Watch Out for BLACK ICE

In Michael Connelly's second adventure for Harry Bosch he strikes many of the familiar tones from his debut novel, BLACK ECHO. In BLACK ICE, Bosch is still a Vietnam Vet who plays by his own rules, has no time for BS and approaches life with something less than enthusiasm, but isn't your typical curmudgeon.
Bosch's world is a series of events that could be written off as coincidence, and would be by anyone else. For him, though, he sees patterns and connections. All of this leads him to ask questions the brass want left unanswered and has him poking around in areas off limits to him. Essentially it's more of the same for Connelly and his protagonist.
In this adventure Connelly takes Bosch out of his Hollywood beat and plants him around the Mexican border. This displacement is part of the expansive scope this book tries to run with. Ultimately the large scale of this book is a failure, simply because it's wildly uncomfortable to follow Bosch's one man rampage that now includes DEA agents, the one clean Mexican cop and a Bond-lite plot line.
When Connelly is at his best he is playing in a world he is familiar with as a police reporter. He understands and can captivate us with the L.A. crime scene. Unfortunately he doesn't do international intrigue very well, which is the body of this book.
And it's not as if the story is unbelievable, because it's not. Ok, it's a little too convenient, but i'm talking more in terms of a shoot 'em up thriller. It's not that. It's simply that dominoes just keep tumbling for Bosch, even where there's no reason he should be making progress.
Part of the slowed down nature of this book stems from the constant introspection by Bosch, who reveals to the reader large bits about his past. These revelations serve to provide context into his curtain case and hunt.
I definitely enjoyed this book. I think it plateaued about halfway in, but that was still a high elevation compared to some of the drab out there. The conclusion was, eh, but again, that's based on a high standard for Connelly.
The key ingredient is here in this book and it is what makes it a winner. Connelly's style is extremely easy to digest, without being light on the meat and potatoes. His style is also addicting, to the point where I was up until about two last night finishing this book.
I would recommend this book to any fans of crime dramas.