::READERS REVIEWS::

Another winner - Connelly just keeps turning them out, I don't know how he does it but he always has a good story and knows how to tell it so that you can't wait to turn the page.
This is another in the Bosch series and it tells a little more about what made him into the man he is.

A Gripping Story - So far this has been my favorite Harry Bosch novel to date and I like them all immensely. In this novel not only do you get your usual police work that you come to expect from this series but you also get some courtroom drama as Harry is on trial for violating a killers civil rights. Michael Connelly is really developing the Harry Bosch character expertly and I find the books impossible to put down. I like these books so much that I really dread the day that catch up with the series or Michael Connelly decides to end it. In the meantime if you are looking for a well written engrossing police procedural, check out the Harry Bosch series.

And the hits just keep on comin' - If you've never read a book from the Harry Bosch series - do so in order, starting with The Black Echo and then the Black Ice. Connelly's development of story lines and characters builds with each book. The Concrete Blonde is the third in the series and, so far, the best of the bunch - but for its full impact, read the other two first. You will be very happy you dove into the Bosch series. This is great crime and detective writing and story telling. Bosch is quite the complex individual, but others around him are also built by Connelly with depth. As for the stories - as you would want, they are filled with twists and turns all the way to the very end.

THIRD HARRY BOSCH - Loved the first one. Thought the second book was better than the first. Now CONCRETE BLOND, best of the three!! These Harry Bosch books are old but certainly not outdated. Great stories with outstanding characters. Bosch is some detective. This book deals with events four years back and now. A serial killer named the Dollmaker shot dead by Harry is back killing again and Harry is being sued for the Dollmaker's death. Great court room drama and police work. Very HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. On to book #4.

The best - Michael Connelly is the best in this genre. After reading all Harry Bosch books several times, I have reached a conclusion that this is the pinnacle of the popular Harry Bosch series. The characters and plot are so realistic, you'd think you know them in person. I can't complement enough about this book. I keep buying his new books but they are somehow sterile and processed compared to his earlier work. Here in this book, you can smell the odor of the LA street, porn shop, courtroom and Bosch himself.

One of the best - The third in the Harry Bosch series is one of the best of the entire thirteen currently available (yes, I've read them all). This entry has everything. Hard boiled Harry is the defendant in a civil trial, the plaintiff the widow of a suspected serial killer, "The Dollmaker", whom Harry shot to death four years ago. The plaintiff's attorney is a star, Honey "Money" Chandler, whose trial record is legendary and who is characterizing Harry as a coldblooded rogue cop. Harry is stuck with the unimaginative LA hack provided by the city. Just as the trial begins, a note appears in the police station taunting him with the claim that The Dollmaker is alive and well, and to prove it, provides directions to the grave of one of his victims.

The harrowing trial itself, along with Harry's attempts to discover the truth - did he shoot the wrong man? - form the plot of this novel, which is tautly organized and full of mis-steps and surprises. Harry's colleagues come under suspicion, and it's likely that someone within the department is acting as a snitch. One of the most suspenseful sequences in the book is the account of an illegal search that he conducts in a suspect's home. Another is the lengthy passage when he fears that his lady friend, whom he is coming to love, has been targeted by the psycho. The outcomes of both trial and investigation are truly unforeseen.

Michael Connelly is a master of the genre, and The Concrete Blonde shows what he can do. Highly recommended.

First, it was robbery. Then, it was drugs. What we have here now is prostitution. - The Black Echo, the first in the Bosch series, was the first time that I have ever read something by Michael Connelly. It was good, but it wasn't very great. The sequel, named The Black Ice, was a bit better, but was still lacking something. Then comes The Concrete Blonde, and I will say that it's much better than the first two. Here, Detective Harry Bosch is in court and is being sued by the widow of a supposed killer named the Dollmaker (because of the way he paints his victims' faces). She believes that her late husband was innocent the entire time, and that Bosch had set him up in order to close the case. And what's worse is that a corpse buried in concrete (hence the name "Concrete Blonde") has just been found, and the Dollmaker's trademark is found on the body. This leads Bosch to grow skeptical whether of not he may have killed the wrong man.

This is a well-crafted, sharply written, and cleverly structured crime thriller that crawls into your skin and just wants to stay in there. This is both a solid detective thriller and a courtroom drama, a perfect blend of tension and humor. The adult content is strong as always, so this is not for those who can't handle the issues of murder and prostitution. The climax may not be very enticing, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of this book. I had an excellent time reading The Concrete Blonde, and I hope that the next installment, The Last Coyote, is just as great.

Grade: A

Compelling!!! - I've read most of the Harry Bosch books, but had missed this one. It's really great, throwing the reader of track repeatedly, with unexpected twists and turns. Unfortunately, I didn't like his most recent book, "9 Dragons." "The Reversal" is coming out soon, and I hope he returns to the great form of Concrete Blond. I hope he hasn't run out of steam with Harry.

Gripping from Page 1 - As always, Connelly's writing interests you from the first sentence and keeps you guessing right up to the end.

Disappointed - I am reading all of Connelly's novels in the order they were published. The Concrete Blonde is his third published novel, © 1994. I was very impressed and entertained with Black Echo, his first published novel. Black Ice was okay, but not as interesting as his first. The Concrete Blonde was a huge disappointment. I know this review conflicts with most other reviewers' opinions. Oh well, I've been known to disagree with the majority before.

The courtroom drama just didn't connect with me. Maybe I'm just not the type of mystery fan who enjoys courtroom drama. Lengthy narrative about testimony and all the tricks of the trade that trial lawyers use are things that I can read about in other novels by authors who actually were lawyers. Connelly's narrative seemed the result of notes taken from interviews with lawyers rather than having an intimate understanding of the process and providing a unique point of view. The whole courtroom drama seemed cliché to me, like I had read it all many times before in somebody else's novel.

Because of the whole courtroom thing--a cliche judge and two cliched attorneys--I quickly grew impatient with the story. I fully read Chapters 1 thru 5, then skimmed 6, 7, and 8 and then jumped all the way to Chapter 22. My disappointment was that I didn't miss a beat in the story by not reading over 100 pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the last 90 pages, but even then I found myself skimming a lot of paragraphs. Connelly likes to include a lot of narrative detail about place, setting and non-suspense activities, and for the most part I'm okay with that, but sometimes I think he goes too deep and stalls the momentum of the story.

I'm a murder mystery fan, which means I will continue to read Connelly's novels. I just hope they get better than The Concrete Blonde as he refines his craft.