Nova Books

Wow what fun this Trilogy has been to read. The third book is just as good as the first two. Makes me want to take off to Irland and go looking for fairies and love.

If you are a fan of Nora Roberts' you will no doubt love this trilogy. Read it in order. It's fabulous. As with all her books she creates the characters in such a way it make me sad they are not real. I fell in love with both the brothers. I think the second book is my favorite, but they are all fantastic. Do yourself a favor and read these books.

This was a very satisfying conclusion to a much-loved series! I was thoroughly charmed by the cultural immersion, the likeable characters, and the dose of Irish magic. However, I felt that this last story was a bit drawn out - I found myself growing a tad impatient with Darcy and Trevor for creating obsticles to their relationship instead of resolving their issues and coming together through open communication. Still, I highly recommend this lovely trio of stories!

While I enjoyed the first two books in this series, I had to force myself to finish "Heart of the Sea." I cannot truly enjoy one of these escapist books if I dislike the heroine, and Darcy, while okay in small doses, is not likeable enough to carry the entire book. Trevor was bland and boring. I don't expect realism in romance novels, but Nora Roberts usually provides an entertaining read. I can't say as much for this book, unfortunately.

Irish Trilogy - Book 3

The conclusion brings Darcy to the forefront. She is restless working and singing the family pub. She longs for an exciting better life and wants the finer things for herself. Darcy comes off as shallow and materialistic.

Trevor Magee is a businessman searching for his Irish roots while building the new theater, and too much of the story was spent on the construction. He is an arrogant flashy, and doesn't mind flaunting it.

These two have to be together for the story to conclude, and for the spirits to be at rest.

This book is the first in the Sherlock/Savich series, and though I've read others, this was my first insight into how they met. I was really interested in the mystery/crime portion, however, the romance and character interactions left me cringing. I know the characters are better than that, I've read other books where those same characters were alive and 'real' - but here they just seem hollow and silly. And though I did cringe through the love scenes and stupid conversations, I was interested enough in the meat of the story to plough through it. And it was worth it. This book had me second-guessing my second guesses! I wish the author would go back, now that there have been several books in this series, and rework the characters a bit. Then it would be a very, very good novel.

Ordered this book from Amazon along with "The Cove" after reading "Point Blank" and wanting to learn more about the characters. This is book two in Coulter's FBI Series, the third book that I've read by her, and it is by far my favorite. Great action, great suspense, characters that make you want to tear your hair out one minute and laugh the next. It also kept me guessing towards the end as to who really "done it" and more as to why they did it. Some of the characters are kind of creepy, but that's okay with me. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes romantic suspense.

Remember Dillion Savich from The Cove? He's back with his computer MAX collecting data for local officials who seek his help. Then a small flaming redhead carrying a truck load of fear takes him down for her final exam. He adds the novice agent to his unit and she uses her new job to track the man who killed her step-sister and left her behind locked doors.
Her family has creased to function, but the fragile strains of love remain as her mother hides in depression. Not a good mix for a young woman with a mission.
The plot twists and turns as the pages fly, with a wickedly suspenseful ending. High drama and good story telling.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I've read several of the FBI series by Catherine Coulter, unfortunately not in order. The Maze is the book where Savich and Sherlock meet and become a couple. It is entertaining to read in retrospect after knowing them as a married couple. Parts of it are contrived and predictable, but for fans of the series, it is a must-read.

Lacey has been traumatized after the brutal murder of her beautiful sister by a serial killer. She decides to take control of her fears and revenge her sister by tracking her killer herself, hence she becomes a brilliant FBI agent. So years goes by..and its 7 years later...

While in FBI training boot camp, she meets the well known computer whiz/FBI special agent Dillion, who also heads some FBI department that specializes in tracking killers. After an impressive drill/test, Dillion asks the department to assign Lacey to his force. Fortunately for her, this would allow her to track her sisters killer on the side. While all this is going on, the killer strikes again in Boston, her brother-in-law seems to be falling for her, Dillions ex who also works in the same department send her the evil jealous eye, and her family seems to be looney as ever with her insane mother hinting at her father trying to kill her. Not to mention falling in love for the first time since her sisters death...

