The trip to Hong Kong is pure thriller material, giving Harry only one "39-hour day" to find his 13-year-old daughter, presumably kidnapped by gangsters to make Harry drop an investigation into their stateside activities. And while the Los Angeles case isn't half as exciting, it puts a human face on the way criminal triads function in immigrant communities. There's also something quietly gripping about a case that makes us consider the hard lives of people trying to make an honest living in a tough neighborhood.
The murder of an elderly Chinese owner of a liquor store thrusts Bosch into the unfamiliar world of Chinese immigrants, Asian gangs, and the ruthless triad crime syndicate. Bosch works the case with his usual tenacity; threats warning him to drop the case only fuel his desire to find the old man's killer. Having narrated previous Bosch books, Cariou knows the character inside and out. His portrayal of the iconic L. A. detective conveys all his irascibility and world-weariness. This book gives us a closer look at Bosch, the father, and Cariou conveys this human side with emotional clarity and believability. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 21). (Oct.)
An apparently everyday murder in South Los Angeles takes Harry Bosch (The Brass Verdict, 2008, etc.) further and deeper than a case has ever sent him before. Ordinarily the members of LAPD Robbery-Homicide's Special Homicides squad wouldn't touch a case as routine as the shooting of John Li. The elderly owner of Fortune Fine Foods and Liquors has been shot three times, presumably by the same person or persons who emptied his cash register and the surveillance video. Telltale clues and the testimony of Li's frightened family members, however, suggest that their patriarch may have been executed by triad members when he refused to continue paying for protection. Unlike Ignacio Ferras, still spooked by the bullet he took for his partner, Bosch quickly gets his teeth into the case. But no sooner has he gathered enough evidence to arrest triad bagman Bo-Jing Chang than he's threatened with unspecified evils if he doesn't take off the heat. These evils swiftly assume malevolent shape when Bosch gets word that his daughter Madeline, half a world away in Hong Kong, has been kidnapped. Dropping everything to rescue the 13-year-old he's known for only a few years, he flies to Hong Kong and embarks on a bravura sequence of action set-pieces evidently crafted with both eyes on the movies. ("Oliver Stone will direct it!" Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller exults.) Nine corpses later, Bosch is back in the United States with Madeline. He has to get her settled and deal with her traumatic memories; he has to face the Hong Kong police, who think for some reason that he's a cowboy run amok; and of course he has to solve his case. After the exoticism and high intensity of his Far East adventures, however, theseanticlimactic problems are resolved with suspicious facility. A short-story-sized mystery exploded by the triple-sized dose of vigilante justice Bosch gets to dispense as cop and father.
Nine Dragons ignites Bosch's personal and professional lives, bringing them together in an explosive manner....Harry's feverish race against the clock and the international dateline...plunges the reader into a firestorm of danger and tragedy....To say that Nine Dragons is coiled tight with suspense understates Connelly's accomplishment in portraying Bosch at the cusp of a new world."—Paula L. Woods , Los Angeles Times Nine Dragons, Bosch's crisp, cold-eyed rationality is blown to smithereens. Stoicism goes right out the window. And the vivid drama of this contrast gives the novel its ferocious energy. Once under way, you can't stop reading Nine Dragons, and not just because you want to know whodunit. You want to know how Bosch is going to operate in a whole new kind of darkness."—Julia Keller , Chicago Tribune Bill Ott , Booklist Nine Dragons works as a gripping police procedural, an intense character study and an international thriller....Connelly is one of the best living crime writers and the consistency of his work continues through Nine Dragons." —Oline H. Cogdill , South Florida Sun-Sentinel Katherine Dunn , Oregonian Publishers Weekly Jeff Ayers , Library Journal Nine Dragons , Connelly has taken a chance by transforming a character millions have come to know well. In doing so, he has made Harry Bosch more human and interesting than ever."—Bruce DeSilva , Associated Press Nancy Gilson , Columbus Dispatch
Connelly is in top form with the Bosch tale, his 15th: the story unfolds with exquisite procedural details; unexpected violence; and increased insight into the stoic, jazz-loving, relentless, flawed detective who bears the burden of every case.Columbus Dispatch
Connelly unveils his most personal Bosch story yet with this fish-out-of-water story. The pages fly...another Connelly masterpiece.Library Journal
A Michael Connelly novel is a thing of cool beauty, meticulously plotted, rigorously controlled....In Nine Dragons, Bosch's crisp, cold-eyed rationality is blown to smithereens. Stoicism goes right out the window. And the vivid drama of this contrast gives the novel its ferocious energy. Once under way, you can't stop reading Nine Dragons, and not just because you want to know whodunit. You want to know how Bosch is going to operate in a whole new kind of darkness.Chicago Tribune
