I originally read Lincoln Lawyer when it first came out. I stumbled onto one of his Harry Bosch novels last summer. That prompted me start from the beginning, skipping the non Bosch stories like The Poet, and Bloodwork. Unfortunately he crosses his stories so that his characters cross from one book to another. I also find it interesting that he sort of breaks the 4th wall by mentioning that Bloodwork was made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood. Weird.
What do you guys think of his stuff? Oh, one more thing. I like how his characters age in realtime.
Years ago, I ran across an article which was writing about the new generation of noir writers (it called them the nouveau noir writers, predictably), and it featured Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and George Pelecanos. I hadn’t heard of any of them, but picked up books by all of them. I like Connelly, but Lehane is my favorite of the three. I have read most of the Bosch novels, which I think are great. I don’t think he has Lehane’s talent for putting together the kind of emotionally complex book that you put down and say ‘Wow!’ after reading, but they are solid stories.
I’ve read The Lincoln Lawyer and Chasing the Dime (another standalone) and found them both to be very readable, entertaining popular fiction. I tried to read the first Harry Bosch novel but for some reason never really got into it. I’m wondering if I should try it again, or try one of the later ones instead, or give up on Harry Bosch.
Love him. Read all of his books so far (well, up to about the most recent three out)
All the Harry Bosch ones are great. His characters crossover a lot into each other’s stories.
For example, The Poet is a stand alone, but three characters in it go on to appear in some Harry Bosch books and another stand alone. He also wrote a few that had another character in them too (Terry McCaleb)…Blood Work being a stand alone that features him and then two later ones that are Harry Bosch novels.
Even Void Moon has a few characters that show up in others (the case manager), but that one mostly is set apart from the other books as a whole.
Only stand alone that I’ve never seen a reference to again was Chasing the Dime, but it doesn’t matter, Chasing the Dime is a very, very good one as well.
And then there’s the Mickey Haller ones, which also include Harry later on.
Great stuff. I’d strongly recommend reading them all to everyone.
PS: Not to give anything away, but you might want to read The Poet before you read The Narrows…because The Poet is kind of like part one and The Narrows is like part two.
Reading The Narrows first will spoil The ending of The Poet for you.
I’ve read most of Connelly’s books and like them quite a bit. Interesting that those three were grouped together. I like them all, but I’m not sure his work is that similar. I’d put Connelly more in line with John Sandford (who I like better, even if he has gotten very formulaic with the Prey books.)
Pelecanos is much grittier and realistic in his writing (IMO), which sometimes makes it a little difficult to get into at first. His characters and situations they get into ring truer, even if they aren’t always quite as entertaining.
I’d put Lehane is a completely different class. “The Given Day,” for example, is one of my favorite novels of the last 10 years. It’s literature, not just popular fiction. I’m not taking anything away from popular fiction, it’s what I read most, but there is a difference. The McKenzie/Gennaro books are closer in line with Pelecanos than with Connelly.
I love Connelly’s books and have read them all. I agree with Southern Yankee that Connelly’s work is most like John Sandford’s. And thanks for the tips on Lehane and Pelecanos. Two new authors for me!
I’m a huge fan of Michael Connelly as well, and I think I’ve read all of his books, some several times. He’s one of my favorites.
I went to a book discussion with him and Pelecanos five or six years ago. Both of them were really great guys, not arrogant at all , which was great to see. Pelecanos good naturedly ribbed him about getting one of his books sold as a movie, and Connelly said that that “it was great selling it, but it would have been even better is anyone had gone to see it!” That was well before the Lincoln Lawyer success, so it was nice to see that he was a good guy.
My kindle says I’m 53% through The Narrows. Oh Well.