This book was a page turner, really well paced and kept me guessing til the end. However, the romance btw Lacey and Dillion didnt seem all that hot to be honest. They went from being totally professional to being in bed one night to talking about marriage, er yea... it just didnt seem all that real, the romance between these two seemed forced, more like an after thought.

Don;t read this book expecting great romance, you'll get disappointed... but since the suspense/mystery is so great you wont even care. Overall its time and money well spent!

Am I the only person who noticed a strong resemblence to Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle? German spy gets hold of important, war-altering intelligence and destroys everything and everyone in the way of his/her race to meet the Nazi sub that will return him/her to Germany to share the information. Britain throws all she has into stopping the spy before he/she can convey the intelligence info. This strong resemblance to Follett's novel just begs comparison, and Gathering doesn't fare too well in the analysis.

Katarina Heinrich can't hold a candle to Heinrich Faber as a spy, or a literary character. She has none of his lofty motives for her actions, none of his vulnerability or capacity for emotion (which admittedly takes a back seat to other, less admirable traits.)

At the end of Eye of the Needle we, the readers, don't cheer at the demise of spy Faber, but rather salute a worthy villain even as we admit it is a just death. What we feel for Katarina H. as she goes slashing her way across the English countryside is a desperate desire for someone to hurry up and put her down.

I suppose that, having read Follett first, I just couldn't appreciate Altman's effort to the degree it deserved.

John Altman's debut thriller is a spy story set in the midst of World War II. Two very unlikely spies converge when the German "sleeper" awakes when she discovers the Manhattan Project while she is a physicist's wife in New Mexico. She then decides to go to England to find her former superior, who is now a double agent for Britain. At the same time, a college professor whose wife is in a German concentration camp is called into service for England. His mission is to infiltrate the Germans by acting like a defector with some security secrets. The two first clash in London where the German spy manages to take down about 12 people singlehandedly. Some parts of the book really strain creduality, and both of the spies seem a bit flat as characters. A good way to pass some time however

This book gives a new meaning to the term "page turner" -- I couldn't wait to finish it (mainly because I have an obsessive/compulsive habit of finishing any book I start, even if I have to skim the remaining 90%)! The plot is good, but the writing is sophomoric, and the characters are cartoonish. It reads like a proposed film script. Bubble and Squeak indeed! The book would have benefited from an historical epilogue detailing what eventually happened to Canaris, as well as to the real German spies that were turned by the Brits, such as Garbo. I don't think Le Carre, Micheal Frayn, Charles McCarry, or even Ken Follett or Daniel Silva have much to fear from Mr. Altman.

The plot and characters were thinly developed; the scenarios were historically inaccurate; and the writing was laborious. I struggeled to get through this one -- hoping that something would happen to make the plot more interesting. Alas, the story ends abruptly and oddly. The only "suspense" (more hoping the book would end) that I saw was a needlessly drawn out third section.

I consistently read books of this genre. This is one that I would definately not purchase again.

Are you kidding me with this book? In the course of the first few chapters I caught on immediately. The plot and construct of the main character are largely stolen from John LeCarre's "The Spy who came in from the Cold."

Same deal: an aging protagonist, inserted into an espionage plot so deeply under cover, with loyalites to his country and the woman he loves so conflicted that we, the readers, are left to wonder which way he will turn.

Here's what's very telling. Altman gets glowing reviews on the book jacket form other spy writers. But if you read his bio, Altman's only credentials are that he comes from a family of writers.

Thhe bio also promises that Altman is busy on his second book. I can hardly wait.

Too bad Wood's story-book career is overshadowed by the many unanswered questions surrounding her death. How ironic, I suppose, that the high-profile, high-pressure industry she so excelled at also had a lot to do with many of those questions going unanswered. The sorry fact is that LA's biggest industry has long influenced police investigation when scandal threatens the Hollywood image, all the way back to the murder of William Desmond Taylor.