Nine Dragons ignites Bosch's personal and professional lives, bringing them together in an explosive manner....Harry's feverish race against the clock and the international dateline...plunges the reader into a firestorm of danger and tragedy....To say that Nine Dragons is coiled tight with suspense understates Connelly's accomplishment in portraying Bosch at the cusp of a new world.Los Angeles Times
May be the most wrenching Bosch novel yet....The jagged intersection between a cop's personal and professional lives is a recurring theme in many crime novels, but never has it been portrayed with the razor-edge sharpness and psychological acuity that Connelly brings to the subjects. And that's layered underneath the nonstop action of the novel's last half-the kind of full-throttle, blood-spattered narrative road race one associates with Lee Child or Stephen Hunter.Booklist
Remarkably fine....With Nine Dragons , Connelly has taken a chance by transforming a character millions have come to know well. In doing so, he has made Harry Bosch more human and interesting than ever.Associated Press
Engrossing...one of the best in this series. Nine Dragons works as a gripping police procedural, an intense character study and an international thriller....Connelly is one of the best living crime writers and the consistency of his work continues through Nine Dragons. South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"Engrossing...one of the best in this series. Nine Dragons works as a gripping police procedural, an intense character study and an international thriller....Connelly is one of the best living crime writers and the consistency of his work continues through Nine Dragons."
Oline H. Cogdill - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Bosch is back...this latest appearance is a complex and meticulously crafted tale...packed with jump and juice....This is Bosch at his sharpest and Connelly at his most engaging. High-voltage stuff.Oregonian
"Connelly is in top form with the Bosch tale, his 15th: the story unfolds with exquisite procedural details; unexpected violence; and increased insight into the stoic, jazz-loving, relentless, flawed detective who bears the burden of every case."
Nancy Gilson - Columbus Dispatch
"Bosch is back...this latest appearance is a complex and meticulously crafted tale...packed with jump and juice....This is Bosch at his sharpest and Connelly at his most engaging. High-voltage stuff."
Katherine Dunn - Oregonian
"The Bosch revealed in Nine Dragons is vulnerable, a twist that makes him both deeper and more human...What remains most interesting is the new dimension added to the character - a man who has evolved over the series of 15 novels to become ever more interesting and real."
"With Nine Dragons , Connelly has taken a chance by transforming a character millions have come to know well. In doing so, he has made Harry Bosch more human and interesting than ever."
"May be the most wrenching Bosch novel yet....The jagged intersection between a cop's personal and professional lives is a recurring theme in many crime novels, but never has it been portrayed with the razor-edge sharpness and psychological acuity that Connelly brings to the subjects. And that's layered underneath the nonstop action of the novel's last half-the kind of full-throttle, blood-spattered narrative road race one associates with Lee Child or Stephen Hunter."
"Scary, shocking and sublimely suspenseful."
"Remarkably fine....With Nine Dragons , Connelly has taken a chance by transforming a character millions have come to know well. In doing so, he has made Harry Bosch more human and interesting than ever."
Bruce DeSilva - Associated Press Staff
"Nine Dragons is a very good crime thriller."
"Though Connelly remains a master at detailing the intricacies of 'the job,' it is Harry's longing for reunion and connection with his ex-wife and daughter, the overwhelming vulnerability he feels as a father, that makes Nine Dragons another standout in the series that should satisfy all readers, whether they are new to Boschworld, occasional visitors or devoted denizens."
"If at first encounter Connelly seems primarily an exceptionally accomplished writer of crime novels, at closer examination he is also a mordant and knowing chronicler of the world in which crime takes place, i.e., our world."
"A Michael Connelly novel is a thing of cool beauty, meticulously plotted, rigorously controlled."
Detective Harry Bosch returns in this police procedural to investigate the murder of a Chinese-American liquor store owner. Evidence leads him to a suspect connected to the Chinese Triad, and when an arrest is made, Bosch's teenage daughter is kidnapped by thugs who hope to influence the investigation. Len Cariou superbly voices the roughly seasoned Detective Bosch. Cariou’s grizzly vocals successfully invoke a range of characters—from the tender, caring parent to the aggressive cop. Cariou effortlessly switches between American regional accents and the soft tones of the Asian-American accent. From the streets of Los Angeles to the back alleys of Hong Kong, this suspense novel won't disappoint fans and should satisfy those new to the series. A.L.B. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2009 - AudioFile
