The Concrete Blonde: Harry Bosch Series, Book 3

“The Concrete Blonde” is the third novel in a series authored by Michael Connelly with a protagonist Harry Bosch. The novel is of moderate length and is written in modern conversational English. It is mostly easily comprehended and followed and as such makes for a good candidate for an audiobook. I have read the first three of these novels in order. While I have enjoyed all of them, this is easily my favorite thus far.When I say that I “enjoy” these novels I mean that in context. These are stories about violence including homicide. The stories are also about the dark side of human nature that exists to some extent in most of us. Harry Bosch himself is a combination of saint and sinner. Within this novel under review, these issues are discussed explicitly between characters.I read a lot of different types of books, fiction and nonfiction. I was a police officer for thirty nine years and a detective for thirty one years. Of all the modern police novels that I have read, Harry Bosch is the fictional character that I most identify with. I absolutely do not conduct myself the way Bosch does. However his internal machinations and emotional responses align with mine. I completely understand what it is like to try to put my mind into the mind of an offender. It can be a very difficult exercise. It is also difficult to work in that way and then go home and try to be a normal husband and father. Michael Connelly conveys that as well as any modern mystery fiction author that I have read.In summary I really liked this novel. It seems very realistic to me. The novel does contain revolting graphic violence. There is also street language. I would not allow my youthful children to read this novel. But as a policeman I found the novel very realistic. It is dark. It will be some months before I read the next novel in this series but I absolutely intend to do so. Thank You for taking the time to read this review.

Hard to put this one down. Keeps you guessing til the very end. Time to start # 4. I'm hooked

I thought that this was so-so until I immediately began sense. They are really one book that explains a lot about Harry Bosch. I read the three most recent Bosch books which are about 18-20 when he has formally retired from LA police and works for a some force in the Valley because his life is suddenly empty when his daughter goes away to college and he is bored. His need to help people drives his life intensely and you learn why in Blonde in Concrete and The Last Coyote. They are worth reading so you understand his life as an orphan and his feelings that he must find out about a serial killer who kills 9 women and is then killed. The Blonde in Concrete is discovered due to the large LA earthquake in 1992 which cracks the concrete basement in a house. Harry is in the middle of a trial about a man he thought was abusing and attacking a women crying for help in a neighborhood that had been involved with the serial rapist. Harry did not wait for backup, broke down the front door, confronted the man harming the woman who began to scramble looking for something, which Harry believed was a gun. After three warnings, Harry shot and killed the man. He was being charged with homicide in a trial against a famous, very skilled prosecuting attorney when the Blonde inthe Concrete was found and he went to the scene after trial was over for the day because he had been involved in the serial rapist murders and the two similar murders which were different.At least one murder had occurred after the serial rapist was killed and Harry was thought to have killed possibly the man who had killed the other two murders. A rubber cast of the palm of the Blonde in the concrete had several fingerprints which were used to identify her and Harry was able to determine that her background was similar to the other two women who were initially assumed to be killed by the serial rapist. This woman was not and she was not killed by the man Harry had killed either. So you have to read the second book to find out what the first book was about.The second deals with Harry’s extreme suspension and the time he spends with the police psychiatrist and then Harry’s search to find out what really happened to his mother which leads him into long continuing corruption in the District Attorney’s office and very highest ranking officers in the LA police at the time of her death and the next year and how it affected several now retired and aged men who still remember the mother’s death and that of her pimp who worked for a man who became District Attorney. You will come why Bosch searches fearlessly for the truth regardless of what happens to him or those whom he considers “evil” although he doesn’t use that word. There are many twists and turns with servers heroes and heroines who eventually pay for what they did although what happens to them may not be commensurate. As Bosch ages, he never loses his desire to find the truth and protect innocent parties from harm and possible death. Harry is flawed and human and I cheer him on by reading his books painful pages by painful page. According to my sleep recorder, I talk to him and about him my dreams, perhaps because I always read in bed until I fall asleep. Harry makes me feel better about the world. I was an attorney in LA when the great earthquake occurred and I drove home on the edge of the Rodney King riots hoping that no one would attack a Ford Falcon. I survived and was not harmed by either event.

Once again Connelly takes you on a breath taking ride with twists and turns that keep you reading long into the night. Connelly is just that good.

I made a couple of obvious guesses along the way. Wrong each time. Never had a clue about Bremmer. Sorry about Honey Chandler. Different character entirely from the TV series. Glad to see that Michael Connelly resurrected her.

In book three of the Harry Bosch series, author Connelly finally hits his stride with the character. The preceding two books frequently referenced the lethal shooting from fours ago of a serial killer, a career-changer that resulted in Harry being transferred out of the highly sought Robbery-Homicide Division and into the not so glamorous Hollywood Division. In The Concrete Blonde, the fatal case is being tried in a civil court by the killer’s family. Harry's refused to plead or settle, and is making do with a lawyer from the D.A.'s office against a top-notch civil rights attorney.The book proceeds along two tracks: as Harry stands trial for his actions four years earlier is at the same time hunting a sadistic killer who may or may not have been the real killer all along. It's a riveting story on both fronts. The courtroom scenes are very well done and will appeal to readers who enjoy legal thrillers. The hunt for the killer is also edge-of-your-seat reading. The police procedural aspects of the book and the group dynamics Connelly describes with the investigation team further heightens what is already a great book.Connelly creates an excellent story and keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

As usual I find his Bosch series to be very realistic.

Mais um ótimo livro do Harry Bosch series!

Reading a new Michael Connelly is always a joy to savour (not that this is his latest offering, it's just new to me, I've not owned or read this title before). I've been reading Michael Connelly books for way over 10yrs now, my first read was "The Scarecrow", which I had as a present and I've been hooked on Michael Connelly books ever since. If US crime drama is your thing, then you cannot go wrong with any of his books. His books are perfectly paced, meticulously researched with a wealth of real life experience behind him in the field of crime reporting. He has also created some of the most compelling and iconic characters in Literary fiction."The Concrete Blonde", is the third novel in the Harry Bosch series but the books don't need to be read in the correct order, they work perfectly fine as stand alone novels. I've never read any of them in order, I read them as I get hold of them. "The Concrete Blonde", is part legal thriller, part homicide investigation. The story opens with Bosch shooting dead Norman Church, whom Bosch is convinced is the serial killer known as "The Dollmaker". Fast forward 4 yrs, Bosch is now in court, facing a Civil Rights trial brought about by Norman Church's widow Deborah. A note in the mean time has been delivered to the Hollywood Division station, where Bosch is based, purporting to be from "The Dollmaker", giving details of where another body can be found. Is this note from the real "Doll Maker" serial killer or from a copycat? Did Bosch kill an innocent man 4 yrs ago? The story travels seamlessly between the court case, where Bosch is facing a tough time from the Attorney for the plaintiff, Honey Chandler and the homicide investigation. The pace is relentless. it never lets up. A real rollercoaster of a read which doesn't let up until the final reveal. Will Bosch win his case? Will he help catch the perpetrator? Well if you want to know the answers, you will need to purchase a copy of the book. Believe you me, you won't regret the purchase. This is a real page turner that will keep you glued until the conclusion of the book.

This has been wonderfully adapted into the first season of the Bosch Amazon series. But the original is quite different and I loved it.

Excellent read right to the end.