In fact, the book's best part is what I take to be the author's no-punches-pulled, eye-witness testimony surrounding that fateful November night. Two particularly damaging aspects of the investigation emerge-- no sheriff's effort at putting together a time-line surrounding Wood's sudden disappearance (p.441), and the sheriff's refusal to even contact credible witnesses overhearing cries for help during that time frame (pps. 431- 432). Couple that with Frank Sinatra's effort to get respected county coroner Thomas Noguchi removed from the case (p.435), and a classic instance of industry string-pulling takes shape.

This is not to insinuate that criminal behavior was necessarily involved in the drowning. Neither the book nor I am implying that. However, there is a clear implication of botched procedures that remained remarkably incurious about conflicting accounts and details surrounding the death. Efforts to spare family feelings are understandable. But such factors should not impede justice from being done. Then too, I wonder if family feelings would be such a factor were the deceased from poverty-ridden East LA. In my view, this is another instance of investigation being boxed-in by big money, big reputations, and big industry. After all, as the fan mags liked to brag, Natalie and RJ were Hollywood "royalty". Nonetheless, the little girl many of us grew up with deserved better, royalty or not.

Natalie Wood had what amounts to an amazing Hollywood career. Unlike the great majority of child stars, her career remained uninterrupted from childhood through mature adulthood. This was a testament both to her talent and her ability to stay employed through life's inevitable changes. Author Finstad pinpoints the central conflict in her life-- the tension between the person herself (Natasha) and her carefully crafted show-biz persona ("Natalie Wood"). After all, she was a professional actress from age six, so it's not surprising that the real person had little chance to develop and that what there was remained submerged under the movie star creation. Mom comes across as the real culprit behind this split and something of a dark Rasputin-like force in Wood's life.

Curiously, little mention is made of the turbulent Vietnam period when old Hollywood was eclipsed by the new, so-called counter-culture. A glance at Wood's movie credits shows a sharp drop-off after 1966, the first big year of the war. Yet, there's not a single mention of Vietnam nor (I believe) of the war itself. This seems odd given the cultural and commercial impact on the movie industry of social and political forces then on the march. It would be interesting to know her reaction since the movement rejected the whole glamor factory concept. I don't know if the absence of material means Natalie and her circle simply floated above the national trauma or what. Anyway, I find this a curious silence in what is otherwise a pretty exhaustive text.

All in all, Finstad's biography is a close account of Wood's personal life. I wish there had been more on the business side, but probably sources there were hard to find since insiders play the business dealings pretty close to the vest. Also, the text could have used tighter editing since the detail at times gets somewhat repetitious. Nonetheless, the book is an insightful look into America's great game of celebrity worship and the ups and the downs of a fairy-tale life. I'm just sorry that if a body had to be pulled from the water, it wasn't Natasha's-- it was Natalie Wood's. And from that moment on the interests of the Hollywood glamor factory took over. Even in death, Natasha was suppressed.

Natasha: The biography of Natalie Wood was written by Suzanne Finstad. She claims to be a die-hard fan of Wood and that part is probably true but the way she writes about her favorite star is calculated and contrived. We know Natalie drowned, which was her biggest phobia and she married three times, twice to the same man. This book is a real page turner but you can't help but wonder what is fiction and what is real, even Wood's eldest daughter called this book trash, decide for yourself.

