.

One quick look through some of these reviews and I was very surprised with how many people seemed to give away major plot twists and plot points without realizing that this type of thing will ruin the book for anyone who'se considering reading it. I won't do that, except to say that this story is a very well-thought out mystery in the long-running Harry Bosch series, one that involves the constant struggle with the media that police in this country obviously face and how this can lead to corruption. The setup and mystery is definitely not one of the better or more complex ones in the series but it's easily one of the fastest-paced. Centered in here is a love story, which has been a rarity in this series.

It's a breath of fresh air overall, and the plot takes its shocking turns. What stops this from reaching the 5-stars of Harry Bosch novels such as Lost Light are a number of factors...first of all, a very traumatic event happens in around the middle of the book and it's a stunning development...yet Harry Bosch seems to forget this over time. There was a very sad moment involving a note at the end of the story but aside from that, it sort of went the rest of the story without playing a central role, which was a little disappointing. The mystery itself, also, ended with surprising loose ends for a Connelly novel. I'm used to detailed explanations at the end of my Harry Bosch novels but this time it never occurs, leaving the villain's motives totally unexplained (aside from an assumption) and same went for a much-needed explanation of why a cop acted the way they did in the middle of the story....never happens.

Still, though, this is a recommended Harry Bosch novel. Good stuff.

In this eighth entry in the detective Harry Bosch series, author Michael Connelly, whose bibliography now stands at some dozen novels, brings back a fan favorite character in a story so focused on solving the crime that the book is pretty close to a classic police procedural. Shades of the fairly new forensic pathologist stories by Dr. Kathy Reichs, a dog discovers a bone and trots it home to his master, who happens to be an MD. The doc pretty quickly recognizes a human arm bone when he sees it, though this one looks like it's old and was probably a child's. Enter the police who find the scene and discover enough additional bones that a long buried corpse seems to be the discovery of the day. In due course, Harry and his partner Jerry Edgar, proceed to identify the victim, dead some 20 years or so; locate family members and friends; and eventually solve the crime with solid and intuitive police work.

Connelly has an evocative writing style that helps us almost "see" the scenes we're reading about. His prose is economic, and therefore a lot happens in this 400-page tome that might have taken many more pages to convey. But maybe best of all, some other matters vie with the basic storyline for our attention. First, the author takes some well-deserved shots at the media and at police higher management for their handling of certain events, some with dire outcomes. Second, the motivation of the cops is on view in two cases while apprehending suspects, and we come away sometimes questioning whether everything is on the up and up. These themes, and a brief affair between veteran Bosch and a young rookie, added a great deal of thoughtfulness to a story that while entertaining, is pretty somber throughout. Even Bosch is questioning his career future at the end, making us wonder where the author takes him from here.

We wish we had met Connelly in an earlier Bosch work, as this one had a climactic feel to it for which we wish we had better background. Bosch is a likable but complex worker, who sets out on his own when necessary to explore every angle; indeed he is difficult to satisfy. We think that fans and new readers alike will enjoy this tale and this series, and we for sure mean to uncover some of the earlier entries. So might you!

New Year's Day. Harry has just finished up with his second suicide call-out when he receives a "bone" call. A man on Wonderland had his dog out for a walk and she brought back a bone. At first skeptical, Bosch is told that the man is a retired doctor and knows a human bone when he sees one - the final nail in the coffin of Bosch's ennui is that the bone appears to be that of a child. Bosch heads for Laurel Canyon.

What is discovered is heartbreaking. A mostly complete skeleton - about 60% complete - that is about the size of a 10-year-old boy. However, the bones indicate frequent physical abuse, starting when the boy was as young as 2 or 3, including broken bones and a neurosurgical procedure for a hard blow to the head, which means the boy was probably closer to 12. To make matters a bit more ... difficult - it appears that the skeleton has been in the ground about 20 years.

Tracking down suspects and evidence - even learning who the boy was - on the cold case to end all cold cases is not easy; Harry nonetheless perseveres. What he discovers and uncovers is shocking.

A very difficult but worthwhile read. Mention is made of Harry getting together with a rookie cop - I don't want to spoil anything, but I also don't want anyone getting their hopes up. All I'll say is that this is a very short romance. I feel for Harry - he's so alone and I think it would be good for him to have someone around, but at this time it's just not meant to be. He makes a life-changing decision at the very end of the book, so we'll see where this leads. Don't miss it!

It must be difficult to write of one character repeatedly. Yet Connelly's extraordinary skill at bringing us to see the dark side and then bringing us back, wiser but always a little shaken, remains unparalleled. Harry Bosch. Can there be any doubt that this is Humphrey Bogart 60 years ago? Harry Bosch belongs in the lexicon of the American novel alongside of Dave Robicheaux, Patrick Kenzie, Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, Hawk and the rest.
Harry reluctantly gives his partner, Jerry Edgar, New Years Day off and spends the day "catching suicides," one a "no change of mind" and the other an "accidental." We are drawn into the dark side of a once heroic profession, cleaning up the detritus of lost and sometimes stolen lives. His new friend "Boot" Julia Brasher tells him that she hates to clean the vomit out of the back of the squad car. And right away, we know where we are. Like Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique," we have a sense that the tale will be beautiful and yet very, very sad.
Connelly is a master and possibly after several less than satisfying ventures, this is again classic Bosch. On that same empty New Years Day, a call comes in that an aging Doctor's dog has discovered a child's bone while rooting around Laurel Canyon.
What Connelly does perhaps better than anyone else lies in the subtle dialogue of his characters. The petition of the forensic anthropologist, telling Harry that without faith, we are all lost. The conversation with the old Doctor, wealthy, happily binding Harry's broken ribs, who had given 1/2 a century to curing ills but who has no place to go on New Years Day. These are all part of the deep background Connelly paints.
The child was a victim of serial abuse and naturally, this triggers recollections of his own lost foster home youth. The conversation with Julia Brasher on how he removed the tatoos from his fists before he went to Vietnam and the brief, understated recitation of his time in the tunnels is orchestrated in such a manner as to make the telling of the story, while not predictable, secondary to the characters.
Mike Connelly can still make his point about those who believe that last blue shield can still make a difference with a conversation over a box of donuts.
Good stuff. Excellent writing. Highly recommended.

The blurb on the jacket was what caused me to purchase this book. I was ready for a gritty and dark ride into the case of a murdered young boy from over 20 years ago, his bones found on a deserted hillside by a neighbor's dog.
'City of Bones' is Los Angeles. Nicknamed 'Bones' due to the tarpits that regularly churn up bones from thousands years past. This time though, the bones they find are merely 20 years past and found on a lonely hillside. Detective Bosch has been in the force for over 25 years and this is a first.
Who is the boy in the old grave? His bones indicate massive trauma and old wounds healed. But who were they looking for? A serial killer that's still prowling the streets after all this time? Or something much more dark and sinister...
What Bosch and his partner Edgar find brings them on a wild ride into the depths of human suffering and shame. Who would kill the ten year old? And why? Why does his bones speak a very terrible and dark past that both Bosch and Edgar feel ill just thinking about? The more they find the more they dread the final leg of the gruesome journey.
We follow the main detective Bosch throughout the book and watch as he struggles with his personal feelings in this painful case and how he develops a relationship with a rookie patrol cop named Julia Brasher half his age.
The writing is very good and Bosch's personal life will distract you enough to forget facts so you will be surprised when things pop up throughout the book, but the ending was a big disappointment for me.
The tension builds and builds effectively and then I felt let-down at the end. I was left asking out loud, "So...why did he pick this as the climax?" I guess I was expecting something more spectacular and frightening to make me widen my eyes and say, "Whoa!", but alas, I simply frowned and said, "Why did he do that?"
If you're looking for something realistic with a real-life ending to a murder, look no farther, but if you're like me and when you open a book you want to be swept away and brought on a rollarcoaster ride and to have the murderer or murderers be something really frightening and 'out there', then skip this one. It's probably something you'd see on the 11 o'clock news....
Tracy Talley~@

Michael Connelly may be the Jerry Seinfeld of crime fiction. He builds his stories with pieces of the nothings of everyday life. When Harry Bosch bungles the switch from call waiting, Lt. Grace Billets, who's been his boss since "Angel's Flight", finally finds out that he and Jerry Edger call her Bullets. Watch sergeant Mankiewicz tells Bosch to use his wiles as in Wile E. Coyote to move the bones case along and knows that the best donuts in his squad room come from Bob's in the Farmer's Market.
Bosch fans will also appreciate how smoothly Connelly intorduces another love interest to the series while an old one remains on the scene. Teresa Corazon, a soul mate and casual sex partner of Harry way back in "The Black Ice" is now the publicity hungry Medical Examiner who takes a camera crew to document everything she investigates. She's become almost as much of a bumbling nemesis as Harvey "98" Pounds used to be. Julia Brasher, a rookie cop in her mid-thirties, former lawyer from a family of successful lawyers, is Harry's current squeeze.
When the old bones of an abused young boy are found in a shallow grave, the reader should recognize from the outset that technology and good policework will enable the cops to I.D. the victim pretty quickly. The early part of the story isn't about what the investigation uncovers but rather the unintended consequences of events it sets in motion. Deputy Chief Irving is still around, always ready to deep six the truth and Harry's investigation if it will make his department look better. He's more than outlived his usefulness as the poster boy for evil bureaucrats, but where would Harry be without him to rebel against?
Once the bones are identified and Harry starts to resurrect the dirty secrets of the family de la Croix, the story goes back to a Connellly whodunit - one where Harry may be the only one who really cares about the truth. The pace and path to the solution are typical Connelly, exceptionally well done.
As to the ending, if you've read the jacket or another review you already know that it's different. The question is, when the old tunnel rat finally does see the light at the end, is it a door to a new beginning or the dreaded oncoming train? I'm hoping for the door out and a whole new series of Harry Bosch stories.

L.A.P.D. homicide detective Harry Bosch has unenviably pulled the New Year's detail. After concluding his investigations of two "routine" suicides, he receives a call that a dog has unearthed what appears to be a human bone in the Hollywood hills. Perusing the crime scene leads him to call in the medical examiners office to comb the area for possible clues. They exhume a large percentage of a human skeleton apparently of a 10-12 year old child.
Analysis of the remains reveals an extensive amount of healed and healing bone fractures indicative of a heart wrenching case of severe child abuse. It appears that a particular type of medical procedure had been performed to repair a fractured skull. Other bits of evidence allow the incensed Bosch and his partner Jerry Edgar to conclude that the murder of a young boy was committed approximately 20-30 years ago.
The press, having a field day with this unsolved mystery, impede the investigation by implicating an innocent man living in the neighborhood of the crime scene. He unfortunately had been convicted many years ago on a questionable child molestation charge. Bosch, after questioning the suspect, dismisses him as the culprit. His outing by the press however leads him to take his own life.
Bosch and Edgar's investigation had stalled until one of the many calls to the police suggesting identities of the child's bones bears fruit. Sheila Delacroix speculates that the bones may be those of her 12 year old brother Arthur who ran away in 1980. Hospital records and comparative xrays confirm the identity by virtue of the operation done on the skull. Now the killer must be found.
Bosch unearths a tragic family history involving the Delacroixs. Arthur's mom abandoned the family when the boy was two to be raised by an abusive, alcoholic, failed actor father, Samuel. Samuel who is now a down and out shell of a human being confesses to the murder. Bosch has his doubts. Despite enormous pressure from his superiors, he continues his probe and ultimately unmasks the true murderer.
Connelly does a very routine job and dragging us through the many avenues explored in this murder investigation. This novel was nothing special. This being my first Connelly book, I was not overly impressed.

City of Bones by Connelly is a fast-paced novel set in Hollywood with Bosch being out of step with the management. Of course, he's older with years of experience but he likes to push the envelope and does so with a female rookie or boots. The scene is set with the finding of a child's bones and it is up to Bosch to discover who is the perpetrator. One such person suicides through little fault of Bosch but he feels some blame. There a cop who leaks information to the press who is more to blame. The ending is sad on many sides - will Bosch really quit his job? I prefer the books to the TV series.

