The Black Echo

by Michael Connelly

482 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2002 by Warner Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-446-61273-9

(35 reviews)

For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch -- hero, maverick, nighthawk -- the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal.The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell. Now, Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city to the tortuous link that must be uncovered, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit.Joining with an enigmatic and seductive female FBI agent, pitted against enemies inside his own department, Bosch must make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, as he tracks down a killer whose true face will shock him.

10 editions

Stefan reviewed The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch, #1)

Review of 'The Black Echo' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

So, after seeing the fourth season of Bosch, I decided it is time to read the novels it is based upon. Actually, Michael Connelly is also involved in the TV series that is derived from his novels. The Black Echo was published in 1992, and thankfully many changes have been made from the novels to TV, so I could enjoy the first book with a fairly new storyline.

In the novel, Harry Bosch is still the cop, has a bit different background because of the time frame (Vietnam veteran instead Golf war), but in the end he is quite the same kind of person. Maybe even a bit less sympathetic than in the television series. There is also Jerry Edgar and Eleanor Wish in the novel, but the roles are differently set. And while the story of The Black Echo was adapted as season 3, it span quite a different world, following a former fellow from the war named Meadows being murdered for cover-up.

One learns quite a lot about the man Harry Bosch and his history in this first book. It becomes clear that he is a man of principles, a stubborn and self-confident kind of guy. There seem to be no friends in his life and he surely makes none the way he behaves. Of course, he gets to solve the case, and it turns out rather different than the reader might suspect.

I like the style, Connelly develops the story and its characters. There seem no usual types of men and women, where I think the women come very short (maybe the 90s style). And, as said, the resolution came quite unexpected. I’ll surely follow up on this.

Nachtfalke reviewed The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch, #1)

Review of 'The black echo' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Like many, I came to the novels through the Amazon series, and, in retrospect, that might have been some sort of mistake: The novel is, from today's point of view, a routine police procedural, and it's kind of hard to find the kind of appeal in it that might have attracted the audiences back in 1993. But that's not the book's, let alone the author's fault.