If you are over the age of 25 in America, you have heard of Natalie Wood. The tragically deceased movie star is akin to an icon in our nation's past. This thoroughly researched biography gives insight into her early life and behind the scenes information about her movies. With quotes from original sources, such as Wood's family members and staff, and second hand sources, such as magazine articles, the details of Natalie's life are spread before us.
I was only semi-knowledgeable about this actress prior to reading the book. I had only ever seen her three most famous movies, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, and Miracle on 34th Street. Since this book, I have been compelled to familiarize myself with more of her work.
The author is, I believe, I first-time biographer, and although I haven't read terribly many biographies, I found her style somewhat heavy-handed. She also needs to familiarize herself better with the concepts of "foreshadowing" and "irony." One thing I found very annoying about the writing was that the author felt the need to remind us, over and over, of who people were. For example, she introduces us to Debbie Reynolds "who was originally considered for the part of Judy." Then, a paragraph later, she quotes Reynolds again, identifying her as "the actress who almost got [Natalie's] part." Scarcely a paragraph later, Reynolds "who almost played Judy" is quoted again. I did not need these reminders, as I (and I would imagine most other reasonably intelligent readers) can remember what was written from paragraph to paragraph. Also, I am quite unfamiliar with movie stars and directors from this period, so I would imagine people who were alive during this time or more well-versed on in this subject might be even more frustrated than I was.
Finstad also kept pushing the idea that "Natalie Wood" was a "composite" of Natalie herself and her mother, Maria. I was willing to accept the assertion at first, as Maria pushed Natalie into stardom, but later, as Natalie grew up, it seemed Finstad was massaging the facts to support her claim.
In conclusion, I learned a lot from Finstad's thorough research and interviews with close friends and family members of Ms. Wood, but I would not read a book by her again. I have wish-listed another biography of Natalie Wood, and would be interested to see whether this concept of the "composite" Natalie Wood is more pervasive.

This book read more like fiction than fact.I was horrified at the things Natalie went through to become and remain a star. I was thrilled by her ability to overcome all and become one of the most respected actors of her time.I wanted to lash out at someone about the way she died and I wanted someone charged with a crime.With that said, I thought too much time was spent describing her early years and her background but that is a minor complaint.Natalie was a favorite of mine so I enjoyed the book.Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister

This is one of the very few biographies where i was left feeling i knew the subject intimately and deeply. I have always felt that Natalie Woods life was a highly fascinating and karmically complex one.
The author certainly confirmed that and i didnt find the prose to be overly dramatic at all.
She is a talented writer as well as a biographer and for me, that makes a huge difference.
I like depth, insight, and good writing,
a wonderful subject is of course important and this book had it all.

More twists, turns, and thrills than the best roller coaster
Dennis Lehane always writes a good mystery. Sacred is one of his best. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are pushed to the limit in this exciting page turner. From Boston to Florida they prowl for the truth. Each time they think they have found it, it turns into another dead end. Hired by a very rich man to find his missing daughter, Patrick and Angela are thwarted at every turn to make sense out of this house of mirrors where truth is simply a wisp of smoke in the wind. Finally after much consternation, dead ends, confusion, quick physical violence, lies, and just plan frustration, the dynamic duo finally makes enough headway to finally figure out what the heck is going on. Still the ending is a twist, shaken and not stirred.
Some typical Lehane story violence but germane to the storyline. No gratuitous language or sex.
Heartily recommended. Good solid vacation beach read. Another Dennis Lehane winner.

The first Dennis LeHane book I ever read was "Shutter Island" which I absolutely LOVED. What an jolt that story was. I followed it up by reading "Mystic River" which was also very good. I was expecting that same type of story/writing with this one and it just wasn't the same.

I picked this up off a clearance rack for $1 not realizing it was the third in a series. Mr. LeHane does a good job of bringing you up to speed on the characters and I was able to enjoy the book even with skipping the first two. I enjoyed the settings of Boston and the Sarasota/Bradenton area so that added to the book in my opinion.

This book, while good, did not have the writing quality or the story "punch" that the other two books I read had. It was more along the lines of a James Patterson, quick read that was enjoyable but not outstanding. I still find myself several years later thinking about "Shutter Island" and I am sure this book will be forgotten within days. A really good beach read, but not much else.

There are 5 books in this series of Dennis Lehane's with the charaters of Angie, Patrick and Bubba, the banter between these characters and the sarcasm of Patrick make this book along with the other four great reading, I had read the other 4 several years ago and could not find the 5th book in regular stores, luckily Amazon.com carried it and I was able to enjoy the characters once again.
The story is very interesting and has a different twist in the end, not what you expect. It is fast reading and I found it hard to put down.
Lehane is a great writer and all of his books have characters that come alive off of the pages of the book, I highly recommend all of his books for avid readers.
Great entertainment.