It didn't take all that long for Michael Connelly to become one of today's top mystery authors. And it's not hard to see why. His books are always suspenseful, filled with great dialogue and believable characters. His stories are intriguing and always intricate. And, most of the time, his plots are unpredictable.
Although City Of Bones isn't Connelly's best, it still shows how amazing the author truly is. Here, we find Bosch, one of the characters Connelly established in his earlier works. He is now working as a detective in Hollywood. On New Year's eve, he is told to investigate bones that have been uncovered by a dog. On closer examination, the bones are shown to be human and belonging to a twelve year old boy who would have died over twenty years ago.
The quest to find the boy's identity and his killer follows. And what a chase it is! The story is full of subplots that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
I love Connelly's style. His books are gritty and straight to the point. He is the noir author par excellence. As Bosch investigates the crime and uncovers many of the answers that have been laying dormant for over twenty years, he will meet many great characters, such as a young female officer in whom he will find romance, or the victim's sister and father, who's past is filled with dark secrets that are just waiting to resurface. All of Connelly's characters have ghosts in their closets, which only adds to the dark tones of his stories.
All in all, City Of Bones is yet another great work of fiction by today's best mysetery author. When you start one of Connelly's books, you won't want to let go of it until the it's done. City of Bones is no exception.

In City of Bones Michael Connelly continues to develop his ability to write realistic, thoughtful crime novels. Detective Harry Bosch of the Los Angeles Police Department appears to be at the end of his long career and he is at the top of his form as he struggles to discover who has killed a 12 year old boy buried in a shallow grave in the Hollywood hills.

Harry learns that the bones are twenty years old and belong to an abused child. This cold case would have been relegated to the unsolved murder files, but Bosch identifies with the long dead child and he is determined to track down the killer. First he discovers the identity of the boy and then slowly and methodically collects and interprets the clues he needs to identify the murderer.

I have read four other Bosch detective stories and this is the first time I have been satisfied with the overall development and conclusion of the story. Typically, Michael Connelly starts out strong, as with the Edgar Award winning novel The Poet, but then strains our credulity as the novel comes to an end. Not so in City of Bones. We pay close attention as Bosch sifts through the evidence and moves relentlessly to a satisfying conclusion.

City of Bones has more careful detective work than non-stop action. One shoot-out in the middle of the novel is all the gunplay the read will find. Instead of murder and mayhem, Connelly takes us into the squad room and out in the field with Bosch as he does the painstaking work that helps him solve a crime which would frustrate and defeat most other detectives.

City of Bones is an intelligent crime story that should please most fans of this genre.

lf you could get him to talk, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch would probably make a fine seatmate on a very long flight. But the odds are very much against getting Harry to talk.

Harry is wound tight. A Los Angeles homicide detective, a tunnel rat in the Vietnam war, an orphan before that, Harry is very much self-contained. He has trouble getting close to people because he knows all the horrible things that can happen to people --- and that people do to other people.

A dog brings back a bone from a romp in the woods. The dog's owner, a retired doctor, recognizes the bone as human. So begins the search for the murderer of a young boy a quarter-century earlier.

Bosch is a hardworking cop. He is diligent, pushes hard and makes most of his own breaks. He is also one of those guys who just can't live by the police department's rules. Without this trait, of course, Connelly wouldn't have much to write about since the LAPD wants this investigation to go away.

Connelly is a master at bringing the clues in one by one, some of them insignificant at first, but looming large later.Here, one of those little things comes to mean everything and Connelly handles it beautifully, if not indeed brilliantly. Connelly's Harry Bosch is one heck of a detective.

It's difficult to tell, at least for me, whether Connelly's characters have any depth. He moves them along at a rapid pace, though Bosch is mildly introspective. But it really doesn't matter: Connelly is a marvelous storyteller and that's what is important.

Jerry

Connelly offers Bosch this time in a rather unusual dark, brooding story that indicates Harry might be on the way out? It's hard to tell, although as Harry thinks about things, maybe it is time? I certainly hope not, as Harry continues to develop into a quite complex character: a man who has many, many good points, but continues to develop his darker side, and pulls a couple of things in this one, too.
A dog digs up a bone, that turns out to be the humerus of a young boy, who has been missing and dead for twenty years. In spite of myself, I did enjoy the pun when Harry's talking to the command desk sergeant: "Harry, come on..humor us on this humerus." Connelly's wit is sharp, if derivative!
Harry and Edgar (who continue to exhibit a rather unusual friendship; Edgar seems jealous of Harry and hurt when excluded)become involved in the case. Harry falls head over heels for a new rookie, Julia Brasher, who shares some of Harry's darker side. Of course, Harry is not supposed to be shacking up with a rookie, but you knnow, Harry----nothing stops Harry from what he's doing, whether it be right or wrong.
As the case builds, a former pedophile is involved; a seedy friend from the little boy's past, and of course, the father and the sister. It's a web of intrigue, deceit and false leads, and Connelly masterfully weaves them to the predictable, if strange, denouement. "City of Bones" is not the best, but it is a marvelous addition to the series. Michael, please don't leave us hanging in the air!!
RECOMMENDED

The City of Bones is hardly action-packed. A doctor out with his dog finds a long-buried bone of a young boy, who, upon thorough examination of the entire body, was obviously severely abused over a long period of time. Gritty detective Harry Bosch knows evil only too well, but given his own disturbing childhood, child abuse cases are especially distressing to him.

Connelly's books are so interesting, despite the lack of great action, because he is an expert in capturing the subtleties and feel of police procedures and investigations. Beyond technicalities, the reader gets to see turf battles, spin control, rivalries, unspoken protocols and deference, petty rules, publicity seeking, the incessant media, etc. The psychological toll of police work is always right there.

Harry has had a difficult time through the years maintaining relationships, but he immediately makes a connection with a rookie female cop at the scene of the buried bones. But the apprehension of a childhood acquaintance of the abused boy takes an inexplicable turn that hits Harry hard.

The resolution of the case is entirely unsatisfying to Bosch. There are degrees of guilt among several parties with suitable punishment or accounting proving elusive. He feels compelled to respond in a manner that seems like the only course that he can take. Another good Connelly effort.

I was disappointed with Michael Connelly's previous contribution to his Harry Bosch series, "A Darkness More Than Night" and, on finishing that, feared that the character had become stale and would go the way of other characters such as Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. So it was with some anticipation that I delved into Connelly's latest, "City of Bones".
"City of Bones" is the old Michael Connelly and the old Harry Bosch - a hard-boiled LA homicide detective who plays by his own rules but gets the job done. In this book, Bosch is called out to investigate the discovery of skeletal remains buried in a wooded area some twenty years previously. As usual, he runs into the usual bureaucratic frustrations as the top brass fear that another "cold case" will do further damage to the reputation of the LAPD. Connelly guides the story through a number of complex plot twists, creating suspects and then despatching them and leaving the reader wondering where things will end up. The writing is well crafted, the character development very good and the plot leaves you guessing right up until the very end. He also injects the right amount of "police procedural" - the paperwork, the internal investigations, the politics - into the plot to give the book the realism for which he is known.
The book is every bit a "page-turner" and I ploughed through it in a single day, staying up into the wee hours to finish it off. The lack of sleep was worth it - Connelly has crafted an excellent book. In many ways he has returned to the old Harry Bosch - no gimmicks, no "tie-ins", just plain old good quality, hard-boiled detective fiction. Let's just hope that Connelly sticks to the format because, if so, we've got a lot to look forward to.
Michael Connelly is back on form and has produced a 5 star crime novel as a result.

Here's yet another successful installment in Connelly's Bosch series. The L.A. detective is on a cold case: bones of a young boy have been discovered up in the Hollywood Hills, and it appears that the victim died many years ago. The plot may sound a bit simplistic, but there are many layers to this story. As usual, Connelly writes this novel with dark overtones, clear wit, complex build-ups, rough character development, and (as I've always said) hard-hitting realism. City of Bones is a few notches above the two previous Bosch novels (Angels Flight and A Darkness More Than Night), and it has plenty of suspense.

Grade: 9.1 out of 10

Also from Connelly
The Black Echo: 7.1 out of 10
The Black Ice: 7.7 out of 10
The Concrete Blonde: 9.7 out of 10
The Last Coyote: 9.3 out of 10
The Poet: 8 out of 10
Trunk Music: 9.2 out of 10
Blood Work: 8.2 out of 10
Angels Flight: 8.9 out of 10
Void Moon: 7.6 out of 10
A Darkness More Than Night: 8.8 out of 10

Harry Bosch seems to have evolved from the depressed loner of the earlier books into a more driven and balanced cop. His driven nature is tipped off after the bones of an abused boy are found after being buried twenty years ago. Although it's an old case, he still lets nothing get in his way to try to solve the case, and even while working with such determination still reprimands himself for letting the case progress too slowly. He's balanced enough now to keep his anger in check and, while still not particularly respectful towards his superior officers, he's not so outwardly hostile.
For a series that began as hardboiled as they come, it has mellowed dramatically over time. In fact, I would probably lean more towards classifying City of Bones as a police procedural. As usual, Harry is as persistent as a dog with a bone and is determined to find the boy's killer, no matter how long ago the crime was committed. At times though, in typical Harry Bosch style, he's so determined that he forgets he has a partner and reverts to his old lone-wolf ways.
The ever-changing fortunes of Harry Bosch are given another twist here, which continues to make the series fresh and interesting.
City of Bones documents a satisfying investigation that is always moving forward, which makes it a quick and compelling book to read. Like all of Connelly's previous books, I enjoyed it from cover to cover.

A very good crime fiction book. Connelly fans should buy this book without any hesitation if you don't have it already. Why it's good?

1) Connelly is very good at creating 3 dimensional, believable, realistic characters and this book is no different.

2) A very realistic behind the scene look in the inner workings of a police department, he's supposed to have been a crime beat writer.

3) Logical plot. His books are not as fast flowing or edge of the seat exciting or scary as some thrillers, but they can't be if they are crime fiction. Rather, he takes you through the investigation step by step, going through the process that his detectives go through so you can see how they solve the crime.

Cons: The only con I have is that the books are somewhat noir (I'm plagarizing this word from some other review). The thing is, Bosch is not your spiffy "yes sir", toe the blue line cop. And so, even though you want Bosch not to stir the pot and just get on with his detecting he does his best to sabotage his position in the force and your wishes, well, c'est la vie, apparently Connelly likes to put angst in his readers' lives.

I'm not going to spoil the book, if you must know what the book is about you can read the intro. All I'm trying to get across is why this book is good. A must buy.

I have read nearly all of Michael Connelly's Bosch novels, and I would say that CITY OF BONES is one of the better ones in the series. I don't think this novel rivals the best Bosch books like THE CONCRETE BLONDE and THE LAST COYOTE. But this novel is better than novels like ANGEL FLIGHT and the subpar DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT.

This novel is essentially a "cold case" mystery involving the recently discovered bones of a young child who was murdered over twenty years ago. Bosch tries to get to the bottom of the child's murder, and uncovers a lot of family secrets along the way. I found the plot realistic and highly interesting and I thought Connelly did a good job with the story. This is a real page-turner.

The most annoying aspect of this book is the romantic subplot, which seems forced and underdeveloped. I also find it unconvincing that Bosch, a man in his fifties, would have a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties throwing herself at him. I was also highly disappointed with how this relationship was resolved. In my opinion, Connelly has never done a convincing job of creating a believable romantic relationship for Bosch.

Overall, though, CITY OF BONES is a great read and much better than other crime novels out there. Highly recommended.

