Matt Jones is called in early before his first day as a Homicide detective in LA to investigate a violent killing. His supervisor Grace believes it is the work of the serial robber that has been haunting the area. Jones believes otherwise and that leads to a lot of trouble.
I really enjoyed this story. ( )

This was my first introduction to Robert Ellis, but I look forward to reading more. This is a fast paced crime thriller with more twists than a boa constrictor. You can read the various other reviews to see the backstory and some of the puzzles in the book. All I can say is I thought it was well worth the read. ( )

I sat down to read a few chapters in this book and then go about some other errands. Once I started though I couldn't put it down. It was incredible as far as twists and turns. There was an abundance of suspects for the mutilation murders but the cop murders - were they related? was it a different murderer or the same? Questions just kept piling up which kept the pages turning.

Matt was brand new to Hollywood homicide he had come from a different department and had worked narcotics. The night before he was to officially start he got called to his first murder. It was not a pretty site. He discovered that he knew the victim.

Matt was a good cop. He wanted to be part of homicide and he wanted to succeed. He also has a bit of a temper that he tries hard to contain. I really liked his character. His new partner rubbed me the wrong way at first. I felt he was in his lieutenant's pocket or maybe just a 'brown noser.'

There were young girls being horribly mutilated and found posed. The more Matt dug into these murders the more he suspected that his friend that had been murdered, a LAPD officer, might have found something to get him killed. The first murder was 1 1/2 years ago but his lieutenant worked that case with his partner at the time and the alleged murderer hung himself in prison. What Matt found strange was no details were released and yet another young girl came up dead the same way. The lieutenant is trying to sell the "copycat" theory. Matt doesn't buy it and eventually convinces his partner. Something was very wrong with the whole scenario.

This story never slows all the way to the end. Matt and his partner have to be careful because it seems that any officers investigating the case come up deceased. This is a multiple faceted cliffhanger that keeps you wondering all the way till the end. There are even a couple of surprises at the end.

I received this book free from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for a review. If you want to know more about Robert Ellis you can check him out here http://www.robertellis.net/index.html ( )

A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Robert Ellis introduces a gritty, new LA Homicide cop, Matthew Trevor Jones, the first in the series, CITY OF ECHOES an intense, fast-paced Hollywood noir-style detective crime thriller.

Matt Jones is excited about celebrating his promotion to Hollywood Homicide, with his friend over dinner and drinks, when he receives a call from his supervisor, Bob Grace. He is to start the following day. An emergency, with a warning. Somebody has been murdered in Hollywood. He and his partner, Danny Cabrera--almost as green as Matt, with just three months under his belt working in Hollywood, happen to be the only choices for this assignment.

Between the economy and the budget cutbacks from Washington and Sacramento—cops had been pulled off the street and crime had become a burgeoning industry. So both men had been fast-tracked to Homicide—his celebration will need to be postponed. He texted his buddy. Now, it is show time. The combination of excitement and terror.

A violent murder case, a man gunned down in a parking lot off Hollywood Blvd – A serial robber? The victim—is it someone he knows? The murder victim had just received a text—dinner off. Call ME. From him? Could it be Hughes? The SUV--Kevin Hughes had been more than a friend to him. More than a mentor. After their tour of duty in Afghanistan, it had been Hughes who convinced Matt to write off his troubles by leaving the east coast and moving to LA Hughes took him under his wing. Now he has to tell Kevin's wife. She will devastated. Where was Hughes partner, Frankie Lane? Something was going on? He senses something. Something familiar.

Matt had transferred from the Pacific Division but was aware of the string of holdups that had been occurring in Hollywood, and along the Strip. The three-piece urban bandit.

Cabrera, goes back to the station and tells Grace, Matt may not be able to handle the case, since he and Hughes were friends. It may be too much for him. When they saw the video tapes; by the time they reached the SUV and saw Hughes body; the three-piece bandit, the cop killer in the hooded sweatshirt was long gone.
His new partner thinks he cannot handle the case – they had too much history. Matt is mad as hell at Cabrera, and an overheated argument. It is his case. He had seen his friend gunned down on video. They need to get this guy off the street. Grace is acting weird and nervous and something stinks about the entire situation. Something is off.

