Tightly Layered Crime Drama: The Black Echo By Michael Connelly

The Black Echo is the first book in Connelly's popular series featuring Harry Bosch, a world-weary detective. Connelly introduces us to Bosch just after he has been transferred to the Hollywood Division, a division that no-one really wants to work in and for many is a career-ending division or the division to simply ride it out in until retirement. Bosch is one of those characters who wants to be a good cop but who sometimes slightly bends the rules or goes against the popular opinion of the "police family"; thus, he often draws more trouble to and for himself. (Bosch, in other words, is not "Dirty Harry-esque" but might remind readers of some of the detectives on the ever popular Law and Order series.) Harry is very much a loner both on the job and in his personal life.