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A Darkness More than Night
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A Darkness More than Night
Unavailable
A Darkness More than Night
Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

A Darkness More than Night

Written by Richard Powers

Narrated by Michael Beck

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch crosses paths with FBI profiler Terry McCaleb in the most dangerous investigation of their lives.

Harry Bosch is up to his neck in a case that has transfixed all of celebrity-mad Los Angeles: a movie director is charged with murdering an actress during sex, and then staging her death to make it look like a suicide. Bosch is both the arresting officer and the star witness in a trial that has brought the Hollywood media pack out in full-throated frenzy.

Meanwhile, Terry McCaleb is enjoying an idyllic retirement on Catalina Island when a visit from an old colleague brings his former world rushing back. It's a murder, the unreadable kind of murder he specialized in solving back in his FBI days. The investigation has stalled, and the sheriff's office is asking McCaleb to take a quick look at the murder book to see if he turns up something they've missed.

McCaleb's first reading of the crime scene leads him to look for a methodical killer with a taste for rituals and revenge. As his quick look accelerates into a full-sprint investigation, the two crimes — his murdered loner and Bosch's movie director — begin to overlap strangely. With one unsettling revelation after another, they merge, becoming one impossible, terrifying case, involving almost inconceivable calculation. McCaleb believes he has unmasked the most frightening killer ever to cross his sights. But his investigation tangles with Bosch's lines, and the two men find themselves at odds in the most dangerous investigation of their lives.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 1, 2005
ISBN9781594834271
Unavailable
A Darkness More than Night
Author

Richard Powers

Richard Powers is the author of thirteen novels. His most recent, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Book Award, and he has been a four-time National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. He lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

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Reviews for A Darkness More than Night

Rating: 3.9117645758064516 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,054 ratings43 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another good Harry Bosch book and this time Bosch is accused of murder. Has Bosch finally gone over the edge? Terry McCaleb, ex-FBI profiler, thinks so. He was asked to do a favour for Sheriff's detective Jaye Winston even though he is retired and running a boat charter business. There was a particularly grisly murder on New Year's Day where an alcoholic who was the prime suspect in the murder of a prostitute was himself murdered. Bosch had been talking to the victim in lock-up the night before because he still hopes to convict him of the murder. And that's not all that ties him to the murder. Aspects of the crime seem to have been taken from the artwork of the painter Hieronymus Bosch after whom our Harry (actually Hieronymus) Bosch was named. All clues seem to lead to Harry as the perpetrator or is that just what the real perpetrator wants everyone to think? Find out for yourself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bosch teams up with retired profiler to track down the killer of an actress. Interesting plot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Terry McCaleb, a retired FBI agent is asked by the LAPD to help them investigate aseries of murders that have them baffled. They are the kind of ritualized killings McCaleb specialized in solving with the FBI, and he is reluctantly drawn from his peaceful new life after undergoing a heart transplant, back into the horror and excitement of tracking down a terrifying homicidal maniac. More horrifying still, the suspect who seems to fit the profile that McCaleb develops is someone he has known and worked with in the past: LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A decent enough police/forensic thriller, but not one that left me on the edge of me seat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was not your typical Harry Bosch novel as Terry McCaleb was the retired FBI agent and Harry Bosch was the main suspect. It was a little slow to take off but one it did, it was a page-turner to the very end. Connelly is very good at developing characters, both good and bad, that are very intriguing and ones you'll feel are very real. I need to go back and read Blood Work as that's the book that introduces Terry McCaleb, a character which I like very much. This plot was very enjoyable and not too complicated. A pretty easy, straight forward read which I'm sure you'll enjoy if you're a Harry Bosch fan.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A Darkness More Than Night
    4 Stars

    Retired FBI profiler, Terry McCaleb finds himself embroiled in another case when he is approached to review an unsolved murder with disturbingly ritualistic elements. Terry is soon horrified by the realization that his profile points to one suspect - a fellow law enforcement officer and friend - LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.

    Series note: This is book #2 in the Terry McCaleb series. It also slots in after book #7 of the Harry Bosch series. Numerous references are made to events in Harry's life that are covered in his books, and it is, therefore, recommend that the books be read in order.

    The plot is comprised of two threads that ultimately intersect, but given the nature of the two storylines, the connections are obvious and predictable from the start.

    While the narrative is presented from both Terry and Harry's POVs, it is primarily a Terry McCaleb story and Harry Bosch is a secondary character. These two men are very different in their investigative methods with Terry being more of a thinker and Harry more of a man of action.

    Unfortunately, Terry's character suffers not only from being in close proximity to Harry, but also from his suspicions. It is disappointing that he so easily accepts the idea of Harry as an evil killer, and that he seems to be forcing the facts to fit his theory rather than following the evidence to its logical conclusion.