Michael Connelly's Detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch is one of the few archetypical hard-boiled noir detectives in the Raymond Chandler mold to be found in today's mystery fiction. The intensity with which Connelly has painted this character is truly a marvel of the genre. That he does so with such a clean and bright literary palette-there are no gimmicks, tricks or bizarre eccentricities used as literary devices here-is truly refreshing.
Bosch (for those new to him) is a L.A. homicide detective--a chain-smoking (OK, he quit, but you get the idea) loner, a tightlipped outsider who refuses to play by his superiors' rules and a man who takes each crime he's exposed to as a personal affront as he tries to cleanse his beloved city of the darkness he sees engulfing it.
If there is room for criticism of this series it's that, all too often, the plots Connelly constructs are inferior to the character-that's certainly been the case the last two outings. That is not the case here.
In City of Bones the old bones of an abused, murdered child are uncovered in the hills of Laurel Canyon, Harry and partner Jerry Edgar are assigned the nearly impossible task of identifying the child and solving a murder committed 20 years ago. An orphan himself, Harry considers child abuse cases particularly difficult, but he finds some solace in the arms of Julia Brasher, an attractive recruit whom regulations say he shouldn't be seeing. As the investigation progresses, so does Harry's relationship with Julia until everything goes spectacularly wrong.
Of course, things going wrong are a hallmark of the Bosch series. However, this riveting thriller is a departure from the norm. This installment in the series finds Harry even more introspective than usual, and while the tight prose of the plot swirls around the mystery of the bones, Harry's turbulent life and career are changed forever in a stunning conclusion.
One is left to wonder where Harry-and Connelly-go from here. That you, as the reader, are left really, really nervous about Harry's fate and prospects at the end of this book says a lot about what a wonderful creation Connelly has wrought with this series in general, and this installment in particular.
This is as good as it gets for the thriller/mystery fan!

Michael Connelly delivers another well-written, well-conceived story about protagonist Harry Bosch's efforts to solve a case while dodging accusations by his bosses and internal affairs about things that many of us would consider minor infractions. The book is not particularly exceptional in this series, but it is typical--which to me is a compliment, as I have found all of them well above the average novel. Connelly always does a good job integrating the who-done-it story with Harry's personal pursuits, his professional travails, and his female pursuits. He's a strong writer with good, solid descriptive text and imaginative language. I've read many of his books, and I find them all consistently enjoyable. In this book Bosch gets the bad guy (of course), dodges his bosses' and internal affair's accusations (which to many of us seem rather petty), makes up for his partner's shortcomings (as always), and ends up in a surprising situation that sets the stage for wherever Connelly wants to take him next. Very good read, as always.

A thriller, one more some would say. For sure, but what is the interest of this one ? It reveals LA and Hollywood under an X-raying light. All those small details we see everyday and that have no meaningful depth on the instant, become significant in this particular homicide case. The bones of the victim and their suffering. A backpack with nearly nothing in it. A skateboard that is yet another skateboard and yet it is encrypted with meaningful details that start shining like morning stars with the investigation. A father who is thought to be abusing his son and it is all wrong, a preconceived idea. A sister who is supposed to be crystal clean since she tipped the police about the case and turns out to be another victim. A reformed childmolester who is forced into suicide by the media unprofessionally tipped by a police leak. And a gruesome end that smells like frontier justice and vengeance against a criminal who really had no chance and luck in life, even if the book does not ponder enough on the fatality that befalls some individuals in our society. There cannot be any such thing as a born criminal. But there sure are some circumstances that can become particularly oppressive and lead to the worst situations imaginable.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I have put off reading Michael Connelly's novels for many years and I have no idea why. I wish I hadn't. I read this book exceptionally fast.
His plotting is tight as is his writing. And the pace is just what you would expect in this genre. He really does have twist after twist that makes you turn the pages.
Just as in real life, you may not like how things turn out. However, I did.
I also particularly enjoyed the love scenes that were brief but necessary in the development of the story. Very well done. A great read.
Sergiu Pobereznic (author)

"City of Bones" is Michael Connelly's thirteenth book, his eighth to feature Harry Bosch and was first published in 2002. Orphaned at the age of twelve when his mother was murdered, Bosch spent his teenage years in and out of orphanages. He enlisted in the army and served in Viet-Nam, before returning home to Los Angeles and joining the police force. Once a member of the LAPD's elite RHD (Robbery-Homicide Division), he was demoted in the Hollywood Division following an Internal Affairs investigation. Bosch has occasionally been seen by some as a maverick, but increasingly by others as a 'man with a mission' and an excellent homicide investigator. Harry is one of the senior detectives at Hollywood's homicide table, and is Squad One's team leader. Although he continues to work with Jerry Edgar, the team's third member - Kiz Rider - has yet to be replaced following her promotion to RHD.

"City of Bones" provides both a difficult case and a rough ride for Harry. A retired doctor makes a call to the department, saying that his dog had returned from a run in the Hollywood Hills carrying a human bone. A number of calls like this are made every year, which normally turn out to be bogus: however, this time, there is no mistake. Dr. Guyot, the caller, has correctly identified it as a child's humerus and has also identified a healed fracture on the bone. Using the dog to discover where the humerus had been buried, a subsequent, more detailed search recovers about sixty per-cent of the skeleton. This includes the skull, where the fatal blow was apparently struck. The remains are of a boy, possibly as young as ten, and show evidence of several years worth of chronic abuse. The best initial guess for the time of death, meanwhile, is between the mid-seventies and the mid-eighties - making the investigation a 'cold case', the hardest cases to close. The first step, obviously, is to identify the victim - a process that included looking at the list of missing persons who match the criteria for age and the time of disappearance. As harsh as it sounds, the injuries that made the boy's life so difficult may provide the key identifying him - and, possibly, the killer.

When Bosch first arrives at Dr. Guyot's house, a couple of uniformed cops are already there. The junior partner, Julia Brasher, is a rookie (or 'boot') who Bosch is immediately attracted to. Given that Bosch is at supervisor level, it's against regulations to allow anything other than a professional relationship between the pair. However, given a pretty face, who also seems rather taken with him, and a chance to bend the rules, there's generally only one thing Harry Bosch is capable of doing...and when Bosch bends the rules, it generally means trouble.

After "A Darkness More Than Night", when the action was divided between Harry and Terry McCaleb, this is a return to a 'straightforward' Bosch book - and is much better for having only one 'main' character. You won't feel too left out if you've never read any of the other Bosch books before. However, it's probably better if you've read at least a couple of them : there's a few passing references to some of the events of his previous adventures - the story behind his scar on his shoulder and his relationship with Teresa Corazón, for example. Recommended.

The dog dug up the remains in a shallow grave in Hollywood Hills. The Los Angeles Police Department forensic team performs magic on the decaying bones by determining the victim was approximately twelve years old, was battered, and finally killed by a blow to the head around 1980. Not much more for the head Detective Harry Bosch to work on except the nearby-buried surfboard is quite distinguishing looking.

Since the homicide much of the neighborhood has turned over as people moved away. Harry follows the thin leads accompanied by rookie Julia Brasher. Not long after sharing the case, the two cops share a bed. After identifying the victim through his surfboard, Harry and Julia begin inquires with friends and family of the lad that take them to a series of individuals who make the "City of Angels" seem more like the "City of Lost Souls". Violent incidents occur leaving Harry to wonder if the efforts to solve a two decade old crime could prove dangerous for those involved today including two police officers.

Harry remains Harry as he retains that same edge that readers enjoyed in his previous book, A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT even with brash Julia to take some of the edge off the hero. The investigation is engaging and the secondary cast of losers adds depth to the plot while keeping Harry in the darkest environs of society. However, Michael Connelly's effort to bring peril into the present deletes from the overall plot of a powerhouse investigative tale of a twenty year old murder. Still, CITY OF BONES is a taut Harry Bosch police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

A three day read, this book was a roadmap of twists and turns, not all of which were good. Until the book's end I didn't understand the point of Brasher, and even not I'm still not sure I get it. I'm glad I'm in the middle of a binge read so that I know the ending doesn't stick. I'd be throwing the book if it wasn't. Have a feeling I'm going to miss Jerry Edgar, but I love the development of Bosch even though this case didn't grab me as much as I thought it might. In reading it I kept flashing back to King's Delacroix in The Green Mile which was neither good nor bad, just odd.

I give this one a borderline 4.5 round up to 5. This one kinda goes in line with the the store series, but at the same time mixes things up and twists things around. The differences were enough to change the ending albeit a little, but I think I preferred the series finisher better.

It's somewhat hard to go into great detail regarding Bosch novels. Once you've read one they are very much the same, but the dialogue and procedural details make each journey a good one. Plus, I think I just like Bosch as a character in general.

I have heard lots of good comments about the Harry Bosch novels and I was not disappointed with this seventh book of the series. Bosch is a hard boiled homocide detective in the Hollywood division of the LAPD who gets a call that a dog has discovered a human bone. The investigation uncovers a 20 year old murder of a 12 year-old boy who was the victim of child abuse. As the case proceeds, Bosch meets and becomes involved with a rookie cop named Julia Brasher, who has an idealistic view of police work.
Some information leaks and false clues initially sidetrack the investigation but slowly the victim is identified and his short and tortured life revealed. Connelly draws his characters with fine strokes and his development of the details of the police procedures which are key to solving cases was really fascinating to me. Understanding the murder book, how warrants were drawn up and served, and details behind the forensic investigation added to my enjoyment of the story.
False directions provide intrigue but I was a little disappointed with the unsatisfying way the murderer was revealed and dealt with.
All in all though, a fast paced (I read it in one 24 hour period), and very enjoyable read.

Connelly seems to be tying up loose ends in this novel ( the paperback teaser for his next shows why)with its sense of career completion. Harry makes a point of saying he is past the pension gateway, and the time span of the case - twenty year old bones- gives us a sense of time having passed. It's been a long time since Harry returned from Vietnam, which also comes up in the novel. Then too there is the finality of statements made by a number of the characters - the words one cannot take back- and a new road may be beckoning.
The plot turns on the tale the bones tell and the urban sprawl of Southern California which transforms snake infested canyons into subdevelopments and former wilderness into neighborhood back lots. As the city comes to find the bones, so this novel rambles out of the city in a number of directions, playing upon the theme of scattering of the past and the detectives' task of reassembling it. The double turn of the ending is nicely done. (I'm not really giving it away, when the case seems resolved and you are only half way through the novels sizeable heft you know complications are coming). This is a good read for any detective novel fan and well worth the money.

Never read Connelly before so I wasn't sure what to expect, although I am a big fan of his buddy George Pelecanos. This eighth book in the LA-set Harry Bosch series centers on the discovery of an old child's skeleton. It reads kind of like a good TV movie (although much darker than anything on TV), taking the reader through the forensics that eventually lead to the child's identification, and the long plodding investigation to uncover the truth. As a procedural it's quite well done, with plenty of detail and nuance throughout. Particularly well-handled are the numerous interviews Bosch conducts with witnesses and suspects throughout the book. Quite a bit of internal police politics come into play as well, giving the book a certain "insider" element. Certain elements are a bit cliché, from Harry's drive/obsession with the case, to the pressure from his superiors, and even a love interest. However, the book manages to stay away from being run-of-the-mill by showing the police making plenty of mistakes, and portraying all kinds of shades of gray in behavior. On the whole, it's a solid read, but not one that'll have me scurrying to read the rest of the series.

This book widely missed the mark for me. It just seemed like a book that was due and Connelly tried to phone this one in. The initial set up was fine with the human bones being discovered buried in a shallow grave. But Connelly obvious didn't know where to go or what to do. Some of Bosch's reasoning just didn't make sense to me. When he was laying out the reasoning about why he thought the confession was false made no sense and I HIGHLY doubt that the charge would have been dropped with that weak reasoning Bosch came up. And make no mistake it was weak. It was a good thing Irving wasn't in tha scene because no way would he let a confession slip through his hands. And that's another thing. Irving slow about face change from the early books to now is weird. Bosch has tried his patience and gave him better excuses to get rid of him than what was going on in this particular case. Don't believe me? Go re-read Concrete Blond, The Last Coyote, and Trunk Music. After what happened to Pounds--Irving could punch his ticket at anytime--so this whole thing is weird to me. Why is Eggar suddenly insulted about Bosch pushing him to the side. He has never been more than a gofer in all the other books anyway. And another Lady bites the dust. In what supposedly has taken place in two weeks, I stunned how fast Bosch pushes Brasher to the back of his mind. She is literally gotten for huge chucks from a man who was developing fast feelings. Injuries that come and go with no more thought. The broken ribs would be problematic for a while but doesn't bother Bosch any more than two days--after that, he's hiking up steep hills with a SID dummy with no trouble to his broken ribs. My point is nothing has any continuity

I am a fan of Michael Connelly's mysteries and think his books are among the smartest popular fiction mysteries being written today, but I found "City Of Bones" to be one his slighter, more pro forma efforts. At its best, Connelly's prose can rise to the Chandleresque. His descriptions of post-modern Los Angeles are dead-on and can be tinged with a poetic melancholy. In "City of Bones" Connelly's writing is, as always, effortless and highly readable, but more servicable than literary.