When another detective’s suspicious death points to a police frame-up of an innocent man in the first of a series of murders, Matt cannot trust his partner, or his boss. Actually, who can he trust. Evil or good? Corruption? A cover-up? Greed? He has to put the pieces together. What is the motive? In addition to all his stress, and paranoia, he is worried about Kevin’s widow, Laura and his own past, the father who betrayed him and his mother- his demons. It haunts him. Will Matt come unglued and be able to hold up under the pressure and stress, or completely unravel, before he uncovers what is going down. There has to be a missing piece? Is his dad out to get him? Does he have another life? The Greedy Bastard?

In the meantime, Jones uncovers evidence linking the crime to a brutal murder, eighteen months ago. There is something more going on and he is in deep. So he has two choices to back off or dive in. A deep seated, high-level cover up and the body count is rising. More complications. There’s a problem and it’s in Hollywood. It has something to do with the investigation of the serial killer.

Why do the arresting officers start dying? Why do murders continue after the presumed killer is caught? Someone is protecting a secret? A betrayal? Pretending. A copycat? Could someone be trying to throw them off the real killer? Transferring the blame to the three-piece bandit, or the dirty cops? Could there be something bigger in play? When Matt thinks he is finally linking the pieces of the mystery, he has to play along in order to gather more information. Blurring the lines between good and evil.

A complex fast-paced detective mystery cop procedural-- full of red herrings, with twists and turns with every page turn. A flawed main character, with one problem after another, coming at him full force. Better keep up, with more dead and characters than you can possibly name. Can he survive the pressure?

In addition to the electronic reading copy, also purchased the audio, due to travel. The narrator Nick Podehl was an ideal match, with the perfect voice for Ellis’ novel's tone of an old classic detective movie; matching the intensity. The writing was clever with seamless connections of the multi-layered storylines. Many hidden meanings with the word “echoes”, when reading between the lines- a clever title.

My second book by Ellis, after listening to THE DEAD ROOM, narrated by Jim McCance. Highly recommend both, and look forward to more. With the cliffhanger ending (I am dying), fans will have to wait and see what is next for Ellis’ new main man. Does Matt have what it takes to survive? Will Ellis' Jones, have as many lives as Connelly’s Harry Bosch or Mickey Haller, or Evanovich’s Joseph Morelli and Plum?

More to come with, The Love Killings (Detective Matt Jones #2) coming, 8/2/2016! ( )

The backstory: Robert Ellis is one of my favorite mystery writers. His Lena Gamble series (City of Fire, The Lost Witness, and Murder Season) is extraordinarily good and criminally underappreciated. I've also enjoyed his earlier stand-alone novels Access to Power and The Murder Room (read before this blog, which means a long time ago.)

The basics: City of Echoes is the first in a new series featuring Los Angeles police detective Matt Jones, who catches a big case on his first night as a homicide detective.

My thoughts: Sometimes I have a hard time reviewing mysteries because so many things are not as they seem that by the end, I struggle to remember where I entered the story as a reader. City of Echoes is one of those mysteries. I read it while my in-laws were visiting (for the nomadbaby's first birthday), and I promptly asked my mother-in-law to read it. I'd given her copies of Ellis's earlier novels for holidays over the years, and she was excited to see he had a new one. Her husband read it next. In the span of two days, three of us read it (Mr. Nomadreader is behind the times), and we had an excellent discussion about it. It's rare that mysteries end with me still wanting to talk about things. To help me resist giving away any of this novel's delightful, surprising and horrific twists, just read it.

If you read this blog last year, you know that I read all 27 of Michael Connelly's novels last year. I was curious to see how Ellis would stack up, as they both heavily feature corruption in the LAPD and have similar writing styles filled with twists. Ellis is every bit as good as I remembered. If you've read and enjoyed Connelly, please start reading Ellis. His backlist isn't as extensive, but it's just as good, and City of Echoes is the start of something great with Matt Jones.

Favorite passage: "Two eyewitnesses who had seen everything but, like most eyewitnesses, understood nothing, in spite of their seats in the front row."

The verdict: City of Echoes is a stunningly good police procedural. Jones is a dynamic character, but the mystery and frequent shocking twists take center stage here. If you want a compelling mystery that will keep you guessing, be nearly impossible to put down, and have you eagerly awaiting the next book after the last page has turned, then pick up City of Echoes. ( )