    Overall, a good mystery and the detail on the life of Hieronymous Bosch and his paintings is very interesting. As with most of Connelly's books, my main criticism is with the drawn out writing style, which is too focused on the internal musings of the characters and the long winded philosophical descriptions of scenery. Connelly needs to get to the point more quickly because the first 50% of most of his books can be tedious.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love the Terry McCaleb series however, was not wild about the ending. I am playing catch up with the older Connelly books, as have read most of the new ones. Loved the character Terry, a retired FBI agent who starred in the bestseller "Blood Work," - he is asked by the LAPD to help them investigate a series of murders that have them baffled. They are the kind of ritualized killings McCaleb specialized in solving with the FBI, and he is reluctantly drawn from his peaceful new life back into the horror and excitement of tracking down a terrifying homicidal maniac. More horrifying still, the suspect who seems to fit the profile that McCaleb develops is someone he has known and worked with in the past: LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch (which also love)!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is a little different from his usual. Instead of pushing on alone, he shares his pages with a retired F.B.I agent. A further look into Bosch from someone's else's perspective.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ~3.5

    The gang's all here: during a highly publicised case in which Harry Bosch, troubled detective of the LAPD, is a primary witness, Terry McCaleb starts uncovering some disconcerting facts and Jack McEvoy lurks around in the background, digging up dirt and stirring the mud. Long story short: Terry McCaleb, Harry Bosch and Jack McEvoy all compete to see who's the biggest bastard. I'm not really sure who won.

    The plot is entertaining, if improbable, and it was interesting seeing each character from each others' perspectives. The conflicts and interactions between the characters as they pit their wits against each other are well-written, and the moral ambiguities make it difficult to choose sides. However, this doesn't stand out to me as one of the top-notch books in the--well, actually, in any of the three--series.

    Out of the three characters here, I think Bosch is my favorite. McEvoy has only a cameo role, and I somehow have real difficulty warming to the self-assured and self-righteous McCaleb. Bosch, as a character, is rich and complex, and remains a strong draw for me throughout the series. I love the fact that he constantly sees his mistakes and evaluates his own error. However, I strongly dislike the fact that his character never develops and remains static throughout. Time and time again, Bosch sees how his self-righteous ruthless independence, his cowboy justice, can do irreparable harm to others. Yet he never changes. It is difficult to even comprehend how a man apparently so aware of his failures can continue to make the same mistakes time and time again.

    The other element I find problematic is the side characters. No matter which series you're in, Connelly never develops a coterie of loyal sidekicks for the character. In fact, I'm rather sure that the probability of a character betrayal increases exponentially each time the character appears. Connelly tends to never leave his characters in healthy platonic relationships; they might have one all-consuming and hopeful-looking romantic relationship on the table, but it's guaranteed to dissolve by the next book. Bosch's love interests, in particular, never seem to make it through more than a single book before they are discarded and the next one is pulled off the assembly line. It all goes to create an odd, unsettling, and isolating feeling: you can never trust the side characters, because the next book, they'll probably end up as the murderers, or possibly just the murderees. As someone who identifies mainly with side characters, I think it gives the books an unstable feeling, a lack of solidity that other long-running series develop.

    Connelly spent about 12 years on the crime beat, so his description of the police world is thorough, accurate, and natural. It's one of the highlights of the books for me. At the same time, every single book I've read contains incredible corruption within the police department, yet Internal Affairs and similar are vilified. Defence attorneys are also portrayed as immoral and sleazy. This seems hypocritical to me. If the police system is truly so decadent, then there must be ways to watch the watchers. It always leaves me wondering what on earth IAD did to Connelly during his writing career.

    What keeps bringing me back to these books is the underlying depth. In an interview, Connelly commented that he writes books to try to tease out answers to the questions and problems that plague his own spirit. Again and again, Connelly tackles Nietzsche'a question of how the hunter of monsters can himself become that which he fights. There are no satisfying, complete answers to these questions, merely conflicting answers to their various facets. Yet at the same time, one would hope that a character who struggles with these issues, and who seems to come to some peace or enlightenment at the end of each book, would be able to progress. Instead, in each subsequent book, we find Bosch and McCaleb and McEvoy exactly where we found them. Despite all this, I think Connelly's books, especially the early Bosch books, are well worth reading. His exploration of these topics leave me ruminating on my own beliefs, prejudices, and choices. Overall, these deeper topics lend Connelly's books a power and depth that is rare in the noir genre.

