Customer Reviews

Three Great Novels 3: A Darkness More Than Night', ' City of Bones', 'Chasing The Dime'

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Michael Connelly never ceases to amaze me. I began reading Connelly because everyone I sit with at lunch during work was reading him. The Harry Bosch novels in this book of 3 are just as good as the books written previously. Connelly has created such an intense character in Harry and one can't help but becoming totally involved in him and his intricate cases. I am a true Harry Bosch fan and these books do not disappoint. Chasing the Dime, although not part of the Bosch series is equally good, showing that Michael Connelly is not just limited to creating only one good character. All books have a sense of realism to them.

"A Darkness More than Night" with its character triangulation brings together three of Connelly's characters from various series: Harry Bosch, the police detective: the FBI profiler Terry McCaleb from "Blood Work" and reporter Jack McEvoy from "The Poet." Harry (real name Hieronymus Bosch) named after the painter 1450-1516, is fighting evil and evildoers (murderers) with tactics that cross the line at times. This time he's part of a set-up that involves his painter namesake, a painter who depicted chaos and evil with symbols like owls.
Harry is the chief witness in a murder case against a leading Hollywood producer, but the fix is in on Harry. If the defense can discredit him, the state's case falls apart.
Bosch is hunting and slaying monsters, but he has his own dark side below the surface, demons he can't expunge. Of evil Connelly says, "You don't go into the darkness without the darkness going into you." McCabe and Bosch are both driven, bent on fighting and destroying the evil in the world.
Both are obsessed by murder cases. McCabe puts the murder cases ahead of his own new family, and Bosch's intensity has destroyed any hope he has of having a normal family life. One says, "And I took evil out of this world. Made it a little safer out there." Harry, the avenging angel is "ready to dance with the devil once more." Both men are "speakers for the dead."
Bosch doesn't see the hand of God, only the Big Wheel--what goes around, comes around. Has Bosch, the homicide detective, lost his way, becoming what he hunts?
McCabe says "Some people find their salvation in truth, in justice, in that which is righteous."
Connelly has very intense plot situations, doesn't mind gore and being graphic, and he doesn't let up, keeps the reader tightly wound and on edge.
As usual the plotting is deft, complex and clever. Characters are well-drawn. A melodramatic kind of "Perils of Pauline" hoakeyness creeps in near the end, but Connelly can be forgiven for his minor lapses. At the end the twists and turns leave the reader dazzled and benumbed. A very highly recommended book.