Another book by Dennis Lahane - ended up buying all I didn't have so that I can share with a friend of mine. The author takes you right to the Boston area and I stayed there until I finished the entire book.
Bookseller service again was excellent.

good stuff
you get to escape for a while
patrick and angie are funny and you root for them
hope lehane keeps the series rolling
i love the shakespeare references

GIDEON has a very strong beginning, but it eventually devolves into a typical "chase and conspiracy" story where a young hero and heroine are on the run, chased by multiple contract killers. If you read a lot of thrillers, like I do, you will find very little of this chase story to be fresh or original.

This storyline of GIDEON is also completely unbelievable and overblown. I think the writers realize this, given the tongue-in-cheek style of much of the writing. Many of the supporting characters are just plain silly. Could you ever believe in a secret conspiracy between Rupert Murdoch and Hillary Clinton to take over the world? If so, then you can swallow this novel's absurd plotline.

This book is also way too verbose, with too much text devoted to characters and situations that have little relevance to the story. I felt this hurt the novel's pacing, and made it quite boring in spots.

In short, if you enjoy realistic plots and tight plotting, you probably won't enjoy GIDEON.

Two stars.

A writer, Carl Granville, gets an offer of $250K to write a novel called Gideon, which is based on the material of an old diary. The diary tells of a 10-year-old boy from the South who kills his brain-damaged baby brother. When his editor gets killed and no one knows anything about the book, Carl gets the blame and must run for his life from an unseen enemy who wants to eliminate him and any proof of the book. Carl is forced to search forthe truth behind the diary - the truth which may cost him his life and the future of a very powerful man. Great political thriller.

Okay, I don't like politics in my books (yes, head in the sand - books are for my entertainment, they shouldn't make me THINK!) and this one was... odd. For a very long time the author went out of his way to not make actually party affiliations (though the implications were obvious) but did, in the end. It was like he was trying so hard not to, and at the end had to give in and started throwing them around left and right. Went from nary a word to overboard in three pages! The story itself was trite - I think most people could see where it was going - and the characters were shallow. Definitely a case of trying too hard to make something unique and unusual, and ending up with something bland and uninspiring. Probably wouldn't waste my time on it.

This is definitely my second most favorite piece of fiction. I wish a major studio would notice this book and turn it into a top selling motion picture. Once I started it, I could not put it down. You never know how the book will end. Exciting! Imaginative! Spine-chilling! Cannot explain it, but the author writes with such clarity, that you feel you are watching the book rather than reading it.

First I'll say that once I decided to overlook the errors and try to focus on just enjoying the story, I did just that. The story is kind of compelling, the lead characters kind of likeable.

But had the authors ever ventured into the South themselves, they'd not have characterized it the way they did. They'd know the Coca-cola in the South isn't sweeter, unless you happen to buy it in a Mexican grocery (and there's one on every corner of my little Southern town, actually) because Coca-Cola bottled in Mexico can use real sugar, whereas Coca-Cola in the US has to use HFCS instead because of a dispute with sugar farmers over 20 years ago.

Had they read up on Catholic hierarchy, they'd know that an archbishop is not a "higher-up bishop" but is just bishop over an archdiocese, which covers more area than a regular old diocese. It's not like a better diocese, just bigger.

Lots of cliche writing, starting with the opening sentence. But the writers eventually do flesh out Granny's character well enough to make him likeable, and Amanda grows from being cold and bitchy to more warm-hearted and tender--and the transformations are believable.

If you're looking for a great literary read or a really compelling, exciting thriller, this is not it. But if you need something to kill time in the doctor's office or at the beach, it's perfect.

Having read the Relic and Riptide, I was expected another fun fast pace read. It started out well but then went downhill from there. The last 1/3 of the book was a total drag. I guess every author(s) has some off books and I think this one was it.

This was very readable and reasonably entertaining, though I wouldn't consider it to be the among the better of their books.