    *the overview comments were ripped and partially expanded from one of my other reviews of the Bosch books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am addicted to the Harry Bosch series. It's difficult to not pick up another as soon as I finish one. There's just something about Harry...and the police procedural process is interesting too. Good plots, characters and mystery, can't ask for more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another fun and engaging Harry Bosch mystery.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this one somewhat confusing as I'm only reading the Harry Bosch series and as a consequence didn't know McCaleb's back story from Blood Work. Still, Connelly crafted a good tale and I was able to piece together the necessary back story to follow this title.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another good Harry Bosch book this time with Terry McCaleb, a former FBI agent who had open heart surgery. Terry is now married to Graciela and they have a baby but Terry wants and needs to work and is approached by the Bureau to look into a cold case. His research shines a light on Harry and together they figure out who is framing him.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    One of the weaker entries in the Harry Bosch series. This one teams Bosch up with former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb. McCaleb and Bosch previously worked together in The Poet and McCaleb was featured in the stand alone novel Blood Work. A Darkness More Than Night sets up the ridiculous premise of having Bosch the suspect in a brutal murder with McCaleb doing the investigating. As a reader familiar with the characters, I just wanted Connelly to get past that silly idea and get on with the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Enjoyed a lot - slightly different style to his other books and I knew the suspect couldn't have done it! And I learned a little about the historical Hieronymus Bosch. I had a vague memory of some of the paintings but hadn't realised that he was a contemporary of Da Vinci - the paintings feel medieval rather than Renaissance. Or that owls were considered evil at the time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of Connelly's better Bosch novels, and they're all good! Torture killing, high profile murder trial, and illustrates very well the emotional conflicts, and ethical issues both Bosch and McCaleb have getting justice to prevail!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another gripping Harry Bosch thriller. Plenty of twists and turns and a double headed plot line.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    mystery/police procedural. McCaleb is again pulled into an unofficial investigation; this time, Bosch turns up as a suspect. emphasis on Bosch the painter and his work. suspenseful, complex, fast-paced, page-turner. dark and gritty; look into human beauty and depravity. contemporary LA setting and culture important. continue getting to know serial characters better. family life, even love. beautiful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Connelly is probably in a 3-way tie [with the later Dorothy Sayers and Peter Dickinson] as my favorite mystery authors. This is perhaps the most revealing book about Bosch--good to read after several others.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Funny thing happened on the way to read this, I realized after a couple of pages that I needed to read Blood Work first because of the introduction of a new character that has his own series--I don't know if this was Connelly's original intent, maybe it just happened that way? If you don't have Blood Work or just don't want to get into that series, it won't hurt you to miss it. But it does give you an idea of what makes McCaleb tick. As for this story, it was quite interesting, but very easy to determine the who dunnit early on. A lot of Harry's personal issues still aren't addressed from Angel's Flight, but Connelly throws a lot at you by focusing as much on McCaleb as Bosch to keep you interested until the end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the one that got me hooked...it was my first Harry Bosch book. I love Connelly's intelligent writing style. It is so interesting to me to have the juxtaposition of a gritty character like Bosch with Connelly's prose-like narrative. After this one, I went back and read the series from the beginning.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A little too contrived for my tastes. Some good stuff about observing the details.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another Connelly tour de force, in which the relationship between Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb is explained for those, like me, who may have read later books (eg Blood Work) first. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Starting as two separate stories, one involving the retired FBI profiler from Blood Works in a possible serial killing, the other a high profile courtcase where Harry Bosch is leading police investigator. The two crimes merge around Bosch.Solid police story/ court drama where the detective details are in focus. The follow-up of events and characters from other novels are funny details that never becomes artificial or disruptive, leaving the comprehensive Connelly reader in the know.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another excellent entry in the Harry Bosch series. This time Bosch himself is suspected of being a killer, and he has to depend on Terry McCaleb to help clear his name. Unfortunately, McCaleb is initially convinced that Bosch is the killer because of some artful deception by the real culprit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    De principio a fin te tiene pensado que es lo que sigue, un manejo muy bueno del suspenso y una trama que te deja enganchado. Muy buena opción de lectura.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An old friend I hadn’t thought about in quite a while! Great story!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Started out slow with who is this McCaleb guy but it moved fast into the season that focused on this book. HB is being set up by a movie director who he arrested for murder. Bosch was seen from the outside as almost this uber detective w a dark side. The ending came up fast and there was too much McCaleb and courtroom. But written well by Connelly.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This latest Connelly is interesting. His series character - Harry Bosch - plays a secondary role. Terry McCaleb from his novel, Blood Work, comes back here to help with what looks like the first murder of a serial killer. I think Connelly may have bit off more than he could chew here. The story is interesting but not as tightly wound as his other work. If I were recommending, I'd say hold off and find it in used paperback.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A very generic Connelly book. The investigators bumble around for a while, making progress but not too much. The bad guys resolve this by attacking them, in the thrilling last hundred pages. In this case, Connelly's standard plot works particularly badly, because McCaleb's investigative theory is preposterous. The writing is reasonably smooth, but not Connelly's best.