Product Description

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10313 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-13
• Released on: 2009-10-13
• Formats: Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 9
• Binding: Audio CD

Features

• ISBN13: 9781600247439
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, October 2009: An investigation into a cold-blooded murder introduces Detective Harry Bosch to a Chinese underworld lurking in the dark recesses of the City of Angels. Its tentacles are far reaching, yet it remains shrouded in secrecy due to time-honored cultural traditions that keep the exploited from speaking out. To the victim's family, Bosch promises revenge, but when his own daughter suddenly becomes a target, he promises blood. However, working a case with leads on both sides of the Pacific provides little room (or time) for error. 9 Dragons is a gritty, coffee-and-cigarettes crime thriller full of smart twists and generous helpings of suspense. Fans of Michael Connelly can expect another exceptional thrill ride, while newcomers will be immediately engaged by the tortured and unrelenting Bosch. "He knew one day it would come to this, that the darkness would find [his daughter] and that she would be used to get him," writes Connelly. "That day was now." --Dave Callanan

From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Connelly nimbly balances Harry Bosch's personal and professional lives, both of which take a substantial beating, in his 14th novel to feature the LAPD homicide detective. Bosch, last seen with his recently discovered half-brother, lawyer Mickey Haller, in The Brass Verdict (2008), investigates the shooting death of a liquor store owner. While the murder has none of the hallmarks of a regular gang hit, Bosch discovers the dead man was paying a weekly protection fee to a man Bosch suspects is part of a Chinese triad. Even though Bosch is warned to drop the case, he doesn't take the threat seriously until he receives a video showing his 13-year-old daughter, Madeline, being kidnapped in Hong Kong, where she lives with her mother and Bosch's ex-wife, a former FBI agent. Bosch flies to Hong Kong to try to rescue Madeline, prepared to face down one of the world's most powerful crime syndicates. Tenacious as ever, Bosch is even more formidable in his role as a protective father. 10-city author tour. (Oct. 13)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Nine Dragons ignites Bosch's personal and professional lives, bringing them together in an explosive manner....Harry's feverish race against the clock and the international dateline...plunges the reader into a firestorm of danger and tragedy....To say that Nine Dragons is coiled tight with suspense understates Connelly's accomplishment in portraying Bosch at the cusp of a new world." (Los Angeles Times Paula L. Woods )

"A Michael Connelly novel is a thing of cool beauty, meticulously plotted, rigorously controlled....In Nine Dragons, Bosch's crisp, cold-eyed rationality is blown to smithereens. Stoicism goes right out the window. And the vivid drama of this contrast gives the novel its ferocious energy. Once under way, you can't stop reading Nine Dragons, and not just because you want to know whodunit. You want to know how Bosch is going to operate in a whole new kind of darkness." (Chicago Tribune Julia Keller )

"May be the most wrenching Bosch novel yet....The jagged intersection between a cop's personal and professional lives is a recurring theme in many crime novels, but never has it been portrayed with the razor-edge sharpness and psychological acuity that Connelly brings to the subjects. And that's layered underneath the nonstop action of the novel's last half-the kind of full-throttle, blood-spattered narrative road race one associates with Lee Child or Stephen Hunter." (Booklist Bill Ott )

"Engrossing...one of the best in this series. Nine Dragons works as a gripping police procedural, an intense character study and an international thriller....Connelly is one of the best living crime writers and the consistency of his work continues through Nine Dragons." (South Florida Sun-Sentinel Oline H. Cogdill )

"Bosch is back...this latest appearance is a complex and meticulously crafted tale...packed with jump and juice....This is Bosch at his sharpest and Connelly at his most engaging. High-voltage stuff." (Oregonian Katherine Dunn )

"Bestseller Connelly nimbly balances Harry Bosch's personal and professional lives....Tenacious as ever, Bosch is even more formidable in his role as a protective father." (Publishers Weekly )

"Connelly unveils his most personal Bosch story yet with this fish-out-of-water story. The pages fly...another Connelly masterpiece." (Library Journal Jeff Ayers )

"Remarkably fine....With Nine Dragons, Connelly has taken a chance by transforming a character millions have come to know well. In doing so, he has made Harry Bosch more human and interesting than ever." (Associated Press Bruce DeSilva )

"Connelly is in top form with the Bosch tale, his 15th: the story unfolds with exquisite procedural details; unexpected violence; and increased insight into the stoic, jazz-loving, relentless, flawed detective who bears the burden of every case." (Columbus Dispatch Nancy Gilson )

Customer Reviews

The Best Harry Bosch Tale Since Echo Park!
After disappointing Harry Bosch tales (The Overlook, The Brass Dragon) Connelly has brought back the Harry that hooked me in the earlier tales. Harry is still back in homicide (no closer duty for him) and during a slow night he is asked to investigate a shooting in a "rougher" section of LA. Harry and his partner (Ferras) grudgingly take the assignment and learn that a convenience store owner was murdered in his store. The case draws Harry's interest because he remembers the store and that the owner was once kind to him several years earlier. He assures the owner's son that he will catch the culprit.

