The Black Ice Review

Title:  The Black Ice
Author:  Michael Connelly
Publisher:  Vision
Release Date:  June 1, 1993

My Rating:  4 Outstanding ♥'s

Synopsis:

Narcotics office Cal Moore's orders were to look into the city's latest drug killing. Instead, he ends up in a motel room with a fatal bullet wound to the head and a suicide note stuffed in his back pocket.

Working the case, LAPD detective Harry Bosch is reminded of the primal police rule he learned long ago: don't look for the facts, but the glue that holds them together.
Soon Harry's making some very dangerous connections, starting with a dead cop and leading to a bloody string of murders that wind from Hollywood Boulevard to the back alleys south of the border. Now this battle-scarred veteran will find himself in the center of a complex and deadly game - one in which he may be the next and likeliest victim.

Review:
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch strikes out on his own to investigate the apparent suicide of an narcotics officer in this twisted, gritty police procedural.  His orders are to leave it alone, but Harry's gut is telling him something is wrong about the whole thing and well . . . we all know Harry doesn't play by the rules.  Meantime, he's assigned another officer's cases and upon closer examination, he strongly suspects that the murder and suicide cases are connected.  After yet another murder occurs, all clues and roads point Harry toward Mexico and so he follows the evidence and finds himself in the middle of a very complex, volatile, deadly situation involving drug cartels and corrupt cops . . . a situation where all is not as it seems.

The Black Ice showcases Bosch's classic, hard-nosed detective character to perfection.  Like the solitary coyote roaming the hills around his home, Harry is comfortable living life alone, skirting the edges of society.  Intense, gritty, and as tenacious as a junk-yard dog, once on the scent of a trail Harry never backs down.  There's no "quit" in him.  Connelly does an outstanding job developing this character, and I definitely want to see where he takes Bosch over the course of this series.  The plot and characters in this book will keep you guessing right up through the shocking twist near the end.  A Must Read!

My Rating:  4 Outstanding ♥'s . . . And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra