The Narrows (Paperback)

The Poet is active again. The brilliant but deranged serial killer who somehow escaped in Michael Connelly's award-winning book THE POET has left the FBI the location of his killing field. He also leaves a note inviting Rachel Walling, his FBI combatant in the earlier book, to come and catch him. Since The Poet disappeared Rachel has been posted to the Dakotas as a form of FBI punishment for her failures, but she answers the call and heads straight for the Nevada desert where ten bodies are being exhumed. Joining her, in a round about sort of way is Harry Bosch, who happens to stumble into the investigation, but naturally, runs rings around the FBI.

Their partnership is an uneasy one. Bosch suspects that Rachel has been ordered by her superior to keep an eye on him and this is how she has decided to do it, Rachel knows that Bosch isn't telling her everything he knows about the case. And they're both pretty certain that The Poet is luring them into a trap that he will spring at a time of his choosing. It's a chase that will take them from Las Vegas all the way back to Harry's home turf in Los Angeles.

Michael Connelly has written a celebration of past books by joining together characters from his different series and stand-alones. This isn't the first time he has done this, having already brought together Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb in A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT.

This is certainly not the most compelling book in the Harry Bosch series, but to give it its dues, the detective work was clever and insightful. Where it fell down for me was in the pacing. It drifts along for an inordinate length of time before there was any real interaction between the killer and the protagonists. In place of the head-to-head confrontations between Harry Bosch and The Poet, the story was taken up with Bosch butting heads with the FBI. While this was entertaining to begin with, its continuation became irritating because it impeded the flow of the story.

THE NARROWS never really delivers on the promises it makes through the knowledge that a heartless killer is out there possibly hunting the hunters. Comparing it to a couple of the books from which the characters were taken, I thought THE POET was a more face-paced thriller that contained much edgier drama, while the previous Harry Bosch book LOST LIGHT gave us a more introspective analysis of the Bosch persona, which epitomises the Harry Bosch series, while also providing a heart-pounding thriller.

An unusual but effective feature employed by Connelly was to shift from a first person narrative to a third person description from chapter to chapter. Whenever Bosch too the scene, it was told from his perspective, but Connelly gave himself the freedom to describe events outside of Bosch's realm too.

It's a good thing I'm just wild about Harry or I'd be wondering what all the fuss was about. Although it was a treat to have the interwoven characters and past storylines joined, I felt the story fell a little flat.

the children of Los Angeles are told. Of Connelly’s 14th novel, which takes its name from the LA flood drainage system, it is advice best taken. If you are new to his work, that is – because THE NARROWS is essentially both a coming together of all Connelly’s work up to this point, and, I think, a renaissance. If you’re a long-term reader, disregard it entirely. Dive in. Indeed, you probably already have.

The Poet is back in business. The serial killer escaped at the conclusion of Connelly’s novel of the same name. The official word, though, was that he had been killed. But now he’s surfaced again, and leads the FBI to a site in the barren Mojave desert where they begin to uncover fresh victims. The FBI brings in agent Rachel Walling, who worked the original case, as an advisor. Meanwhile, in L.A….an old acquaintance of Harry Bosch’s dies. His widow comes to the retired homicide-detective-turned-PI and asks him to investigate, citing some very suspicious circumstances that suggest the death was anything but natural.

The pre-publication buzz about this novel was remarkable – helped along no doubt by the fact that no advanced copies were doled out, destined in the end for sites like eBay. The level of hype may be part of the reason why I’m a little disappointed. Hell, not very though, it’s still a terrific book. Although while I was suspecting it might be Connelly’s best, it’s not quite.

As I’ve said, THE NARROWS is a melding of all his work to date. As a result, it is actually not quite as convincing as all the other Bosch novels unfailingly are. Too, Connelly has always been excellent at stitching his work into real-life; other authors often try, but the result often seems perfunctory and vacuous. Here, though, while the copious references might absolutely delight some fans, I thought he went slightly over the top, referencing to such an extent that it sometimes becomes rather surreal, making this book neither of this world nor quite of the fictional one – it seems to exist in an awkward limbo. Sometimes, the touches are magical, but here I think he’s trying slightly too hard – after all, the reader is all too aware of the true nature of Connelly’s world, and the fact that these characters and events don’t exist in reality, just their own internal one - even if it’s nice to think that, somewhere, they may do, and no matter how many times they chat about the movie Blood Work. (It was nice to see Ian Rankin, though, if only in pictorial rather than corporeal form!)

