From Publishers Weekly
Connelly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, combines courtroom drama and police procedural in this thriller about a serial killer thought dead. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Homicide detective Harry Bosch is fighting for his professional reputation in civil court. He is charged with killing an allegedly innocent man known as "The Dollmaker." The Dollmaker, however, was a serial murderer who strangled his victims and made them up to look like dolls. Suddenly, a new murder comes to light, with all the trappings of the Dollmaker's style. Bosch has to clear his name and find the copycat killer before he strikes again. Slick plot twists, fast action, and fine suspense mark this excellent thriller and courtroom drama. Characterizations by reader Dick Hill are imaginative and authentic, and the recording benefits from subtle special effects that lend realism. This is a good, solid story that translates exceedingly well to audio. Strongly recommended for all mystery and suspense collections.Susan B. Lamphier, Somerville P.L., Mass.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Michael Connelly puts together another taut thriller featuring Harry Bosch. Bosch battles the establishmentÐthis time in a court case over his confrontation with a suspected serial killer. Dick Hill immediately draws the listener into the intrigue. His narration is perfect for the voices of the detectives, attorneys and other characters. His portrayal of Bosch quickly captures the appeal this new hero has for readersÐand now listeners. Hill's female voices are good, as well, as he develops the characterizations with ease and distinction. The plot twists are riveting, and Hill holds his audience with his outstanding performance. R.F.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
In his latest adventure, LAPD detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch--whose first excursion, The Black Echo (1992), won an Edgar--moves into Scott Turow territory. Bosch is Exhibit A in a civil suit against the city filed by the family of a man Bosch killed: a man he and the police believe was the serial murderer of prostitutes and porn stars whom the media dubbed the Dollmaker. As Bosch's trial opens, however, a Dollmaker-style note directs the police to a woman's body buried in concrete, a "concrete blonde" who turns out to have been murdered with all the Dollmaker's trademarks after Bosch killed the suspect. Did Bosch kill the wrong man? Strongly plotted and deftly orchestrated, the novel shifts back and forth between the courtroom and the streets, between Bosch's often troubled relationships with his professional colleagues and his deepening love affair with the schoolteacher widow of a brother officer, and between Bosch's unaccustomed self-doubts and his suspicions of others. A fast-paced, classy mystery. Mary Carroll


From Kirkus Reviews
Veteran crime reporter Connelly's (The Black Ice, 1993) third novel deftly blends cop thriller and courtroom drama in a darkly gripping tale structured around a set of gruesome serial killings. Gritty LA homicide detective Harry Bosch acted recklessly when he killed a man who may or may not have been the serial killer known as the ``Dollmaker'' for the makeup he applied to his victim's faces after he raped and murdered them. Four years and a big demotion later Bosch stands trial for the murder of Norman Church--whose widow, with the help of her tough-cookie lawyer, asserts that Church was not the Dollmaker. Bosch's confidence that he got the right guy crumbles as the prosecution provides an airtight alibi for one of the murders and as another victim (a buxom blond porn star slayed after Church's death) is uncovered from a concrete grave. Our clever, instinctive hero quickly discovers that the murders were committed by two men--one of them a copycat still on the prowl. To vindicate himself and save future victims, Bosch stands trial by day and hunts for the killer at night. A sordid premise becomes thornier and more chilling as Bosch realizes that the copycat is a colleague--an insider in the Dollmaker case. Suspects include Bosch's turncoat ex-partner, a shifty vice-squad cop, a journalist who reported on the Dollmaker, and an eccentric professor of psychosexual behavior. The courses of the trial and the investigation collide in an intricately plotted and turbo-charged conclusion safely arrived at by Bosch's cunning, foresight, and trademark intuition. Clich‚s persist in characters like the brassy woman lawyer, the foolish bureaucrat, and the hero with a tarnished heart of gold. But the charming, if retro, writing (``The courtroom seemed as silent as a dead man's heart'') and the lurid thrills make this gem as lovable as any tale of serial murder can be. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"A stylish blend of grit and elegance." --Nelson DeMille

"Masterfully Entertaining." --Houston Chronicle

"Gritty." --San Diego Union-Tribune

"Outstanding...Can't Be Put Down." --Kansas City Star

"Crackling authenticity." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Turbo-charged...a darkly gripping tale." --Kirkus Reviews



Book Description
They called him the Dollmaker-the serial killer who stalked Los Angeles and left a grisly calling card on the faces of his female victims. With a single faultless shot, Detective Harry Bosch thought he had ended the city's nightmare... But then the dead man's widow sues Harry and the LAPD for killing the wrong man-an accusation that rings terrifyingly true when a new victim is discovered with the Dollmaker's macabre signature... Now, for the second time, Harry must hunt down a death-dealer who is very much alive, before he strikes again. It's a blood-tracked quest that will take Harry from the hard edges of the L.A. night to the last place he ever wanted to go-the darkness of his own heart.