Unlike some other Bosch mysteries this story lacks any personal high stakes and there was no sense of surprise in the ultimate reveal. Bosch seems oddly unmoved by the death of a character with whom he was close. And there were other rarities for a Connelly mystery novel -- such questionable procedural details. The skeletal bones central to the story are identified without the use -- or even mention -- of DNA testing. And the exact cause and motivation of a central character's death remains surprisingly muddled and unresolved, a loose end I expected to be central to the stories conclusion.

For those who enjoy Connelly's mysteries, there's no reason to skip this readable effort. For those seeking an introduction to this excellent mystery writer, I recommend one of Connelly's earlier books.

Connelly is one of my favourite story-tellers and I always look forward to reading his latest. This was no exception. City of Bones is a superb book, one of the few that I get so absorbed in that I lose track of everything else that's going on.

In Harry Bosch, Connelly has created a detective who will become a modern classic, a tortured, all-too-human man who is also a gun gumshoe. Connelly's two biggest strengths are his dialogue--he is the Joss Wheedon of novelists--and his prose: concise, hard-boiled, gritty, observant, detail-oriented and Raymond Chandleresque. When you add in that he is a pretty mean plotter, too, it's easy to see why his books are so great.

City of Bones opens in a fairly unremarkable way, and everything seems to unfold in a logical and believeable manner. It's only when you look back at the end of the book that you realise just how ingenious and incredibly well-told the tale is, how the events just fit together and take on a life of their own. It is proof that you don't have to invent the fantastic to tell a good story--properly approached, even the most banal "real life" can contain some amazing ideas.

This book was a sheer joy to read and, as always, I look forward to the next. I won't spoil it, just grab it and read. If you haven't read any of his others, I highly recommend reading them in order and saving this for last, like a great dessert at the end of a sumptuous meal.

A dog digs up a bone on his daily romp in the woods. His owner is a retired physician who immediately knows it's a human arm bone...from a kid. Hollywood Homicide Detective Harry Bosch and his partner, Jerry Edgar, are called to the scene. The next day the scene is completely searched and most of the body's bones are found along with a backpack. The only problem is the bones are about 20 years old.

At first, a neighbor is suspected, but he is later disqualified. After several days working the cold case, they get a lead on the victim's identity. They talk with the victim's sister and get each divorced parent's current address along with the name of a boyhood friend of the victim's. As the investigation proceeds, another person dies, a confession is blurted out, obstacles never cease to pop up, and confusion reigns supreme. In the end, Bosch figures out whodunit and comes to startling revelation about his own life.

I've read a few other Bosch adventures by Mr. C. They're all pretty good and most keep you guessing about who the bad guy is.

Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" - his latest procedural about L.A. police detective Harry Bosch - is a book I would love to
recommend. Connelly's des­criptions of L.A. and police work are convincing, and like other books in this genre (po­lice procedural, existential hero division), there's the se­rious voice that tries to imply that there's something going on underneath the story. There's even something of a love story and a climax that suggests major changes in Bosch's life.
The story starts out with a bang, too, with the discovery of the bones of a long-dead child in a residential wooded lot. This attracts the cast of characters usually seen in the City of Angels: the publicity hungry coroner who brings along her camera crew, the police and press helicopters hanging overhead like sinister fireflies, the reporters using means fair and foul to gain ac­cess, the police department higher-ups putting pressure on Bosch to solve the case fast.
Bosch, too, is a fine study of the angst-ridden detective with a past. He's not too over­bearingly morose to inspire suggestions of Prozac and a long rest. He's good at what he does and dedicated to his work for a reason. As Bosch puts it, "It's the feeling that this won't just go by. That those bones came out of the ground for a reason. That they came out of the ground for me to find, and for me to do something about. And that's what holds me together and keeps me going."
The case proceeds with the usual twists and turns, as Bosch digs back into the boy's past and uncovers the people who would like to see the case and the body re­main buried. Connelly's a for­mer police reporter, and he uses his eye for detail to build a convincing portrait of big-city police work's alternative culture, and how the relative­ly simple task of detecting can be bent and sometimes sabo­taged by the media, budgetary constraints and simple incom­petence.
Yet, "City of Bones" left me cold. While Connelly is good at recording the visible de­tails, the invisible ones trip him up. This is especially troublesome when they in­volve major plot points - and readers who wish to read the book anyway should skip this and the next paragraph. One officer tries to make herself a hero by attempting to kill a chase suspect and wound herself, only it goes wrong and she dies. Her death is heartfelt and sad, but the reason Bosch ferrets out - "she said she hoped to get a chance to be a hero one day. But I think there was some­thing else in all this. It was like she wanted the scar, the experience of it" - doesn't ring true. Ending his explanation with, "I don't know. I guess every­body's got secrets," comes off as lame.
Another spoiler: The book ends with a major change in Bosch's life for which the motivation is equally as confusing. The resolution of the murder results in Bosch resigning the depart­ment. Again, the reader asks, why? Was he af­fected by the officer's death? It didn't seem that way. Is he tired of the office poli­tics? Given the evils that he's seen on the job, I can't imag­ine that would be the case. Yet, nothing makes sense.
"City of Bones" is all effect and no cause. It's well-writ­ten, tightly paced and a quick read, but it's best not to think about it too long after you close the covers.

Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch do it again! The Bosch character, whom I'm enjoying for the 8th time, continues to be complex, both sensitive and dark, a loner, a realist, intelligent and mentally tough. Harry Bosch has history. In Unabridged Audio, Bosch (other than in Darkness) has always been narrated by Dick Hill...and DICK HILL IS HARRY BOSCH. Every nuence of Harry's personality is portrayed through the voice of Dick Hill. Peter Jay Fernandez merely read the Book - he wasn't Harry, he didn't know Harry - hey, he didn't even know that Harry's partner Jerry Edger is African-American. The Book was wonderful and one that I wish that I read (hearing Dick Hill's narration in my head) rather than heard. City Of Bones had perfect pacing, the right twists, intelligently thought out, riviting tragedy and an ending that just makes you want more (the next Harry Bosch is in a year.) Congratulations, Michael Connelly for another triumph. You've proven to me again that you are a consistant winner - big on research and real understanding of police work. Whether it be the 9th Harry Bosch novel - a follow up to VOID MOON, or THE POET, or the movie version of BLOOD WORK, I'll be first on line to get it...but do me one small favor, consider a way to make Dick Hill Harry Bosch again.

It was a dog that found the first bone in the Hollywood Hills, and brought it home. His owner, a retired doctor, identified it immediately as a human arm bone, probably from a ten or twelve year old child, and called the police. After finding about sixty percent of the remaining skeleton in a shallow grave, forensic experts figured the boy had died about twenty years ago from a blow to the back of the head. But it was his short life that tormented Los Angeles Homicide Detective, Harry Bosch. The bones showed that this kid had been horribly abused almost since he was born and had lived his life in constant agony and suffering. It was January 1, the first day of the new year, and Harry had caught a cold case, the kind of crime that gave him nightmares, and stayed with him forever. And as Harry digs deeper and deeper into the tragic events that led to this boy's death, and the bones on the hill, he sets off another unexpected chain reaction of misery and death that pushes him to his limits and a shocking conclusion..... Michael Connelly has written a dark, compelling, and unforgettable thriller, full of intriguing twists and turns, and intense riveting scenes. His writing is vivid, crisp, and intelligent, with a real ear for dialogue, and his intricate story line is tight and suspenseful. But it's Mr Connelly's brilliant characterizations that make City Of Bones and all his novels stand out. These are real people, full of complexities and nuances, sometimes heroic and well-meaning, often flawed and chasing their own internal demons, and Michael Connelly breathes life into even the most minor character. City Of Bones is the eighth book in a marvelous series that just gets better with each new installment. To understand the troubled and introspective Harry Bosch, start at the beginning with The Black Echo, and read them all. For those of you who are already fans, Michael Connelly's latest is a "must read" and shouldn't be missed.

Well written police procedurals are fascinating. Those dealing with cold cases require an approach different from those involving currently active criminals, and perhaps that's one reason why some readers feel that City of Bones is off the mark. Michael Connelly is an accomplished writer who invents compelling characters. Harry Bosch is an accomplished detective who finds meaning in his life only through his work. He can relate to victims whether they died this year or 20 years past. His new love interest and concept that resonates with Harry. City of Bones is full of carefully timed surprises, but they emanate from its various subplots rather than the central mystery. The pace of the book seems weighed down by the heaviness of Bosch's depression, which in him appears low grade and chronic. Grief is not something he can express. He's so tightly wound that when his feelings do get loose there's a pretty sizable explosion. Like the one in the final chapter. All or nothing at all. That's our Harry.

It's just been a few hours since I closed this book and I find myself missing Harry already! This installment in the life of Harry Bosch took me completely by surprise--I picked it up a few days ago, sure I was going to be able to stretch the reading out. And that thought lasted until this morning when I picked this book up and became totally immersed in Connelly's City of Bones. I felt like I was THERE. Real life attempted to intrude a few times, but the look on my face and the sharpness in my voice convinced those who would dare interrupt, that I belonged in Hollywood with Harry....for the time being anyway! The story itself held me spellbound--a battered child's bones found after 20 years--but it's Harry that keeps me there! This is a hero I can relate to--one with flaws and passion and integrity. One who makes mistakes and regrets it. A hero that sticks up for the victim and for himself when it's necessary.
Not many authors can pull me INTO their stories but Connelly does possess this gift and I am ever so thankful for it!

Reading the works of Michael Connelly in order, is the only way to go. All these stories progress and develop the characters we've come to know. The previous novel left me wondering just where Harry was heading, and this one seems to answer that question, along with leaving me dumbfounded as to what the next novel will bring.
The discovery of a single child bone in the woods, unfolds a nonstop crime investigation that leads from one disaster to another, with too many victims. Harry breaks away clue by clue in the case, but is finding the killer worth the eventual price paid by its participants.
This is another great addition to the world of Harry Bosch, that fans won't want to miss.

"City of Bones" is Michael Connelly's thirteenth book, his eighth to feature Harry Bosch and was first published in 2002. Orphaned at the age of twelve when his mother was murdered, Bosch spent his teenage years in and out of orphanages. He enlisted in the army and served in Viet-Nam, before returning home to Los Angeles and joining the police force. Once a member of the LAPD's elite RHD (Robbery-Homicide Division), he was demoted in the Hollywood Division following an Internal Affairs investigation. Bosch has occasionally been seen by some as a maverick, but increasingly by others as a 'man with a mission' and an excellent homicide investigator. Harry is one of the senior detectives at Hollywood's homicide table, and is Squad One's team leader. Although he continues to work with Jerry Edgar, the team's third member - Kiz Rider - has yet to be replaced following her promotion to RHD.

"City of Bones" provides both a difficult case and a rough ride for Harry. A retired doctor makes a call to the department, saying that his dog had returned from a run in the Hollywood Hills carrying a human bone. A number of calls like this are made every year, which normally turn out to be bogus: however, this time, there is no mistake. Dr. Guyot, the caller, has correctly identified it as a child's humerus and has also identified a healed fracture on the bone. Using the dog to discover where the humerus had been buried, a subsequent, more detailed search recovers about sixty per-cent of the skeleton. This includes the skull, where the fatal blow was apparently struck. The remains are of a boy, possibly as young as ten, and show evidence of several years worth of chronic abuse. The best initial guess for the time of death, meanwhile, is between the mid-seventies and the mid-eighties - making the investigation a 'cold case', the hardest cases to close. The first step, obviously, is to identify the victim - a process that included looking at the list of missing persons who match the criteria for age and the time of disappearance. As harsh as it sounds, the injuries that made the boy's life so difficult may provide the key identifying him - and, possibly, the killer.

