It is 1990 or thereabouts. Harry Bosch is an LA police detective in the Hollywood Division. He gets assigned to check on a dead body in a pipe near the reservoir. Though everyone on scene wants to declare the death an accidental overdose by a known drug user, Bosch has his doubts. He is even more doubtful when he recognizes the man as a fellow tunnel rat from Vietnam. It soon becomes clear that the dead man was involved in a tunnel job that emptied a safety deposit vault 10 months earlier.
Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch is a very deep character even in this debut novel. His mother was murdered when he was a child and he spent much of his youth in foster care. He went to Vietnam where he volunteered to go into Vietcong tunnels - the Black Echo. He had a very successful career in the police department - solving some headline cases - which led to a movie and TV series based on him and his partner. Then he had the fall from grace for shooting an unarmed suspect. Most characters get this level of depth over the course of several novels, not right out the gate. Impressive.
By the end, it turns out that everything was important, every bit of evidence or even random banter was a clue or backstory for the conclusion. Bosch doesn't believe in coincidences and this intricate story proves him right. The pacing starts a bit slow but it picks up speed with every chapter. By the climax, it is hard to put the book down. Really impressive job of building tension.
Having watched the Amazon Series, it was clear that Season 3 was based on this book though, by comparison, it was only a shadow. The modern story is present but the tie-in to Vietnam is gone and the epic chase through the sewers is absent.
Excellent book and highly recommended.
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