ANNOTATION

Edgar Award-winning Michael Connelly delivers a supercharged thriller. Four years ago, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch shot the notorious serial killer "The Dollmaker." Now Harry is accused of killing the wrong man--just as a new body turns up that has all the hallmarks of a Dollmaker slaying. To clear his name, Harry searches for a copycat killer.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Edgar Award-winner Michael Connelly brings back Detective Harry Bosch in a breathtaking breakthrough novel, a supercharged thriller that thrusts us into a blistering courtroom battle and a desperate search for a killer who should already be dead. Harry Bosch is sure that the man he killed was the sadistic serial murderer known as the Dollmaker, and that the killing was justified. Even if the dead man's widow wins her civil suit, it's the city of Los Angeles that will pay. Harry has already been exonerated in an internal investigation. The trial - and Harry's certainty that he shot the right man - are torn apart when a corpse is discovered beneath the concrete floor of a building that burned during the L.A. riots. It's the body of a woman, and all indications are that this is another of the Dollmaker's victims. But the autopsy report is unequivocal: this woman was killed after Harry shot the man he believes was the Dollmaker. Into the L.A. night Harry takes his investigation. By day the trial continues excruciatingly, with the prosecuting attorney focusing on Bosch's violent past and portraying him as a vigilante murderer protected by his badge. By night he reinvestigates the infamous Dollmaker case, frantically trying to understand where he went wrong - and what he can do to keep this murderer from carrying out his threats to make Harry his next victim.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this fiendishly plotted combination of courtroom drama and police procedural, Connelly's LAPD detective Hieronymous ``Harry'' Bosch, introduced in the Edgar-winning The Black Echo , is up against the law as well as his superiors. The widow of Norman Church, a serial killer identified as the Dollmaker, whom Bosch shot to death four years earlier, is suing Bosch on the grounds that he violated her husband's civil rights. Strong but not conclusive evidence linked Church to the serial murders and the case was closed, although Bosch was demoted for not following proper procedures. Here, just before the trial targeting Bosch as a reckless cowboy who shot the wrong man gets underway, the body of perhaps another Dollmaker victim is unearthed from the concrete floor of a burnt-out pool hall. Is the real Dollmaker still alive, or is a copycat killer on the loose? Connelly deftly parcels out clues and possibilities while juggling subtle and detailed courtroom scenes with no-nonsense police investigations that turn up new evidence about the original case. A Pulitzer Prize-winning crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times , he adroitly laces the plot with twists and turns based on details drawn from Bosch's previous adventures. The results of this care show on every page, all to the reader's benefit. (June)

Library Journal

Homicide detective Harry Bosch is fighting for his professional reputation in civil court. He is charged with killing an allegedly innocent man known as "The Dollmaker." The Dollmaker, however, was a serial murderer who strangled his victims and made them up to look like dolls. Suddenly, a new murder comes to light, with all the trappings of the Dollmaker's style. Bosch has to clear his name and find the copycat killer before he strikes again. Slick plot twists, fast action, and fine suspense mark this excellent thriller and courtroom drama. Characterizations by reader Dick Hill are imaginative and authentic, and the recording benefits from subtle special effects that lend realism. This is a good, solid story that translates exceedingly well to audio. Strongly recommended for all mystery and suspense collections.-Susan B. Lamphier, Somerville P.L., Mass.

AudioFile - Robin F. Whitten

Michael Connelly puts together another taut thriller featuring Harry Bosch. Bosch battles the establishment this time in a court case over his confrontation with a suspected serial killer. Dick Hill immediately draws the listener into the intrigue. His narration is perfect for the voices of the detectives, attorneys and other characters. His portrayal of Bosch quickly captures the appeal this new hero has for readers and now listeners. Hill's female voices are good, as well, as he develops the characterizations with ease and distinction. The plot twists are riveting, and Hill holds his audience with his outstanding performance. R.F.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"A stylist blend of grit and elegance." — Nelson DeMille

"A splendid read. There are plenty of writers around who can do a great trial, or a gripping serial killer hunt, or an insider's view of L.A. law, or a moving love story, but the skill to wrap them all together in a single book whose multifariousness never clogs is all too rare." — Reginald Hill