When Bosch first arrives at Dr. Guyot's house, a couple of uniformed cops are already there. The junior partner, Julia Brasher, is a rookie (or 'boot') who Bosch is immediately attracted to. Given that Bosch is at supervisor level, it's against regulations to allow anything other than a professional relationship between the pair. However, given a pretty face, who also seems rather taken with him, and a chance to bend the rules, there's generally only one thing Harry Bosch is capable of doing...and when Bosch bends the rules, it generally means trouble.

After "A Darkness More Than Night", when the action was divided between Harry and Terry McCaleb, this is a return to a 'straightforward' Bosch book - and is much better for having only one 'main' character. You won't feel too left out if you've never read any of the other Bosch books before. However, it's probably better if you've read at least a couple of them : there's a few passing references to some of the events of his previous adventures - the story behind his scar on his shoulder and his relationship with Teresa Corazón, for example. Recommended.

The dog dug up the remains in a shallow grave in Hollywood Hills. The Los Angeles Police Department forensic team performs magic on the decaying bones by determining the victim was approximately twelve years old, was battered, and finally killed by a blow to the head around 1980. Not much more for the head Detective Harry Bosch to work on except the nearby-buried surfboard is quite distinguishing looking.

Since the homicide much of the neighborhood has turned over as people moved away. Harry follows the thin leads accompanied by rookie Julia Brasher. Not long after sharing the case, the two cops share a bed. After identifying the victim through his surfboard, Harry and Julia begin inquires with friends and family of the lad that take them to a series of individuals who make the "City of Angels" seem more like the "City of Lost Souls". Violent incidents occur leaving Harry to wonder if the efforts to solve a two decade old crime could prove dangerous for those involved today including two police officers.

Harry remains Harry as he retains that same edge that readers enjoyed in his previous book, A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT even with brash Julia to take some of the edge off the hero. The investigation is engaging and the secondary cast of losers adds depth to the plot while keeping Harry in the darkest environs of society. However, Michael Connelly's effort to bring peril into the present deletes from the overall plot of a powerhouse investigative tale of a twenty year old murder. Still, CITY OF BONES is a taut Harry Bosch police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

A three day read, this book was a roadmap of twists and turns, not all of which were good. Until the book's end I didn't understand the point of Brasher, and even not I'm still not sure I get it. I'm glad I'm in the middle of a binge read so that I know the ending doesn't stick. I'd be throwing the book if it wasn't. Have a feeling I'm going to miss Jerry Edgar, but I love the development of Bosch even though this case didn't grab me as much as I thought it might. In reading it I kept flashing back to King's Delacroix in The Green Mile which was neither good nor bad, just odd.

I give this one a borderline 4.5 round up to 5. This one kinda goes in line with the the store series, but at the same time mixes things up and twists things around. The differences were enough to change the ending albeit a little, but I think I preferred the series finisher better.

It's somewhat hard to go into great detail regarding Bosch novels. Once you've read one they are very much the same, but the dialogue and procedural details make each journey a good one. Plus, I think I just like Bosch as a character in general.

I have heard lots of good comments about the Harry Bosch novels and I was not disappointed with this seventh book of the series. Bosch is a hard boiled homocide detective in the Hollywood division of the LAPD who gets a call that a dog has discovered a human bone. The investigation uncovers a 20 year old murder of a 12 year-old boy who was the victim of child abuse. As the case proceeds, Bosch meets and becomes involved with a rookie cop named Julia Brasher, who has an idealistic view of police work.
Some information leaks and false clues initially sidetrack the investigation but slowly the victim is identified and his short and tortured life revealed. Connelly draws his characters with fine strokes and his development of the details of the police procedures which are key to solving cases was really fascinating to me. Understanding the murder book, how warrants were drawn up and served, and details behind the forensic investigation added to my enjoyment of the story.
False directions provide intrigue but I was a little disappointed with the unsatisfying way the murderer was revealed and dealt with.
All in all though, a fast paced (I read it in one 24 hour period), and very enjoyable read.

Connelly seems to be tying up loose ends in this novel ( the paperback teaser for his next shows why)with its sense of career completion. Harry makes a point of saying he is past the pension gateway, and the time span of the case - twenty year old bones- gives us a sense of time having passed. It's been a long time since Harry returned from Vietnam, which also comes up in the novel. Then too there is the finality of statements made by a number of the characters - the words one cannot take back- and a new road may be beckoning.
The plot turns on the tale the bones tell and the urban sprawl of Southern California which transforms snake infested canyons into subdevelopments and former wilderness into neighborhood back lots. As the city comes to find the bones, so this novel rambles out of the city in a number of directions, playing upon the theme of scattering of the past and the detectives' task of reassembling it. The double turn of the ending is nicely done. (I'm not really giving it away, when the case seems resolved and you are only half way through the novels sizeable heft you know complications are coming). This is a good read for any detective novel fan and well worth the money.

Never read Connelly before so I wasn't sure what to expect, although I am a big fan of his buddy George Pelecanos. This eighth book in the LA-set Harry Bosch series centers on the discovery of an old child's skeleton. It reads kind of like a good TV movie (although much darker than anything on TV), taking the reader through the forensics that eventually lead to the child's identification, and the long plodding investigation to uncover the truth. As a procedural it's quite well done, with plenty of detail and nuance throughout. Particularly well-handled are the numerous interviews Bosch conducts with witnesses and suspects throughout the book. Quite a bit of internal police politics come into play as well, giving the book a certain "insider" element. Certain elements are a bit cliché, from Harry's drive/obsession with the case, to the pressure from his superiors, and even a love interest. However, the book manages to stay away from being run-of-the-mill by showing the police making plenty of mistakes, and portraying all kinds of shades of gray in behavior. On the whole, it's a solid read, but not one that'll have me scurrying to read the rest of the series.

This book widely missed the mark for me. It just seemed like a book that was due and Connelly tried to phone this one in. The initial set up was fine with the human bones being discovered buried in a shallow grave. But Connelly obvious didn't know where to go or what to do. Some of Bosch's reasoning just didn't make sense to me. When he was laying out the reasoning about why he thought the confession was false made no sense and I HIGHLY doubt that the charge would have been dropped with that weak reasoning Bosch came up. And make no mistake it was weak. It was a good thing Irving wasn't in tha scene because no way would he let a confession slip through his hands. And that's another thing. Irving slow about face change from the early books to now is weird. Bosch has tried his patience and gave him better excuses to get rid of him than what was going on in this particular case. Don't believe me? Go re-read Concrete Blond, The Last Coyote, and Trunk Music. After what happened to Pounds--Irving could punch his ticket at anytime--so this whole thing is weird to me. Why is Eggar suddenly insulted about Bosch pushing him to the side. He has never been more than a gofer in all the other books anyway. And another Lady bites the dust. In what supposedly has taken place in two weeks, I stunned how fast Bosch pushes Brasher to the back of his mind. She is literally gotten for huge chucks from a man who was developing fast feelings. Injuries that come and go with no more thought. The broken ribs would be problematic for a while but doesn't bother Bosch any more than two days--after that, he's hiking up steep hills with a SID dummy with no trouble to his broken ribs. My point is nothing has any continuity

I am a fan of Michael Connelly's mysteries and think his books are among the smartest popular fiction mysteries being written today, but I found "City Of Bones" to be one his slighter, more pro forma efforts. At its best, Connelly's prose can rise to the Chandleresque. His descriptions of post-modern Los Angeles are dead-on and can be tinged with a poetic melancholy. In "City of Bones" Connelly's writing is, as always, effortless and highly readable, but more servicable than literary.

Unlike some other Bosch mysteries this story lacks any personal high stakes and there was no sense of surprise in the ultimate reveal. Bosch seems oddly unmoved by the death of a character with whom he was close. And there were other rarities for a Connelly mystery novel -- such questionable procedural details. The skeletal bones central to the story are identified without the use -- or even mention -- of DNA testing. And the exact cause and motivation of a central character's death remains surprisingly muddled and unresolved, a loose end I expected to be central to the stories conclusion.

For those who enjoy Connelly's mysteries, there's no reason to skip this readable effort. For those seeking an introduction to this excellent mystery writer, I recommend one of Connelly's earlier books.

Connelly is one of my favourite story-tellers and I always look forward to reading his latest. This was no exception. City of Bones is a superb book, one of the few that I get so absorbed in that I lose track of everything else that's going on.

In Harry Bosch, Connelly has created a detective who will become a modern classic, a tortured, all-too-human man who is also a gun gumshoe. Connelly's two biggest strengths are his dialogue--he is the Joss Wheedon of novelists--and his prose: concise, hard-boiled, gritty, observant, detail-oriented and Raymond Chandleresque. When you add in that he is a pretty mean plotter, too, it's easy to see why his books are so great.

City of Bones opens in a fairly unremarkable way, and everything seems to unfold in a logical and believeable manner. It's only when you look back at the end of the book that you realise just how ingenious and incredibly well-told the tale is, how the events just fit together and take on a life of their own. It is proof that you don't have to invent the fantastic to tell a good story--properly approached, even the most banal "real life" can contain some amazing ideas.

This book was a sheer joy to read and, as always, I look forward to the next. I won't spoil it, just grab it and read. If you haven't read any of his others, I highly recommend reading them in order and saving this for last, like a great dessert at the end of a sumptuous meal.

A dog digs up a bone on his daily romp in the woods. His owner is a retired physician who immediately knows it's a human arm bone...from a kid. Hollywood Homicide Detective Harry Bosch and his partner, Jerry Edgar, are called to the scene. The next day the scene is completely searched and most of the body's bones are found along with a backpack. The only problem is the bones are about 20 years old.

At first, a neighbor is suspected, but he is later disqualified. After several days working the cold case, they get a lead on the victim's identity. They talk with the victim's sister and get each divorced parent's current address along with the name of a boyhood friend of the victim's. As the investigation proceeds, another person dies, a confession is blurted out, obstacles never cease to pop up, and confusion reigns supreme. In the end, Bosch figures out whodunit and comes to startling revelation about his own life.

I've read a few other Bosch adventures by Mr. C. They're all pretty good and most keep you guessing about who the bad guy is.

Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" - his latest procedural about L.A. police detective Harry Bosch - is a book I would love to
recommend. Connelly's des­criptions of L.A. and police work are convincing, and like other books in this genre (po­lice procedural, existential hero division), there's the se­rious voice that tries to imply that there's something going on underneath the story. There's even something of a love story and a climax that suggests major changes in Bosch's life.
The story starts out with a bang, too, with the discovery of the bones of a long-dead child in a residential wooded lot. This attracts the cast of characters usually seen in the City of Angels: the publicity hungry coroner who brings along her camera crew, the police and press helicopters hanging overhead like sinister fireflies, the reporters using means fair and foul to gain ac­cess, the police department higher-ups putting pressure on Bosch to solve the case fast.
Bosch, too, is a fine study of the angst-ridden detective with a past. He's not too over­bearingly morose to inspire suggestions of Prozac and a long rest. He's good at what he does and dedicated to his work for a reason. As Bosch puts it, "It's the feeling that this won't just go by. That those bones came out of the ground for a reason. That they came out of the ground for me to find, and for me to do something about. And that's what holds me together and keeps me going."
The case proceeds with the usual twists and turns, as Bosch digs back into the boy's past and uncovers the people who would like to see the case and the body re­main buried. Connelly's a for­mer police reporter, and he uses his eye for detail to build a convincing portrait of big-city police work's alternative culture, and how the relative­ly simple task of detecting can be bent and sometimes sabo­taged by the media, budgetary constraints and simple incom­petence.
Yet, "City of Bones" left me cold. While Connelly is good at recording the visible de­tails, the invisible ones trip him up. This is especially troublesome when they in­volve major plot points - and readers who wish to read the book anyway should skip this and the next paragraph. One officer tries to make herself a hero by attempting to kill a chase suspect and wound herself, only it goes wrong and she dies. Her death is heartfelt and sad, but the reason Bosch ferrets out - "she said she hoped to get a chance to be a hero one day. But I think there was some­thing else in all this. It was like she wanted the scar, the experience of it" - doesn't ring true. Ending his explanation with, "I don't know. I guess every­body's got secrets," comes off as lame.
Another spoiler: The book ends with a major change in Bosch's life for which the motivation is equally as confusing. The resolution of the murder results in Bosch resigning the depart­ment. Again, the reader asks, why? Was he af­fected by the officer's death? It didn't seem that way. Is he tired of the office poli­tics? Given the evils that he's seen on the job, I can't imag­ine that would be the case. Yet, nothing makes sense.
"City of Bones" is all effect and no cause. It's well-writ­ten, tightly paced and a quick read, but it's best not to think about it too long after you close the covers.

Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch do it again! The Bosch character, whom I'm enjoying for the 8th time, continues to be complex, both sensitive and dark, a loner, a realist, intelligent and mentally tough. Harry Bosch has history. In Unabridged Audio, Bosch (other than in Darkness) has always been narrated by Dick Hill...and DICK HILL IS HARRY BOSCH. Every nuence of Harry's personality is portrayed through the voice of Dick Hill. Peter Jay Fernandez merely read the Book - he wasn't Harry, he didn't know Harry - hey, he didn't even know that Harry's partner Jerry Edger is African-American. The Book was wonderful and one that I wish that I read (hearing Dick Hill's narration in my head) rather than heard. City Of Bones had perfect pacing, the right twists, intelligently thought out, riviting tragedy and an ending that just makes you want more (the next Harry Bosch is in a year.) Congratulations, Michael Connelly for another triumph. You've proven to me again that you are a consistant winner - big on research and real understanding of police work. Whether it be the 9th Harry Bosch novel - a follow up to VOID MOON, or THE POET, or the movie version of BLOOD WORK, I'll be first on line to get it...but do me one small favor, consider a way to make Dick Hill Harry Bosch again.

It was a dog that found the first bone in the Hollywood Hills, and brought it home. His owner, a retired doctor, identified it immediately as a human arm bone, probably from a ten or twelve year old child, and called the police. After finding about sixty percent of the remaining skeleton in a shallow grave, forensic experts figured the boy had died about twenty years ago from a blow to the back of the head. But it was his short life that tormented Los Angeles Homicide Detective, Harry Bosch. The bones showed that this kid had been horribly abused almost since he was born and had lived his life in constant agony and suffering. It was January 1, the first day of the new year, and Harry had caught a cold case, the kind of crime that gave him nightmares, and stayed with him forever. And as Harry digs deeper and deeper into the tragic events that led to this boy's death, and the bones on the hill, he sets off another unexpected chain reaction of misery and death that pushes him to his limits and a shocking conclusion..... Michael Connelly has written a dark, compelling, and unforgettable thriller, full of intriguing twists and turns, and intense riveting scenes. His writing is vivid, crisp, and intelligent, with a real ear for dialogue, and his intricate story line is tight and suspenseful. But it's Mr Connelly's brilliant characterizations that make City Of Bones and all his novels stand out. These are real people, full of complexities and nuances, sometimes heroic and well-meaning, often flawed and chasing their own internal demons, and Michael Connelly breathes life into even the most minor character. City Of Bones is the eighth book in a marvelous series that just gets better with each new installment. To understand the troubled and introspective Harry Bosch, start at the beginning with The Black Echo, and read them all. For those of you who are already fans, Michael Connelly's latest is a "must read" and shouldn't be missed.

Well written police procedurals are fascinating. Those dealing with cold cases require an approach different from those involving currently active criminals, and perhaps that's one reason why some readers feel that City of Bones is off the mark. Michael Connelly is an accomplished writer who invents compelling characters. Harry Bosch is an accomplished detective who finds meaning in his life only through his work. He can relate to victims whether they died this year or 20 years past. His new love interest and concept that resonates with Harry. City of Bones is full of carefully timed surprises, but they emanate from its various subplots rather than the central mystery. The pace of the book seems weighed down by the heaviness of Bosch's depression, which in him appears low grade and chronic. Grief is not something he can express. He's so tightly wound that when his feelings do get loose there's a pretty sizable explosion. Like the one in the final chapter. All or nothing at all. That's our Harry.

It's just been a few hours since I closed this book and I find myself missing Harry already! This installment in the life of Harry Bosch took me completely by surprise--I picked it up a few days ago, sure I was going to be able to stretch the reading out. And that thought lasted until this morning when I picked this book up and became totally immersed in Connelly's City of Bones. I felt like I was THERE. Real life attempted to intrude a few times, but the look on my face and the sharpness in my voice convinced those who would dare interrupt, that I belonged in Hollywood with Harry....for the time being anyway! The story itself held me spellbound--a battered child's bones found after 20 years--but it's Harry that keeps me there! This is a hero I can relate to--one with flaws and passion and integrity. One who makes mistakes and regrets it. A hero that sticks up for the victim and for himself when it's necessary.
Not many authors can pull me INTO their stories but Connelly does possess this gift and I am ever so thankful for it!

Reading the works of Michael Connelly in order, is the only way to go. All these stories progress and develop the characters we've come to know. The previous novel left me wondering just where Harry was heading, and this one seems to answer that question, along with leaving me dumbfounded as to what the next novel will bring.
The discovery of a single child bone in the woods, unfolds a nonstop crime investigation that leads from one disaster to another, with too many victims. Harry breaks away clue by clue in the case, but is finding the killer worth the eventual price paid by its participants.
This is another great addition to the world of Harry Bosch, that fans won't want to miss.

A young child's humerus is found by a dog on a hillside in Hollywood. A closer search reveals a more complete skeleton. Harry Bosch and his partner Edgar are assigned this case in which the murder is believed to have occurred over twenty years ago. His investigation resurrects painful memories of a dysfunctional family while driving another to consider suicide. In the midst of the case, Bosch manages to possibly find love. Can any form of happiness last for this tortured soul?
Harry Bosch is the prototypical modern fictional crime fighter. He is a direct descendant of Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Hammett's Sam Spade. Bosch is today's dark knight, lone wolf or, to use Mike Connelly's simile, The Last Coyote. He is also the one of greatest creations in the history of crime fiction. Many of us have repeatedly extolled the virtues of the writing of Mike Connelly. He is simply the very best of today's fictional crime writers. Readers should take note of the incredibly smooth lyrical writing. There is much personal angst Bosch suffers and this is so well conveyed through dialogue and other characters. Los Angeles has never looked more bleak than in the pages of this brilliant book. With each successive work, Mike Connelly continuously raises the ante in reaching new levels of excellence. This work is no exception. Read it.

This is another excellent Michael Connelly/Harry Bosch detective tale. Having been intrigued by the title for some time, I finally picked it up last Friday. I finished it on Saturday.

Starting with a report of a dog finding a human bone on New Year's Day, the story covers a period of about two weeks as it tries to solve a twenty year old crime. It has most of the elements that make Connelly a great writer and Bosch a great character--fast paced and well written action, multiple plot twists, appearances of old characters and former love interests, a new love interest and several viable perpetrators who come into and out of focus. It also revisits some of Harry's personal demons while probably creating a couple of more.

I have now read five Connelly books, and I have enjoyed all of them. "Lincoln Lawyer" remains my favorite, but this one just moved into a close second place. Highly recommended.

After more than 20 years in the ground, the bones of a boy are recovered from a shallow grave. Good forensics and a tip from the general public help LAPD detective Harry Bosch and his colleagues to identify the boy, but at that time the media attention has already claimed its first innocent present day victim of the case. As the investigation goes on Harry Bosch also has to find some time for his new lover until she becomes the second victim of the case. And there are more victims: people who get falsely accused, people who lose their jobs, families that reveal their secrets. When the case is finally solved Bosch is left behind with the question whether it was all worth it.
This is another typical Harry Bosch thriller: fine detective work, good psychological insights into the detectives and the suspects and the usual fight of the loner (Bosch) against the system (the press, his superiors). It is one of those books that will cost you a night sleep once you start reading, but it is definitely worthwhile.

When some bones are discovered - by a man walking his dog on an L.A. hillside - in a shallow grave, Harry Bosch really doesn't know what to expect from the case. Shortly after, the bones are proved to be human, and sent of for forensic examination. This examination reveals that these bones belonged to a young boy, and have lain buried on that hillside for over 20 years. And, they are also found to detail a horrific tale of abuse and violence visited on the young boy. Repulsed once again by witnessing yet another of society's lows, Bosch vows that this victim, unlike many others, will find justice and not be forgotten.
This is a very welcome return for Harry Bosch, one of the best series characters being written about today (along with Rankin's Rebus and Deaver's Rhyme.) City of Bones is a great success. It boasts a strong, if unremarkable, cast and an interesting and incredibly well paced plot. The writing is polished and taut, and the result is probably the most tightly plotted Bosch novel of the entire series.
And the ending, which may seem out of character to some readers, certainly promises an exciting new direction for the series, and demonstrates once again Connelly's great skill at keeping his work constantly fresh.

I like Michael Connelly for beach trash that's not too trashy - this was a good one-day read on the beach. This moved nicely and kept me guessing. With similar books I get frustrated that the inner dialogue is overused and cheesy, but Connelly is good about keeping that to a minimum. Also he doesn't feel the need to titillate and focuses on what is important to the plot.

Connelly definitely overdoes the whole "I'm a cop and I'm so dedicated to it" thing, and I haven't read any Bosch books before so that was pretty much Bosch's whole personality to me. (KIND-OF SPOILER Yes, he slips up, but come on - it was in such an obvious way)

I have read better books by Connelly, but this served its purpose.

3.5 stars

It is January 1st and the New Year doesn't bring Detective Harry Bosch joy, cheer and hope but the bones including the shattered skull of a young boy murdered some thirty years earlier. A dog out for a walk with its master unearths the bones which are immediately recognised as human. Bosch is soon at the scene to begin what would seem to be an impossible investigation. Providing the feminine interest is good looking Julia Brasher, a rookie policewoman in her late thirties, who has left a career in law and a globe trotting life of travelling in order to really "make a difference" as a law enforcer.

The theme of investigating a 30-year homicide is in a way relaxing for the reader as there is no apparent threat of nasty scares from scum with blood on their hands lurking behind every corner. However, the literal and figurative unearthing of old bones does directly result in the three further tragic deaths as the investigation takes its course.

City of Bones is a very entertaining thriller that regular Connelly readers and new ones alike should all enjoy.

I've read, and mostly enjoyed, all the Harry Bosch novels. But with this one, Connelly has worn out his welcome.
HB is the classic "hard boiled dick", the detective that deals with the seamier side of life, that deals with people at their worst. You can tell a lot of interesting stories with this kind of protagonist, which is why there are so many hard boiled dick stories.
But all the "mean streets" stuff is just a premise. It's not an end in itself. Alas, that's the part Connelley is more and more fascinated with. The titles just keep getting more and more portentious, the story gets more and more nasty and meaningless. In the end, what's the point? You just have a depressive guy running through the streets yelling "Redemption! Redemption!"
What finally did it for me was the excerpt from the next Harry Bosch at the end of the paperback edition. This one will be narrated by Harry himself, in full self-absorbtion mode. No thank you!
I picture Harry running into my current genre favorite, John Sandford's Lucas Davenport. Like Harry, Lucas is a mean streets guy. (Of course, the streets of Minneapolis aren't nearly as mean as those of L.A.) Lucas would certainly say to Harry, "Get a life, dude!"

With the discovery of human bones found buried in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch will take the plunge into a case that opens up dark memories from his own past.
Bosch begins his investigation and uncovers the identity of the bones to be that of a twelve-year-old boy buried for years in the hills. The closer he looks into the boy's life he finds he came from a broken home of lies and abuse, and determined to make sure the boy is not forgotten he follows his leads to the boy's mother, a woman who walked out on her family thirty years earlier.
As the case deepens, Bosch begins a love affair with a female cop, until a blown mission sends him to an unimaginable decision, one that no one would expect.
`City Of Bones' is vintage Connolly; well written, fast-paced, and expertly plotted with an ending that will have readers anxious for the next Michael Connolly novel.
Michael Connolly is consistent with writing fast-paced, intelligent thrillers, and his `City Of Bones', the latest in the Bosch series is one of the best, so do yourself a favor and set aside a few hours and enjoy.
A MUST read!
Nick Gonnella

CITY OF BONES by Michael Connelly only gets three stars from me. But, don't give up on the book. I've read all of Connelly's books except one now (kind of sad about it). This book is a page turner and hard to put down. As usual, Connelly is a master at hooking the reader in the lives of Harry Bosch, his partners, the victims and the villains. Ultimately, this book didn't win me completely over because it was more of an introspection into the character of Bosch instead of an actual police story.

