Review: The Black Box by Michael Connelly

The Black Box by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since I first read Black Echo, the 1st book in Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch Series, I have become a huge fan and follower of, what for me, is one the best crime series ever written.

Throughout all the books, I have seen Bosch growing from the wild, hot-headed and hard-drinking detective to a mature veteran, who’s still fighting for justice in his job working cold cases for the Open-Unsolved Unit of the LAPD. And as usual, using highly unorthodox methods, not afraid to “break” the rules if it means solving a case.

The Black Box is the 18th book in the series and there are two stories in it.
The story opens in 1992 during the chilling and traumatic events of the L.A. South Central riots to work on a homicide of a white woman that had been killed in an execution style in an alley. Because of the chaos during that time, the crime was never solved.

Twenty years later, Harry re-opens the case. He’s determined to solve the “White Snow” (as it had been named) murder. Watching him work with 20-year old police procedures and “battling” with the new technology was such fun. To see how he methodically gathers evidence on the case and how he follows the clues that no one else but him would see is a joyful journey. Fitting the pieces of a puzzle together!!! Amazing.
Though I thought the end was tied up too quickly with the solving of the case.

But the part I loved in this book was Harry’s relationship with his 16-year old daughter Maddie. His love for her, his guilt at leaving her alone so much and the way he tries to let her know how much she means to him was so endearing and poignant.

His daughter baked him and birthday cake and gave him a present of Art Pepper’s live 1981 recording (Harry loves jazz) and when listening to one of the songs, Patricia, he tells Maddie that Art Pepper had written that song, whilst in prison for heroin use, to tell his daughter, Patricia, how much he loved her…just blew me away!!!! Harry’s not a man of words….but I felt a knot in my throat at that very moment.

Maddie is quite an extraordinary girl, with something profound inside her……the scene where she’s crying after finishing reading a book was very poignant. She’s smart and has this insight that is truly amazing. She’s determined to be a cop like her father and though Harry has a few misgivings about her choice, he does things to help her if that is what she wants…like taking her to a firing range for practice.

I hope that the author will give us a Maddie Bosch Series one day……hopefully not having us waiting for too long!!!!!


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