As Harry starts to realize that this might not have been a routine robbery but a possible execution by a Triad hitman. Harry starts to zero in on a suspect and then receives a threatening call to tell him to back off. Harry shrugs it off and continues but then his investigation stalls when he receives a video showing that his daughter (Maddy) being kidnapped in Hong Kong. He rushes off to save her realizing that if he is not back by the end of the weekend a possible suspect in the shooting will be set free.

It is a tense plane ride to Hong Kong and Harry feels powerless because there is nothing he can do in the air. When he gets to Hong Kong he is aided by his ex-wife (Eleanor Wish) and her boyfriend. Harry has limited clues but through very good forensic science he was able to possibly know where to look for Maddy. It becomes a race to find Maddy because any delay could mean that she might already be dead.

The tension of the chase is so tense you can cut it with a knife and the "determined " Harry definitely shows through. There is one sequence at a boat where the action is pulse pounding and the tension rife.
The book also has a short but excellent appearance by Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer and Harry's half brother) and there are references to Jack McEvoy (Connelly's other main character). As long as Mr. Connelly can deliver Harry Bosch tales of this caliber, Harry will continue to be one of the most intriguing law enforcement figures in fiction today!

A terrific story
Nine Dragons starts with the murder of a Chinese shopkeeper in LA. Evidence connected to the murder makes LAPD Detective Harry Bosch suspect that triads were involved. Triads are vicious, powerful Chinese gangs, whose tentacles are everywhere, so Bosch turns to LAPD's Asian Gangs Unit for background information on triad activity in LA, and an ethnic-Chinese detective from the AGU is assigned to help out with the case. There is some immediate friction between the Chinese detective and Bosch, so when mysterious events threaten to derail the murder investigation, it's easy for Bosch to suspect that there's a leak somewhere in the LAPD, probably within the AGU itself.

But all that is put on the backburner when someone from Bosch's own family is kidnapped in Hong Kong, apparently by the same triad implicated in the shopkeeper's murder. The kidnappers' message is clear: BACK OFF! And that's when things really get interesting.

Connelly takes numerous threads and weaves them together to create a terrific story. The main thread, of course, is Bosch's desperate search for his kidnapped family-member; but interwoven with that is the murder investigation that preceded the kidnapping, with Connelly doing a fine job detailing the methodical, step-by-step investigative process, including some interesting developments in forensic science. And Bosch's attempt to discover the source of the leak that threatens to sabotage his murder investigation is interwoven with the personal friction developing between Bosch, his partner, and the Chinese detective from the AGU. Connelly weaves the various threads together to form an apparently satisfactory solution to all those puzzles, but an unexpected plot twist right at the end shows how misleading superficial appearances can be. The final clues change everything and lead Bosch to a conclusion that is simply stunning.

Nine Dragons is a terrific story, told by a real master.

Outstanding in every way!

I've long been a Connelly fan, especially of the Harry Bosch series. But I have to tell you, Connelly's surpassed himself with this one. As I've thought about it, I think this may well be the best Bosch book ever.

I won't rehash the whole story line here, as you can see that in the two other member reviews already up, and on the product page. Instead, I'd like to focus on why I've made such a grandiose statement.

The Bosch series is long-running and deservedly very successful. Of course, it's had its ups and downs; all series do. But Bosch is an iconic character from the Clint Eastwood mold of Dirty Harry and the Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns: the loner who battles through any obstacles to see right prevail and justice triumph, even if he has to break the rules. Eastwood's made a career of this, as has Connelly. That's a good thing. I like that kind of entertainment, as do a whole lot of other people, obviously.

However, in this book Connelly breaks new ground for the character, exploring an emotional vulnerability - his love for his daughter, and how it animates him - that we haven't seen before. It's the driving force of the story, and to continue the Eastwood analogy, it's the same variance on a "trademark" character we saw Eastwood explore in some of his amazing later works like "Unforgiven", "Million Dollar Baby", and "Gran Torino".

Connelly also takes Bosch into an exotic and fascinating new locale: Hong Kong. This is really a treat, and he does it very well. I'd have liked to have seen even more of his take on the area, as I know it well, having been there many times, but take it from me: what you do see is a really accurate portrayal of one of the world's truly unique locales.

The story moves forward in a very driving yet well-disciplined fashion; very exciting; intellectually stimulating, and well- and throroughly-plotted.

Six stars! But I guess I'll have to settle for five.