All that above, though, is just me being pedantic and silly. Because, when it comes right down to it, I did love this book. I didn’t even mind too much that we don’t spend a lot of time in L.A., Connelly’s evocation of which is masterful and a great strength of his series. After a while, I didn’t at all miss the exceptional passages about the city. Mainly because I didn’t have time to, the plot moves at such thrilling pace. It’s slick, engrossing, and interlocks just as excellently as it did in The Poet. I certainly would not be surprised if Connelly, and his characters, came back from this work even stronger than before. Considering that he’s probably the best crime writer in America, that bodes incredibly well. He’s also the most accomplished crime writer I know at keeping his series fresh, and once again there’s a wealth of new directions he could go after this.

THE NARROWS is very well-written, very enjoyable, and very clever. It shows a crime-writer writing as crime-writers write best. The conclusion, incorporating the aforementioned narrows, is tense and, along with a nice twist, forms an excellent culmination to the book.

The last word, though, must go to Bosch. Almost stereotypically fascinating, he stands out because he is probably the least static protagonist in all crime fiction. Both his situation and his character are continually undergoing an evolution, and of course even more is to come now that he’s discovered he’s a parent:
“All I knew was that I didn’t want to teach her anything. I felt tainted by the paths I had taken in my life and the things I knew. I had nothing from it I wanted her to have. I just wanted her to teach me.”

the children of Los Angeles are told. Of Connelly's 14th novel, which takes its name from the LA flood drainage system, it is advice best taken. If you are new to his work, that is - because THE NARROWS is essentially both a coming together of all Connelly's work up to this point, and, I think, a renaissance. If you're a long-term reader, disregard it entirely. Dive in. Indeed, you probably already have.

The Poet is back in business. The serial killer escaped at the conclusion of Connelly's novel of the same name. The official word, though, was that he had been killed. But now he's surfaced again, and leads the FBI to a site in the barren Mojave desert where they begin to uncover fresh victims. The FBI brings in agent Rachel Walling, who worked the original case, as an advisor. Meanwhile, in L.A....an old acquaintance of Harry Bosch's dies. His widow comes to the retired homicide-detective-turned-PI and asks him to investigate, citing some very suspicious circumstances that suggest the death was anything but natural.

The pre-publication buzz about this novel was remarkable - helped along no doubt by the fact that no advanced copies were doled out, destined in the end for sites like eBay. The level of hype may be part of the reason why I'm a little disappointed. Hell, not very though, it's still a terrific book. Although while I was suspecting it might be Connelly's best, it's not quite.

As I've said, THE NARROWS is a melding of all his work to date. As a result, it is actually not quite as convincing as all the other Bosch novels unfailingly are. Too, Connelly has always been excellent at stitching his work into real-life; other authors often try, but the result often seems perfunctory and vacuous. Here, though, while the copious references might absolutely delight some fans, I thought he went slightly over the top, referencing to such an extent that it sometimes becomes rather surreal, making this book neither of this world nor quite of the fictional one - it seems to exist in an awkward limbo. Sometimes, the touches are magical, but here I think he's trying slightly too hard - after all, the reader is all too aware of the true nature of Connelly's world, and the fact that these characters and events don't exist in reality, just their own internal one - even if it's nice to think that, somewhere, they may do, and no matter how many times they chat about the movie Blood Work. (It was nice to see Ian Rankin, though, if only in pictorial rather than corporeal form!)

All that above, though, is just me being pedantic and silly. Because, when it comes right down to it, I did love this book. I didn't even mind too much that we don't spend a lot of time in L.A., Connelly's evocation of which is masterful and a great strength of his series. After a while, I didn't at all miss the exceptional passages about the city. Mainly because I didn't have time to, the plot moves at such thrilling pace. It's slick, engrossing, and interlocks just as excellently as it did in The Poet. I certainly would not be surprised if Connelly, and his characters, came back from this work even stronger than before. Considering that he's probably the best crime writer in America, that bodes incredibly well. He's also the most accomplished crime writer I know at keeping his series fresh, and once again there's a wealth of new directions he could go after this.

THE NARROWS is very well-written, very enjoyable, and very clever. It shows a crime-writer writing as crime-writers write best. The conclusion, incorporating the aforementioned narrows, is tense and, along with a nice twist, forms an excellent culmination to the book.

The last word, though, must go to Bosch. Almost stereotypically fascinating, he stands out because he is probably the least static protagonist in all crime fiction. Both his situation and his character are continually undergoing an evolution, and of course even more is to come now that he's discovered he's a parent:
"All I knew was that I didn't want to teach her anything. I felt tainted by the paths I had taken in my life and the things I knew. I had nothing from it I wanted her to have. I just wanted her to teach me."