The Narrows

From Publishers Weekly
Those who are familiar with the audio adaptations of Connelly's books will be delighted to see that Cariou lends his talents to Connelly's latest mystery, which is a sequel to The Poet (1996). At the center of this engrossing thriller is world-weary, retired L.A. homicide detective Harry Bosch. While investigating the death of ex-FBI profiler Terry McCalab, Bosch begins to suspect that the notorious serial killer The Poet, presumed dead, may be the culprit. As he digs deeper, Bosch meets and eventually joins forces with FBI agent Rachel Walling, who went up against The Poet the first time around. The novel's point of view cuts from Bosch's first-person commentary to the third-person perspectives of Walling and The Poet. Cariou handles these changes with professional ease. He gives Bosch a rough voice, raspy with experience, and provides Walling with a younger, but no less tough, intonation. Cariou's vocal dexterity becomes truly apparent, however, when he reads Connelly's descriptive passages. Whether he is illuminating a grisly crime scene, a rainstorm pummeling a Los Angeles freeway or a soft moment between Bosch and his young daughter, Cariou perfectly captures the subtleties of Connelly's tightly written prose. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Bookmarks Magazine
With a writer of Connelly’s popularity, particularly one that works with a regular cast of characters, mixed reviews are to be expected. Each successive book opens the possibility of a narrative letdown. Part of Connelly’s decision to collate a few of his most enduring characters into The Narrows was to address concerns many fans had with the ending of The Poet. Though it strikes a few critics as a risky move that doesn’t bear repeating, the general consensus is that Connelly pulls the sequel off. Some reviewers disagree about whether the back-story is ample enough for the uninitiated. But whether The Narrows is his best or his worst work, its has elements of both, and plenty of the subtle characterization and gripping storyline that fans have come to expect from Connelly. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.


From AudioFile
Listen up! This may be the best mystery you hear this summer--or this year, for that matter. But approach Connelly's latest with caution. If you haven't heard THE POET and BLOOD WORK, try them first. That's because this one has almost all the characters from both melded into one sequel. You'll also be able to appreciate Len Cariou's performance having had to follow that of the masterful Dick Hill. Cariou adds a new dimension to Harry Bosch. As the FBI calls back agent Rachel Walling because of the reemergence of The Poet, a serial killer, Bosch is asked to delve into the suspicious death of Terry McCaleb (the hero of BLOOD WORK). Are the two connected? There are so many subplots you can't stop thinking for a moment. Cariou deftly handles the Bosch scenes in the first person and Walling's in the third. This constant switch might have been daunting to a lesser reader. Cariou milks it for all it's worth. A.L.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Too often when crime novelists bring together characters from different series or combine plot strands from earlier novels, the results seem awkward (like inviting two separate groups of friends to the same party). Not so with Connelly, whose latest Harry Bosch novel seamlessly intermingles material from the author's previous work. Readers of Connelly's The Poet (1996) have known that Bob Backus, former FBI profiler turned Poe-spouting serial killer, would be back eventually, and here he is, attempting to stage-manage a grand finale. Bosch, now a PI after retiring from the LAPD, becomes involved when the wife of FBI agent Terry McCaleb (Blood Work and A Darkness More Than Night) hires him to determine if her husband's death was suicide or murder. The trail leads quickly to Las Vegas and the resurfaced Backus, who is being tracked by his former FBI colleagues, including his onetime protege Rachel Walling (also from The Poet). Expertly juggling the narrative between Bosch's brooding, hard-boiled voice and a broader third-person perspective that takes in the points of view of Walling and the Poet, Connelly builds tension exponentially through superb use of dramatic irony. A stunning finale in the Narrows--the cement-lined Los Angeles River, which transforms itself during a storm from a harmless puddle into a rampaging death trap--works on multiple levels, satisfying both plot-hungry suspense addicts and character-driven Bosch devotees, who will stick with their hero--he of the "seen-it-all-twice eyes"--on his journey into the metaphorical narrows, where evil "would grab at me like an animal and take me down into the black water." This is Connelly at the top of his game. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


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Beloved private eye Harry Bosch tangles with the Poet, the Connelly villain everyone loves to hate. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Read all 6 "From The Critics" >


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