Void Moon (Gemstar) [Import] [Hardcover]

Michael Connelly (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Oxmoor House (January 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0759500703
• ISBN-13: 978-0759500709
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (198 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing ' a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.

After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.

After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles , was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with 18 more novels. His books have been translated into 31 languages and have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus, Dilys, Nero, Barry, Audie, Ridley, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.

Michael lives with his family in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best, January 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Void Moon (Hardcover)

This is a great old-fashioned crime novel in the spirit of Elmore Leonard or James Ellroy. I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews of this book, and my guess is that they're the result of readers being anesthetized by run-of-the-mill, mass-produced oatmeal by the likes of Patricia Cornwell and Robert B. Parker. This book crackles like a live-wire and the timid or mediocre reader need not apply.

Usually attempts to vary from an established character (read: meal ticket) fail or at best replicate that character. Not Connelly. No, none of his characters are completely sympathtic, but that's what lends this book it's complexity. It delves into the shades of gray instead of the clearer-cut black-and-white of his Harry Bosch novels.

Connelly's background as a journalist is also on display here as he takes the reader inside the world of Las Vegas thieves, con-artists, and hustlers with versimilitude unparalleled by anything I've read recently. This is clearly a writer who knows his stuff.

The plot moves at a breakneck pace, but is as intricately woven as a Persian rug. His characters leap off the page, and his dialogue is top-notch. This is easily one of Connelly's best works.

50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Void Moon (Hardcover)

Although nothing will ever be as good as The Poet (probably the best thriller I have ever read) this one is right up there with Connelly's best.

My brother works in a bookstore, so he got me an advance copy and I have to tell you, this one really keeps you reading. I finished it in about two days. Although you will figure out some of the details before they are revealed, the book has a lot of great twists and turns. I particularly like the way that the events of the past are slowly revealed to the reader through flashbacks that occur throughout the entire book.

I heartily recommend this book to any Connelly fan, but just to warn you it is not a Harry Bosch story, although it is set in LA.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Void Moon, December 1, 1999

By 

Wojo /Cisco "Dennis W." (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Void Moon (Hardcover)

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