The book opens when bones are found on a hillside in a neighborhood in LA. Bosch and partner Edgar get the case. Much of the novel follows Bosch's quest to ID the victim. The bones are really old and Bosch has to track down people who may have known the murdered young boy. A romance with a rookie cop named Julia Brasher adds to the fun of the novel. But the case is a problem in the novel. Everything is too easy and there aren't any twists and turns until the last 1/4 of the novel. Finally, things start to happen and conclude in a satisfying, but somewhat depressing fashion.

Connelly's Bosch books are some of the best I've ever read. CITY OF BONES just isn't one of the best. I think what separates this book from Connelly's greats is the lack of a great villain whether it is a serial killer or someone who may kill again. This eliminates any tension that there is danger to anyone. As said above, this novel is more about Bosch than the case he's trying to solve.

Another great addition to the Bosch series. Interesting plot. Excellent character development. I actually liked the love interest in this one. Only other love interest I really cared about was Eleanor. The tone is just as dark as it normally is. I never wanted to put it down.

A dog's discovery of a human child's bone in the Hollywood Hills leads Detective Harry Bosch to the shallow grave of a boy dead 20 years whose life, as read in the bones, was a long history of terrible abuse. A tip from the missing boy's sister leads to the unraveling of a bleak, sordid family history.
Bosch's burgeoning romance with a rookie cop, the suicide of an early suspect and a dogged search through the wreck of the boy's family and the dead suspect's life move the story through numerous twists, dead ends and false leads, all of them bleak. Edgar award-winner Connelly leads the reader through little-known by-ways in Hollywood fringe work as well as the enclaves of the rich and the tucked away shanties of the down-and-out.
A devastating cop shooting with some decidedly weird aspects throws the reader - and Bosch - for a loop. But the mystery's unexpected solution is vintage Bosch - a sad, too human story, exposed by dogged perseverance and luck. As always, the writing is excellent; gritty and LA atmospheric with pitch perfect dialogue. Not Connelly's best, but still top-notch.

"City of Bones" was a happy reunion for me. I met again the Michael Connelly to whom I was introduced in "Black Echo" and "Concrete Blonde" and "Black Ice" that electrified me with his broody LA, sharp characterizations and twisting suspense. No one in "City of Bones" is 100 percent nice or straight arrow, though all are very recognizable. I had my usual problems with Harry, always wanting to tell him to lighten up a bit. By this time, I should be resigned. Harry Bosch is to gloom like Goldie Hawn is to giggles.
Harry walks into a cold case when a dog digs up an old bone in Laurel Canyon that turns out to be human. Harry's superiors are unenthusiastic because the chances of closing a 20-year old case are slim to none. Harry is grimly determined because when more of skeleton is found, it is ascertained the victim was an abused child. Harry first runs afoul of a former girl friend Medical Examiner (suspiciously close to Cornwell's Kay Scapetta) who has risen so far in the world; she cares more about photo ops than the integrity of the case. Along with hard working cops, there are plethoras of politician/cops who are willing to set up and convict the first likely guy that comes up on the radar. As if Harry doesn't have enough troubles, an ill-fated romance with a police rookie streaks across his horizon. He antagonizes his own partner with his lone wolf tactics, and seemingly neglects an obvious suspect for far too long.
The denouement has twist after twist, surprise after surprise leaving us breathless and far behind Harry all the way. Then Harry gets another idea, leaving us hollering, "wait a minute!" but Harry just keeps walking right off the last page.

Detective Harry Bosch is no stranger to Michael Connelly fans. In this seventh book of the series, Connelly doesn't disappoint.
A new case uncovers buried bones from 20 years ago. And Bosch can't shake the story the bones of the 12-year-old boy are trying to tell.

The bones reveal heavy abuse. A brutal death. An abbreviated life that may have been better off dead after all.
While the mystery behind the bones starts to unravel, new obstacles begin to block the case's progression. In the middle of it all, Bosch finds himself falling for a rookie cop.
As Bosch and his partner try to solve the case, what seems to be a routine procedure goes terribly wrong. Bosch's career is in trouble, his personal life is in turmoil and he's rocketing toward a decision that will affect the rest of his life.
Whether you're a hard-core Harry Bosch fan or just starting to read about this detective's all-too-human daily life, "City of Bones" is an excellent chronicle with a compelling plot and well-developed characters.

Connelly explores some deep relationships between hope and despair, light and lost light, which he continues to develop in other books that follow in the Bosch books that follow. I enjoyed this book because it communicates realities that we see everyday, but the fictional form makes them more accessible than more didactic writings.

Read this book while on holiday and found it an easy read. I have read several books by Michael Connelly, and while this is not his best work, it was worth the read. I read the book quickly over a two day period and was able to get immersed in the characters. The book moved quickly from the discovery of the bones of an abused eleven year old to the conclusion with enough other activities to hold interest.

The author understands the politics of police work and how desire for feeding the 24 hour media machine can affect the progress on an old case file. This leads to interesting events and losses that should have been able to be prevented if the media had not demanded as much from the department. It all works in a wrap it all up by the end kind of way that we are programmed to expect from our television shows.

Michael Connelly is an amazing author. He brings the dark side of life into view without losing the gritty edge of reality of his characters. Harry Bosch is a detective in L.A. who takes on an investigation of a dead child from years past when a bone turns up on a hillside. He pursues the case, determined to discover the name of the child, the circumstance of his life and cause of his death. He discovers abandonment ,alcoholism and abuse, but can he discover what actually occurred?
In the process of his search for answers he meets a fellow officer, new to the department, who seems to bring light to his life. Julia Brasher is interesting, attractive and has an interesting past full of great experiences, but what drives her to be a detective?
While Bosch tries to keep the case low profile, the case takes on a life of it's own and the media gets involved. Then things get out of control.
This is another tremendously told tale by Connelly, and the ending is not what you expect!!

I love Michael Connelly's work. I've read them all, including Void Moon, The Poet, and Blood Work (oh my goodness, I clapped in the movie theater when I found out Clint Eastwood would be Terry). But of course, most of all, I love Harry Bosch.
Harry Bosch is the central character in a series of novels about an orphaned boy of a prostitute who grew up to be the avenging angel of murder victims in LA. He is a police detective and possesses a lot of what comes with that as far as cool characters of detective novels go: handsome, clever, tough, gets the girl, saves the day, doesn't get along well with the brass.... Harry Bosch lives for putting away the bad guys and solving cases for the victims. I believe him, I believe in him.
City of Bones is a pretty good mystery, but it lacks much of the action from other Bosch books and much of the drive usually seen from Harry. Expertly written by Connelly and quite the pleasure as always, but the grit was gone and the pace was off.
In writing my review (originally set at 4 stars) I analyzed why I was slightly disappointed with City of Bones. It comes from that lack of grit. Where was the grit? What happened? And it occurred to me, ah... Harry has lost his grit. Harry's pace is off. So, with this in mind, I'm changing the 4 stars to 5, because, this lack of grit and odd pace I felt in reading it translates into the life Harry leads, and the life I love to read about. Connelly, without telling us anything about Harry losing his grit or pace, showed us that Harry was losing it.
I'm just going to be hopeful that he gets it back. The world is a sad place without the gritty, fast paced, quick whitted, Harry Bosch.
...

I have heard lots of good comments about the Harry Bosch novels and I was not disappointed with this seventh book of the series. Bosch is a hard boiled homocide detective in the Hollywood division of the LAPD who gets a call that a dog has discovered a human bone. The investigation uncovers a 20 year old murder of a 12 year-old boy who was the victim of child abuse. As the case proceeds, Bosch meets and becomes involved with a rookie cop named Julia Brasher, who has an idealistic view of police work.
Some information leaks and false clues initially sidetrack the investigation but slowly the victim is identified and his short and tortured life revealed. Connelly draws his characters with fine strokes and his development of the details of the police procedures which are key to solving cases was really fascinating to me. Understanding the murder book, how warrants were drawn up and served, and details behind the forensic investigation added to my enjoyment of the story.
False directions provide intrigue but I was a little disappointed with the unsatisfying way the murderer was revealed and dealt with.
All in all though, a fast paced (I read it in one 24 hour period), and very enjoyable read.

I thoroughly enjoyed City of Bones, much more than Connelly's previous Bosch effort A Darkness More Than Night. This case seemed more real, more melancholy than the last book with its master villain plot. Bosch continues to be a schlub with women, too much of a lone wolf to satisfy his partners and tenacious in his refusal to give up on a case, in this instance the long-ago killing of a young boy. A very satisfying addition to the Bosch canon.

Michael Connelly has been doing these Harry Bosch novels for some years now. Bosch is the stereotypical detective, and if anything that's always been my one main objection to him: he's a bit too much of a stereotype, right down to the jazz on the stereo, the chain-smoking (though he did finally quit), the casual attitude towards superiors, and the dogged determination to clear every one of his cases.
The current book follows Bosch and his partner, Jerry Edgar, as they look into what they at first imagine is a false alarm. A man walking his dog in the Hollywood Hills has let the dog run wild, and the pooch returned with a bone in his mouth, which the man thinks is human. This happens regularly, and the bone is usually from an animal, but this time the dog's owner happens to be a retired doctor, and he knows what he's talking about: it's human. Soon Harry and Jerry are working a twenty-year-old homicide, apparently a runaway who was killed, for what reason they don't know. They can't even make an identification. Then it turns out there's a convicted child molester on the street, and things begin to go sideways and get ugly at the same time.
Connelly has this sort of thing downpat now. The mystery's not the most surprising one he's done, and the plot is somewhat meandering, but the characterization of Bosch is well-done, and the other characters are interesting too. There are several strange twists in the plot, things that you weren't expecting, all of which aren't directly connected to the mystery of who killed the kid. The ending, which I won't reveal (though I guessed what was coming), is something of a mystery too, though the preview of his next book in the back told me where he was going to take things.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, though of course anyone reading something like this should first read some of the earlier books, so that they get some background on the characters in the story.

This one is an interesting one because I am reading his last recent ones and I go back to his old I haven't read , I have to oriented myself again with the characters. This one is about a old case of a kid being murdered 20 years ago and only his bones are found , hence city of bones. You have to love Harry, his distrust of authority, his ruthless pursue of resolution. There are enough twist and turn to make you a pretzel . I never read his next one to City of Bones, Lost light and I just ordered it on the store.

Harry Bosch, the detective protagonist of Michael Connelly's latest novel, "City of Bones," has been a member of the Los Angeles Police Department for more than twenty-five years. During his long career, Harry has seen it all. He has been battered both physically and emotionally throughout the years, and at this stage in his life, he is not easily rattled.
One day, however, a dog unearths a child's bone that has been buried in the Hollywood hills for more than twenty years. The forensic anthropologist determines that not only was the child murdered, but he had also been severely beaten over a long period of time prior to his death. Who was this child and is there a chance that the murderer can be brought to justice after so many years? For reasons of his own, Harry cannot be objective about this case. He vows to find the murderer, no matter how much time and effort it takes.
Against the background of this intense investigation, Harry begins a risky affair with a rookie cop, Julia Brasher. He also clashes with his superiors in the LAPD and with the media, who are determined to sensationalize the case. Harry does not suffer fools gladly, and he is impatient with people who are incompetent and/or self-serving. "City of Bones" is particularly noteworthy for Connelly's excellent depiction of the LAPD's complex procedures and internal politics. The author has done his homework and his book has an air of authenticity that many similar novels lack.
"City of Bones" is not a pretty, "feel-good" novel. It is a deeply pessimistic book about the dark side of human nature. Connelly touches on such unpleasant topics as child abuse, police brutality, and suicide . The Los Angeles of this novel is a "city of bones" both literally and figuratively. Several characters in the novel have ugly secrets that they hope will remain hidden, but, like buried bones, secrets have a nasty habit of ultimately being revealed.
"City of Bones" is a gritty, dramatic and unsettling novel. I recommend it highly.