The action builds by changing the reader's perspective from one character to another. Drawn into the consequences of biomedical affairs, both past and present, the characters deal with ethics, greed and the crushing choice whether or not to construct and release into the world a virus that is 100% fatal. I could not put the book down. The last chapter was too, sorry to report, predictable. Lost one star for that, but the book is a hefty 494 pages and well worth the money. These authors are seasoned and know how to keep a reader hooked. BRAVO.

This is one of the first Preston/Child I've read and I bought it because it looked interesting. Turned out to be a real page turner. Written very well with tons of suspense and a very well written suprise ending.

I just ordered 5 more books from this team - once you find some good authors stick with em.

The title of the book refers to a fictional genetic research lab hidden in the desert of New Mexico. The protagonists, Guy Carson and Susana Cabeza de Vaca are working on what promises to be a medical breakthrough for the human race, but instead turns into a nightmare that may herald extinction for the human race. The book is well researched and written (as always) with the exception of a pointless, gratuitous sex scene near the end. Generally, these writers shy away from plot devices like this in favor of character development and action, and it seems out of place in this novel.

I purchased this about 3 weeks ago and have seen my interest in the LSAT grow. Being somewhat hesitant to purchase any particular guide without consultation, I took a chance in NOVA'S Master the LSAT. The results thus far have been very positive. The games are presented in a very comfortable format, with reviews and warm-ups before the actual comprehensive coverage of material. I cannot speak for the rest of the book, but from what i've covered so far, the book is very engaging and straightforward. Great Buy.

I bought this title expecting to see something different, but I got the same thing as Master the LSAT (with Software and Online Course). Waste of my money, and badly labeled for someone wanting to buy the best study books for the first time.

This book is immediately more effective in teaching you about the LSAT question types. It goes into a LOT of detail on the basics of formal logic which is a tremendous boon when it comes to attacking the accursed logic games and the arguments sections.

I recommend this book over the Kaplan book and the Princeton book.

I bought this book based on the positive user reviews. I have spent seven hours working through it already. The language and instructions are easy to understand, and I appreciate that. However, I worked through the introduction to the logic games section and found a mistake. They use an example where there is a condition listed and then they give a "correct" answer to a question although that answer directly violates the prior condition. It makes me nervous that a book that is supposed to help me do well on the test has a mistake that I found, and I haven't been doing this for very long. I'm buying a different study aid!

Most LSAT courses don't even touch reading. Nova gives it a big chunk of space. Aside from reading, I strongly recommend this if you wish to plug in the holes of your prep course. It's wonderfully written and the best LSAT book.

I was hooked on the Donovan's after "Amber Beach". After I read "Jade Island" I was ready to walk away. I am so glad I didn't. "Midnight at Rubhy Bayou" takes a little twist away from the ordinary dangers the Donovan family faces by adding a little of the supernatural. It really is a great read.

Very good book higlhy recommend buying it. Dissappointed that shes not writing stories for Justin and Lawe the last two donovan brothers that are twins I might have to boycott buying her books until she comes out with stories for the last two Donovans.

This is the 4th book in EL's Donovan series, and like the other 3 this is a book that is hard to put down. It has plenty of action and the relationship between Faith Donovan and Owen Walker is developed slowly but tantalizing enough to keep you turning pages to see what will happen next between them. I liked Owen a lot. I don't think it mattered that he was a less educated and a smaller man than the other heros in the first three novels, namely Kyle, Jake, and Archer. He was just as smart, just as intelligent, just as sexy,just as honorable, and just as deadly. It says a hell of lot when Archer Donovan trusts you to take care of his little sister. Archer's trust was not misplaced as we find out in the development of the story as he comes to Faith's aid again and again. One of my most favorite scenes was when he met up with Faith's obnoxious and much larger ex-boyfriend. It was hilarious and very well written.

As far as heroines go, Faith was somewhat lacking when compared with the other Donovans. However, she was intelligent, gifted, and sweet; not quite a hot head as her other siblings. However, I think that rich girl Faith did very well for herself with Owen. A guy that put her needs first, in and out of the bedroom. Cudos to EL for bringing us a heroine who needs a little help in achieving fulfillment in the bedroom. After all, I think that most women do.

