Review of The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

The Black Echo is the first book in a sequence featuring the detective, Hieronymous ‘Harry’ Bosch. (Yes, he was named after the famous painter!) I had managed to get hold of a volume with the first and second novels to feature this particular detective some time ago, so I looked forward to meeting with him in this first tale.

Harry is a cop who’s recently been demoted to working in the Hollywood Division of LAPD and the book opens with him investigating the possible O.D. of a drug use at the Mulholland Dam. The body being found in a tunnel well know as a place for vagrants to doss.

When Harry arrives to investigate he finds that he knows or use to know the dead man, Meadows. Like Bosch Meadows was a tunnel rat during the Vietnam War. Although he had telephone contact with him recently, he hadn’t seen him in 15 years. He did know that the guy had a drug habit which seemed to be the source of all his troubles with the police over the last 10 years or so.

Harry isn’t happy about the circumstances around the death and doesn’t believe that it’s a simple overdose. Certain facts make him believe that Meadows was killed elsewhere and put in the tunnel in such a way to look like a drug overdose.

As he delves deeper into the case, Harry finds that it is linked to a robbery, a month ago, when a gang tunnelled into a safety deposit room in a bank and made off with the contents of dozens of boxes. Meadows used to be tunnel expert so it looks like he was involved.

At this point the story takes off and over 400+ pages it weaves its merry way across the Los Angeles canvas upon which it is painted. The plot is quite intricate and some would say convoluted. I disagree, I thought it was well constructed and never too long winded. In the first book of any new character, you have to give the writer some time to set out who he is and where he’s coming from.

If you’re interested the Black Echo of the title refers to the feeling the soldiers had when the entered the tunnels in Vietnam.

Onward to the follow-up, The Black Ice!