Black Echo

In Michael Connelly's Black Echo, the first installment in the Harry Bosch Mystery series, this debut would take you on a journey and keep you hanging on tight. Meet Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch, a Detective of the LAPD Hollywood Murder Squad. It all started out with a routine call for a drug bust, when he uncovered the dead body of Eddie Meadows in one of the tunnels. With a closer look, it became more than personal for him, since he used to know him from the Vietnam War. Bosch wanted answers and had taken the heat from the brass and also fro the IAD who had been tailing him around to pin something on him. Then he met FBI Agent Eleanor Wish and John Rourke, who had hindered him in the case. When he looked to find a witness named Sharkey, he told him what he saw when he found. But when later he was found dead, it had floored Bosch as he dug deep to find the connection between the Vietnam War and now in Present Day California. And the closer he would get to the truth, it might cost him his life and maybe his career in an explosive climax, when he least expected who was responsible for it in the end.

This was a gripping mystery debut that had kick-started the Bosch series and then later the Amazon hit series too.  I did become fond of Bosch and how he picked up the pieces to this puzzle. Although a loner, he did put his life on the line, while it might've irked others in his way. They most likely hindered than helped him, except for Eleanor. I've found her a bit intriguing in her own set ways and how she might've had something going with Harry. I did like the LA settings from the dark tunnels to the police station with picturesque scenery for the location. This would get you swept up into Harry's dark tale of how he fought in the war and how he went his own way to solve this mystery with non-stop action, intense drama, mystery and a hint of intrigue.

Will you be curious to read the Black Echo today?

The Brass Verdict

If you love good courtroom drama/legal thriller series, you'll enjoy this one from Michael Connelly. Mickey Haller has received a lucky break, when his friend and fellow lawyer Jerry Vincent was found dead. We're introduced to Haller and his comeback from his hiatus to law. We see how he interacted with his colleagues and to the police. He's a devoted father and wants to reconcile with his estranged ex-wife, when he's changing his life round. We also meet Harry Bosch from his best-selling Harry Bosch series. There's plenty of twists and turns in this one, inside and outside the courtroom, and interesting characters arrive on the scene. Haller's boat load of cases would soon become his downfall later. And there a shocking curveball at the end of the novel that no one saw coming. What a good way to end it.