Why this one didn't get 5 stars you may ask? Mostly, because I didn't like the way EL ended the love story between Faith and Owen. Owen felt very strongly about being reponsible for others; also, I think that he had some reservations about his much lower socio-economic background. I would have liked EL to take them back home and let us in on some real soul searching for Owen before he came to the conclusion that he was ready for being responsible for a wife and family.The rest of the Donovan guys could have helped him along.It would have been a perfect ending to an otherwise great story.

Had to read this book after reading Pearl Cove and enjoying yummmmmmmmy Archer Donovan and his love Hannah. Faith Donovan the youngest sister and jewelry designer and Owen Walker best friend and Ruby expert goes with Faitn Donovan to the Bayous for her best friends wedding and to present her a beautiful Ruby Necklace. But, the Heart of Midnight a giant ruby is lost and a Russian is trying to find it and murder anyone who gets in his way and Faith may be next. I really enjoyed this one. I would like her to write about their twin brothers and the Emerald trade,but I highly doubt it. Looking forward to reading Color in Death by her and all about Sapphires. Read this book it's highly recommend.

Lowell just doesn't let her readers down with the lovable Donovan clan. Recommendation: Start with "Amber Beach" and then work your way to this one. See her complete book list and the order in which they go at: www.elizabethlowell.com

One of his best - don't miss it. If you like Michael Connelly, you will like this one.

Gotta love that Harry, this is an older book that I somehow missed and the really freaky thing about it was the day it was delivered was the day I got out of the hospital after flipping my truck on BLACK ICE. This was a really good book it had me right to the end , a couple of times I thought I had the answers but then it twisted and turned and I was wrong, so even though I knew some of the players ahead of time it was a good read.

This is my third Connelly book. I really like the way he writes and the story moves along quickly. But I have two complaints.

First, he doesn't seem to use contractions. "I am going.." "I will do that..."
I didn't notice it at first but now I can't not notice it. Using "I'm" and "I'll" is not jargon. It's standard English. People in a hurry don't say "I am leaving this place."

Second, almost every male character (particularly in authority) is treated with active contempt by Bosch. I realize he's an outsider but, c'mon. He can't be openly hostile to every person he meets.
I understand willing suspension of disbelief, but that concept shouldn't be very much evident in police procedurals that rely heavily on realism.

Other than those two things, the books are great.

Although The Black Ice is more than entertaining, it is not the most thrilling Connelly novel I have read. I have been reading the Harry Bosch novels in no particular order and have enjoyed each one. The Black Ice has more lulls in the action than most of the other ones I've read. It is well written and we learn more of Harry Bosch in this novel. He travels to Mexico in pursuit of a killer and the answers to mysteries involving several murders. The travel and the transition to a foreign place requires more writing of the scenery and background than Connelly usually includes, so this creates the lull in action. The mystery is a good one and Connelly provides an excellent twist in the conclusion.

Having grown up in the upper Midwest (eastern Montana), I know all about black ice. It is deceptive - the road looks perfectly fine, but if you aren't very careful, and if you hit a patch just right (or wrong, I suppose, would be more correct), it can send you careening off in an unexpected direction. This idea is used to good effect in this very excellent novel by Michael Connelly.

Harry Bosch only knew about the killing because one of the transmissions happened to go out on the regular frequency. He was angry, because he was supposed to be on call that night for any murders, so he decided to go and crash the party, so to speak. When he arrived, it was to discover that one of the vice cops - Calexio Moore - had apparently taken a shotgun, propped himself against the bathtub, held it to his face and pulled both the triggers with his toe. There wasn't much left of his face. When the body is finally moved and searched, a note is found in his back pocket which reads "I found out who I was."

Harry is told in no uncertain terms that his help is not wanted on this case but because Harry is completely incapable of letting things go, he begins to investigate the matter anyway. What he discovers eventually leads him to the barrio Cal grew up in, in Calexico - right across the border from Mexicali. From bull fights to a castle on a hill, Harry's time spent in this area is vivid and beautifully described.

This is an amazing book. Fans of noir, thrillers, good mysteries and/or this series will love this Bosch story!