From Publishers Weekly
There's a gravitas to the mystery/thrillers of Michael Connelly, a bedrock commitment to the value of human life and the need for law enforcement pros to defend that value, that sets his work apart and above that of many of his contemporaries. That gravitas is in full force in Connelly's newest, and as nearly always in the work of this talented writer, it supports a dynamite plot, fully flowered characters and a meticulous attention to the details of investigative procedure.There are also some nifty hooks to this new Connelly: it features his most popular series character, retired L.A. homicide cop Harry Bosch, but it's also a sequel to his first stand-alone, The Poet (1996), and is only his second novel (along with The Poet) to be written in both first and third person. The first-person sections are narrated by Bosch, who agrees as a favor to the widow to investigate the death of Bosch's erstwhile colleague and friend Terry McCaleb (of Blood Work and A Darkness More Than Night). Bosch's digging brings him into contact with Rachel Walling, the FBI agent heroine of The Poet, and the third-person narrative concerns mostly her. Though generally presumed dead, the Poet—the serial killer who was a highly placed Fed and Walling's mentor—is alive and killing anew, with, we soon learn, McCaleb among his victims and his sights now set on Walling. The story shuttles between Bosch's California and the Nevada desert, where the Poet has buried his victims to lure Walling. The suspense is steady throughout but, until a breathtaking climactic chase, arises more from Bosch and Walling's patient and inspired following of clues and dealing with bureaucratic obstacles than from slash-and-dash: an unusually intelligent approach to generating thrills. Connelly is a master and this novel is yet another of his masterpieces. 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


Book Description
Private investigator Harry Bosch confronts the most terrifying killer he's ever known - the monster known to millions as the Poet.


Download Description
Special eBook Feature: Excerpt from The Poet by Michael Connelly. FBI agent Rachel Walling finally she gets the call she's been dreading for years. The Poet has returned. Years earlier, she worked on the famous case tracking the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten the Poet - and apparently he has not forgotten her. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too, from an old friend whose husband recently died. The death appeared natural, but this man's ties to the hunt for the Poet make Harry dig deep. What he finds leads him into the most terrifying situation he has ever encountered. So begins the most deeply compelling, frightening, and masterful novel Michael Connelly has ever written, placing Harry Bosch squarely in the path of the most ruthless and ingenious murderer in Los Angeles's history. This spectacularly dramatic and shocking novel will have Michael Connelly's readers desperately hungry for the next novel from "one of America's best writers." (Cleveland Plain Dealer).


About the Author
Michael Connelly is the author of the bestselling Harry Bosch novels, including A Darkness More Than Night,City of Bones and Lost Light; and the bestselling novels The Poet, Chasing the Dime, Blood Work and Void Moon. He lives in Florida.