Michael Connelly's Detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch is back in the police procedural, City of Bones. Harry and partner Jerry Edgar are assigned the case of a missing child whose bones are found in the hills of Laurel Canyon. With the cases of child abuse and abduction today, this grisly and depressing storyline really punched me in the gut right from the start. I wanted this killer caught or worse more than Harry and Jerry did.

As the case progresses, so does Harry's romantic involvement with Officer Julia Brasher. Because she's a fellow officer, she's supposed to be off-limits per LAPD regulations. Harry feels the heat on and off the case from his superiors to overly ambitious media personnel to his own desire wanting to solve this horrific crime.

Connelly's always does a great job of depicting the inner workings of the LAPD chock-full of political correctness, rivals and friends, procedure and how the case works the psyche of Harry. In spite of all of this, as is the tone of a police procedure, the action is minimal and the solution to the crime didn't turn or twist as much as I thought it might. A key piece of interpreted evidence triggers the solution but it lacked that white-hot, `I gotcha!' feeling.

Police procedural mysteries are not thrillers or suspense stories and tend to reflect real life in a more subdued manner but after raising the hair on the back of my neck in the beginning just imagining what happened to this child, the ending to me didn't match that horrendous discovery to launch the case file.

Then Harry at the conclusion left me scratching my head as much as the solution of closing the investigated and determined homicide. I wasn't quite fully satisfied with the resolution of neither the story nor a certain love interest in this one. But Michael's still the man and continues to be in demand.

City Of Bones represents another riveting, hard-edged, unforgettable thriller in the continuing series featuring Harry Bosch. In typical Connelly fashion, he's created an intelligent, attention-grabbing plot -- this one involving the finding of evidence of a murder committed over twenty years earlier. Also, as fans of Connelly have come to expect, City Of Bones is filled with well-developed characters, "real world" dialogue, and lots of surprises. While it can be argued if this is the best in the series or not, it is unquestionably well-worth reading and very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see what the future holds for Harry Bosch. Get a copy of City Of Bones and prepare yourself for a highly entertaining mystery.

Hats off to the author for giving the most accurate and level headed fictional account of forensic anthropology/archaeology I've ever read. Yes, the investigative part of the case is in the cops' hands and their hands only.

The skeletal remains of a young boy are discovered after a dog brings a human arm bone to her master. Harry Bosch gets the call and finds himself on a search for justice for an abused little boy who disappeared some twenty years before. This case is a prime example of Harry's "everyone counts, or nobody counts" mantra. Where many investigator would see a case too old and too difficult to deal with, Harry takes this one by the horns and wrestles it down to the finish.

Hieronymous (Harry) Borsch is back with a case that looks impossible. An old retired doctor out walking his dog returns with a bone that he says is a human bone. When the forensic anthropologists reveal that the bone came from a 12 year old boy who had been abused and murdered 20 years ago, Harry is determined to piece the story back together and find the murderer even though his department head is concerned about the cost of an investigation that is so old and cold.
Throw in a rookie cop with her own agenda and baggage that Harry finds irrestible and you have a great story that keeps the suspense going from the first page to the last. Michael Connelly has a great series going with Harry Borsh. I hope he keeps it going.

1) Starts out great: intriguing murder case
2) Book has a terrific character arc for the protaganist (continuing character Harry Bosch)
3) Excellent view of the inner workings of LAPD, real grit, great atmosphere
BUT:
4) I found the solution to the murder to be very routine and lacked any really twists that would have made it really exciting.
I know that's not real life, and Bosch is supposed to be based on real-life, but for such an intriguing beginning, the ending was a let-down.
For the record, I prefer the non-Bosch novels "Blood Work" and "Chasing The Dime." So factor that into your opinions.
Howver, I anxiously await reading the new Bosch book "Lost Light" to see what happens to him.

In this book both stories are unsolved, Why did Julia kill herself? Harry is really sure who was the killer of the kid?
As many books of MC you will see that not all the police are good men, many of them just want to do things to get higher in the department no matter if in the way some one gets killed. Some times some police men wanted to work with out his partners, I think that that is not a working team no matter the reason, if you have a partner you must work with him.
This book is definitely a page turner, even if the case is really unsolved it has his high thrilling points and his down crying points, with this book you will laugh a little and cry a little too. The investigations has so many turns, ups and downs that you would never put the book down, but as all the MC books, you can skip the last two chapters.

Here is my take - this was a good mystery - losts of twists and turns. Also, the pace of this book moved quickly and kept me guessing - a total success.
However, as a Harry Bosch novel, I think that book failed. While Bosch was himself, the characters that usually surround him were missing. As a stand alone novel, I would have loved it, but since it was a Bosch novel, I wanted more of the characters from the past six books.
Edger was there, and so was Kiz, but where were everyone else. I almost wonder if this was written as a stand alone book, but then became a Harry Bosch post production...
I know that in serial novels, some characters have to move on, but there was room for more of my old favorites from Connelly and I was disappointed that I didn't see any of them.
One quick side note - I think it was a nice touch to mention Sept. 11 - it brought the book some sense of reality and since 9/11 is still so much a part of my everyday life, I thought it was nice that Connelly referenced it.

Harry Bosch is working the murder case of a 12 year old boy whose bones have just recently been discovered. It happen over twenty years ago and the leads are slim. Harry, of course, is not going to give up. His care of one of the boy's bones, laying in a shoebox (he keeps his hand over it as he drives) broke my heart. There is a lot of police procedural and politics in this outing, but I thought it made the story more believable. It also made me appreciate the hard work that the real police do. It is not all glamorous action. The twists and turns in the mystery kept me interested. Just about everything that can go wrong in an investigation, goes wrong in this one. The ending really surprised me. I hope this isn't the last we hear from Harry. I have come to like him very much.

This was the first work by Connelly that I read, and the one that made me a fan. Believability is a hallmark of Connelly's work. While the plot keeps leading you on, you never reach a point where you have to stop and say to yourself, "oh, c'mon, that could never happen."
Having now read a dozen or so of his novels, I would rank this one as average for Connelly. But most contemporary mystery writers can't reach Connelly's average - not even once. And, after the mystery is revealed, I went back and found one point where I thought the author was just a little bit misleading to his readers. Just a little - so little that I don't know what he could have done otherwise.
If you like realistic mysteries in a hard-boiled setting, you'll like this one.

Detective Harry Bosch's New Year starts off with a whisper from the past when a hapless dog uncovers the long-buried skeletal remains of an abused young boy. Harry's tortured childhood memories compel him to use all his skills to find the child's killer, but he can only do so by following a trail as cold as this murderer's heart. Amid a myriad of distractions including Harry's steamy romance with a rookie cop, a dangerously nosy press and the ever-problematic internal politics of the LAPD, the veteran detective plugs holes, probes, pushes and postulates his way toward the truth -- a truth that proves no less shocking than the crime itself.
Michael Connelly dishes up this complex tale in his usual expert fashion, this time treating his readers to super-sized, gut-wrenching helpings of heart. The question remains, can Harry keep up this pace?
One whiz bang of a mystery.

A dog romping in the hills above Los Angeles finds a bone that turns out to be from a child murdered 20 years earlier. Detective Harry Bosch is on the case. Connelly’s love for the LAPD is evident even as he exposes its flaws when the department seeks to protect its image instead of the truth. This was the only book in the 18-book series (as of this writing) I hadn’t read, and I’d put it in the upper half. Bechdel test: fail.

City of Bones is another spectacularly written and engagingly plotted book by Connelly. This is the 6th book of his I have read in a row and I have thoroughly enjoyed each one fullingly. You might have noticed I am making up some words as I go along here. Anyway, I am about to go to bed now and grab another Connelly as I head downstairs. I see no reason to read another author at this point until I am all out of Connelly's. I don't think I've ever been able to do that with an author before. The closest I have come to that was F. Paul Wilson. So, someone please email me and tell me who to read after Connelly.

City of Bones is an unfinished work with a lot of loose ends. Connelly apparently lost sight of Bosch's vow to bring to justice the perpetrator of years of crimes of torture done to Arthur. Arthur's bones still cry out for justice from his new grave! Hopefully MC will address this gross miscarriage of justice in a future book. Altogether three perps walked: Arthur's father, Arthur's torturer, and the bad cop. And the evidence against Arthur's apparent killer was woefully weak, insufficient, unsatisfactory, and did not measure up to Bosch's high sleuthing standards. Connelly needs to revisit this yarn to redress these injustices. No wonder Bosch botched the ending with his highly unusual action. I'm having a difficult time starting MC's next book, still upset about the Bones's ending, and worried that the next one will be botched also.

Harry Bosch has been through a lot in the previous seven Michael Connelly novels that he has appeared in and this one is no exception. The discovery of the skeleton of a child by a neighborhood dog sets Harry off on an adventure to solve the mystery of who the child is, how he died and who killed him which will bring him both heartbreak and personal growth. Harry runs into the usual problems with superior officers and not so usual problems with the tracking down of the killer. At the conclusion of the book we are left to wonder what next for Harry and knowing that whatever it is, it will certainly be different. There are no slow reading chapters in this book. First rate.

I always like M. Connelly's books. I liked this one least of all the ones I have read. I am not sure why. I think the abuse of the boy really bothered me and a few deaths bothered me. I really enjoyed the book after this one, Lost Light. That was a 5 star read.

This book is one of Connelly's best and is more along the lines of Concrete Blonde, The Last Coyote, etc. The characters are well developed and the storyline is intelligent and fast-paced. I liked this book better than Void Moon, Black Ice or any of his science fiction genre efforts for those reasons. If you already like Connelly's stuff, you will really enjoy this one. If you're looking at him for the first time, it's similar to the "Prey" series by John Sandford. Connelly keeps you in suspense as to the identity of the villain until the end, whereas Sandford shares the chase from the villain's perspective and you know who did it all along.

Bosch and Connelly are at the top of my "Favs" list. City is in itself right up there too, and is the basis for the store's Prime series BOSCH. I, like many other fans, can hardly wait for this new viewing pleasure! In the meantime for those who will not be able to watch, PLEASE read this if you have missed it. I don't know of any of Michael's Bosch series that don't measure up to his high standard!

Harry knows that he isn't the most popular detective in LA. The PTB at the Crystal Palace (Police HQ) consider him to be a loner and maverick. Ten years ago he was demoted from the RHD (Robbery Homicide Division) at headquarters to Homicide in North Hollywood. While working on this case he is told by the Deputy Commissioner that her should start thinking about retirement. With more than twenty-five years on the job, he has maxed out his pension.

Harry takes what seems to be another, "my dog found a bone" call which turns out to be 99 out of 100 times that of some animal. Harry of course gets the one that's from a human. The discoverer of the bone is the dog of a retired MD, and he knows his bones. The body is of a child of a preteen (a tween) who has been dead for over twenty years. But after 60% of the skeleton is uncovered, the Coroner tells Harry that this child had over twenty healed fractured and broken bones during his short life. Harry wants to find his killer, badly.

Needless to say, Connelly does his magic that he always does. The story evolves in ways that seem so logical but we know that they can't be. There is a disturbing interlude between Harry and a 'boot', that seems to be there to cement in our minds why Harry should remain a loner. Near the end, having aggravated practically everyone he knows, he comes up with the answer.

At the end, he gets a call from 'downtown' that he's being transferred. Everyone figures Harry's going to Traffic Detail or The Records Archive. But, Harry's going back to RHD after ten years. But Harry knows it's only so that 'Downtown' can keep an eye on him while they figure out how to shove him out the door. Harry decides to beat them to the punch and leaves his badge and gun and walks out the door.

Zeb Kantrowitz

Although I found this book slightly darker than his other books and I secretly wish that the main character can finally find love, it is another "hit." This detective series is highly entertaining. City of bones seemed to have far more surprises and twists and turns along the way. I am now moving on to my fifth Michael Connelly detective Harry Bosch book and I must confess that Connelly is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. Well done, again!