MICHAEL CONNELLY – The Black Echo. Hieronymous Bosch #1. Little Brown, hardcover, 1992. St.Martin’s, paperback, July 1993. Reprinted many times since.

   This is Connelly’s first novel, and if it has any value as a predictor I think we have some good books to look forward to. According to the publicity, he is at work on the second novel featuring Harry Bosch. Bosch is an ex-“star” LAPD homicide detective, more or less in exile and disgrace after shooting an unarmed man. He is a Vietnam vet, an ex-tunnel rat, and has been an outsider and a loner all his life.

   As the book opens he is called to a homicide involving a murdered man in a long pipe around the reservoir, a tunnel, if you will. The victim turns out to be another ’Nam tunnel rat, with whom had Harry served. Harry still alternates between nightmares and insomnia from his war experiences, and this doesn’t bode well for his future peace of mind.

   As the case develops, the murdered man appears to have been involved in a major robbery in which the city’s sewer system was used to tunnel into a bank vault As Harry pursues this, he discovers that the FBI had suspected the dead man, and indeed know about Harry as well. Rather than acceding to his request for cooperation, they try to use pressure within the LAPP to force him off the case.

   When this fails, he is assigned to work with one of the FBI agents, Eleanor Wish, full time. Do I reveal too much by saying that there is a mutual attraction? The plot becomes very complex, with links back to Vietnam and possible corruption within the law enforcement agencies. The ending may or may not surprise you.

   This is not really a cop novel, though it is about cops and has many procedural aspects. Indeed, it is almost anti-cop in that aside from Bosch and Wish, nearly all of the law enforcement agents are not attractively portrayed at all. It is as much as anything else a book about some of the things that war does to people; and, of course, it is a book about Harry Bosch.

   Connelly writes very effectively, with a lean narrative style that moves the story along but still leaves room for adequate characterization. As in most books, characters other than the main few are merely sketched in, but Bosch himself is well-drawn. I didn’t like the culmination of the plot. I just didn’t believe that things would have realistically happened that way, with those people; not quite deus ex machina, but something similar.

   I thoroughly enjoyed the book until the end, and even then was not sorry I had read it. I think Connelly has a bright future, and look forward to seeing more of Harry Bosch. Recommended.