Black echo

Schwarzes Echo (English: The Black Echo) is the debut novel by the American crime novelist Michael Connelly from 1992. It is the first book in the Harry Bosch series.

action

On May 20, 1990, a body was found in an old sewer near Mulholland Dam . At first glance it looks like a drug-dead man, but the lack of fingerprints in the tube and a strangely broken finger make Detective Harry Bosch from the LAPD suspicious. He also finds it strange that fresh graffiti with an incomplete tag was sprayed on the tube . Bosch recognizes Billy Meadows in the dead man, like himself a “ tunnel rat ” in Vietnam . The autopsy of the dead Meadows later confirms Bosch's suspicion: Meadows is not a drug-dead man, but was murdered. And not only that, before his death he was tortured with a stun gun.

Bosch finds a pawnshop in the dead man's room. It is hidden in a frame with 20-year-old photos from Vietnam on which Bosch himself can be seen. Bosch drives to the pawn shop, where he meets the owner Oscar Obinna. Obinna is expecting the police because he was broken into that night. The stolen property also included the bracelet Billy Meadows had put on. Bosch suspects that the bracelet had previously been stolen by Meadows and finds out that it was actually part of the stolen property of a spectacular break-in at the WestLand National Bank. The perpetrators dug a long tunnel under the bank and robbed it over a long weekend. The raid was investigated by FBI agents ED Wish and John Rourke.

The next day, Bosch turned to Eleanor Wish from the FBI, albeit with questionable success. FBI agent John Rourke ensures that Bosch is targeted by the LAPD's internal investigation department. Internal Investigators Lewis and Clarke are assigned to Bosch. Because Bosch knew the dead man, he is at times even suspected of having been involved in the robbery at the bank.

Bosch can find out the identity of the anonymous caller who reported the dead person. It's Edward Niese, called Sharkey, a young graffiti sprayer. Together with Eleanor Wish from the FBI, Bosch can track down and question Sharkey. His testimony confirms Bosch's suspicions: Meadows was murdered in his apartment and his body was dumped in the sewer to simulate a drug death. His murder must have something to do with the robbery. Sharkey is murdered the evening after the interrogation.

The FBI's findings on the robbery and his connections to the Meadows probation officer help Bosch uncover the background to the story. Meadow, along with other Americans, had helped Saigon police officers smuggle diamonds into the United States when they escaped at the end of the war. Some of these diamonds were in a locker at the WestLand National Bank and were the actual target of the robbery. But only part of the diamonds. Bosch assumes the group has planned a second robbery. Meadows became a danger because by pawning the bracelet he was endangering the second part of the coup. Bosch finds out which Vietnamese were still involved and which bank his locker is in, in Beverly Hills Safe & Lock. So that's where the next robbery will be!

LAPD police officers and FBI agents lay in wait to overpower the robbers breaking into the Beverly Hills Safe & Lock. At the same time, internal investigators Lewis and Clarke suspect that Bosch is in league with the robbers and is trying to mislead the police. Bosch and Wish can't prevent them from opening the door to the bank vault and being shot by the robbers.

Bosch pursues the perpetrators in the tunnel under the bank. Bosch finds one of the perpetrators, apparently shot by his friend. Finally, Bosch can catch the remaining perpetrator. It's John Rourke, the FBI agent. Bosch's assumptions are confirmed: John Rourke and Eleanor Wish's brother were involved in bringing the diamonds out of Vietnam. There is an exchange of fire between Rourke and Bosch. Rourke is killed, Bosch seriously injured.

In the course of the investigation, there was a spark between Harry Bosch and Eleanor Wish. But now Bosch knows that Eleanor was involved in the planning of the two robberies, seeking justice for her brother, who was murdered shortly after his return from Vietnam when he was trying to steal the diamonds from the Vietnamese. Bosch gives Eleanor three days to face himself, despite his love for her. He wants someone to answer for the death of Sharkey, the boy whose life was so much like his own youth.

Remarks

1. ↑ The year is not mentioned in the book, but the day of the week is Sunday. May 20th, 1990 was a Sunday.
2. ↑ In the description of the conversation between Wish and Bosch, Connelly reveals prophetic abilities. He has Wish (on page 122 of the 2002 paperback) say about Bosch: “... the famous Harry Bosch, detective superstar, about whose cases a few books have been written. A television film, besides a series ”. In the fictional biography of Harry Bosch, this is the case before the case in “Black Echo”. In real life, the TV series was produced from 2014.
3. ↑ An explicit reference to the Lewis and Clark Expedition : “Lewis and Clarke. (…) They were called 'the great explorers' everywhere. ”Paperback 2002, p. 478

reception

Publishers Weekly finds Connelly "goes beyond the police genre with this original and highly authentic first novel." In its review of the book, the Los Angeles Times highlights Michael Connelly's journalistic knowledge : “Connelly expertly combines federal and local investigative procedures with the cold eye of a journalist for accuracy (...) Mention is made of the inner workings of The Times and the involved information exchange off the record between the media and law enforcement agencies ”- which is not surprising, because Connelly was a police reporter for the LA Times. In his retrospective review in October 2019, Hector DeJean attested: "The promise of this first book was clearly fulfilled, as Connelly subsequently became one of the most productive and successful crime writers today."

Die Krimi-Couch says: "Michael Connelly has created an interesting character who will hopefully develop further in subsequent novels and appear less infallible." For the author of the review, Schwarzes Echo is "an action-packed debut thriller with an extraordinary hero" and he is looking forward to more Harry Bosch thrillers.

Awards

Black Echo won the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel. The book was also nominated for the Anthony Award for First Novel and for the Dilys Award for Best Novel .

expenditure

• Michael Connelly: The Black Echo . Little, Brown and Company , 1992 ISBN 0-316-15361-3
• Michael Connelly: Black Echo. Novel . Translated into German by Jörn Ingwersen. Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, 1994 ISBN 978-3-550-06713-6
• Michael Connelly: Black Echo. Detective novel . From the American by Jörn Ingwersen. Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, 1995 ISBN 978-3-548-23607-0
• Michael Connelly: Black Echo. Detective novel . From the American by Jörn Ingwersen. Ullstein, Munich, 2000 ISBN 978-3-548-24828-8
• Michael Connelly: Black Echo. Novel . From the American by Jörn Ingwersen. Heyne, Munich, 2002 ISBN 978-3-453-20690-8

Individual evidence

1. ^ Publishers Weekly: The Black Echo
2. ↑ Michael O'Mahony: A Fall From Grace to LA's Underside: The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly in: LA Times, May 18, 1992
3. ↑ Hector DeJean: Michael Connelly's Edgar Award: The Birth of Bosch in: criminalelement.com
4. ↑ Lars Schaffen: A rebel and by no means slippery crime thriller couch.de, May 2003
5. ^ Questions For ... Michael Connelly , The New York Times . October 3, 2006. 
6. ↑ Anthony - Winners and Nominees 1990s bouchercon.com
7. ^ Dilys Awards fantasticfiction.com