Do yourself a favor. Buy a used copy or better yet get it from the library.

This is thoroughly middle of the road stuff. I am really getting tired of the "cop gone bad" angle that he is now putting in all of his Bosch books. He needs a new schtick, already!

But it is well written. I will give him that. It is quite readable but also quite forgettable.

Yes, I do realize this book was published a few years ago, but I just finished reading it.

I'm still not fond of first person, but when it comes to Connelly, I'll make an exception.

This book was a wonderful addition to the Harry Bosch novels and a wonderful sequel to The Poet.

Now all I have to do is buy Lost Light, The Closers, Echo Park...and of course find time to read them. Maybe I'll have reviews of those in a few years. ~L~

I'd recommend this book to those that like crime thrillers/mysteries, stuff along those lines. ;)

I'm a big Connelly and Bosch fan, and I've read most of the HB books. Since other reviewers have summerized the story, I'll get to my opinions. This is a good story but, I felt Harry lost a lot of his "edge" in this book. Unlike the books,Harry tells his story in the 1st person which I feel diluted his razor sharp persona. In the other books, I've really enjoyed the descriptions of the true to life details of police work, the "politics" of the L.A. Police Dept.,and it's interactions with other agencies, media, city government etc.. I thought much of the investigative detail in this story was repititious and uninteresting. The "shock" value of the murders, condition of the corpses and "smell of death" descriptions were reptitious after while. I also became impatient with the segments he is with his ex wife and daughter. His interludes with them are tedious, and add little to the story. However, once the we get to the last quarter of the book, the story becomes a typical Connelly/Bosch page turner. Since we know who the bad guy is throughout the book, we don't get the usual Connelly shocks and surprises. However, the action that brings the conclusion is typical Connelly, "what's going to happen next" writing that left me feeling that I had read a good story. The feeling I didn't get, that I've felt with every other Bosch book, is "What a terrific movie this would make!"

As a relatively new reader to the Harry Bosch novels (This was the 2nd out of 3 I've read so far and I'm eager to check out more,) it's hard to say where The Narrows stands when compared with the rest of the series. I will say it was a bit of a disappointing follow-up to the nearly perfect Lost Light, but not a bad book in its own right.

I hadn't read The Poet, but didn't need to, as The Narrows does a fine job of setting him up as a standalone villain. Rachel from that story joins Harry Bosch here as their cases intersect, leading to a serial killer. The chapters also alternate between being from the perspective of Rachel (3rd person) and Harry (1st person), sometimes within the same chapter, but I thought it worked and added a fresh feeling to the story.

As with many of the Harry Bosch novels, it never stops amazing me how Connelly manages to think of such complex and layered mystery stories and yet manages to tie them together so perfectly at the end but he's done it again here.

There are a couple factors that prevent this book from reaching its full potential, however. The pacing's all over the place; sometimes the book's a real page-turner, at others it seems unbearably slow, like when Harry's uneventfully exploring a boat early on that seems to drag on forever. What's also a little disappointing is the reduced time spent in LA; it's a city that Connelly has proven to know extremely well and to feature in the plot with such passion and atmosphere and spirit that its general absence here is felt. Connelly just doesn't manage to do for Las Vegas what he managed to do with LA; same goes for the desert settings. Eleanor Wish, Harry's x-wife, seemed a little too bitter and distant in this story; I'm not sure what happened there. But these flaws aside, it's a good read and recommended. It's a good story with very memorable characters and action scenes.

As a relatively new reader to the Harry Bosch novels (This was the 2nd out of 3 I've read so far and I'm eager to check out more,) it's hard to say where The Narrows stands when compared with the rest of the series. I will say it was a bit of a disappointing follow-up to the nearly perfect Lost Light, but not a bad book in its own right.

I hadn't read The Poet, but didn't need to, as The Narrows does a fine job of setting him up as a standalone villain. Rachel from that story joins Harry Bosch here as their cases intersect, leading to a serial killer. The chapters also alternate between being from the perspective of Rachel (3rd person) and Harry (1st person), sometimes within the same chapter, but I thought it worked and added a fresh feeling to the story.

As with many of the Harry Bosch novels, it never stops amazing me how Connelly manages to think of such complex and layered mystery stories and yet manages to tie them together so perfectly at the end but he's done it again here.

There are a couple factors that prevent this book from reaching its full potential, however. The pacing's all over the place; sometimes the book's a real page-turner, at others it seems unbearably slow, like when Harry's uneventfully exploring a boat early on that seems to drag on forever. What's also a little disappointing is the reduced time spent in LA; it's a city that Connelly has proven to know extremely well and to feature in the plot with such passion and atmosphere and spirit that its general absence here is felt. Connelly just doesn't manage to do for Las Vegas what he managed to do with LA; same goes for the desert settings. Eleanor Wish, Harry's x-wife, seemed a little too bitter and distant in this story; I'm not sure what happened there. But these flaws aside, it's a good read and recommended to fans of the series. To those unfamiliar with the series I'd easily recommend Lost Light, the book that came right before this one, first, as that's a stunning and very well-crafted story while The Narrows, while good, suffers from a bit of a slower pace than I expect from this series. Still a good story with very memorable characters and action scenes.

I have read all of the Harry Bosch series (beginning with The Black Echo), plus Connelly's related novels. This is the best and most exciting of the lot. It begins with the chilling news that The Poet, a serial killer responsible for a large number of murders, is back. FBI agent Rachel Walling hoped she had killed him, but he obviously survived and escaped. Now, he is killing again. The FBI finds the bodies of more victims buried in the California desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Retired FBI agent Terry McCaleb has also died, and his wife thinks he was murdered. She enlists the aid of Harry Bosch (now retired from the LAPD) to find out. He initially hits a stone wall of FBI agents, but Rachel Walling knows that crusty, old Bosch is a superb detective, so she joins forces with him. But as they pursue The Poet, he stalks them, leading to non-stop and steadily-increasing excitement. If you enjoy thrillers, you should enjoy this.

When the Poet - one of the most cunning of the villains created by Michael Connelly - who is known to be an ex-FBI agent named Robert Backus, resurfaces, it quickly pulls in both Rachel Walling, whom he formerly mentored, and Harry Bosch - who is being framed. Backus is again cleverly leading everyone around by the nose, keeping about 3 steps ahead.

Probably the best thing about the book is the very cleverness of the villain. Even though we don't spend much time in his head, we see the fruits of his labours throughout the book. Most people who read thrillers enjoy a good villain - because otherwise the PI, cop, detective, whomever, wouldn't have any sort of challenge. The very best writers in the business can actually make you like their villains, make them almost sympathetic. Not Backus, however - he's pretty much just evil.

Definitely a part of the Bosch series not to be missed - big recommend from this reviewer!