The Late Show (Ballard #1)

by Michael Connelly

I missed seeing Michael Connelly in New York by 24 hours which I something of a disappointment for me. However, what I did manage to do was to order myself an autographed edition of his latest thriller.
I began to wonder whether or not I was going to like this new protagonist. Bosch is a hard act to follow. But I think he nailed it. Of course, no character beats Harry, in my opinion, but Renée sure beats Cassie Black and Henry Pierce. Perhaps she is on par with Terry or possibly even Mickey. Either way, I really enjoyed it.
Renée is a cop working the dusk to dawn shift. It a move away from RHD after her reporting on a superior for sexual harassment charge fell on deaf ears. She has a grandmother, who raised her, and a dog she saved from the pound. From this novel I've deduced that she lives alone in her van, she sleeps the day way in a tent on the beach until she gets tired of handing over her cases to the day shift. She holds onto a case and gets drawn into a mass shooting by purely being at the hospital when the witness was pulled out of the amulance. She's as dedicated to the job as Bosch is but has a whole raft of different issues. I'm looking forward finding out more.

Synopsis

Renée Ballard works the midnight shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing few, as each morning she turns everything over to the daytime units. It's a frustrating job for a once up-and-coming detective, but it's no accident. She's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
But one night Ballard catches two assignments she doesn't want to part with. First, a prostitute is brutally beaten and left for dead in a parking lot. All signs point to a crime of premeditation, not passion, by someone with big evil on his mind. Then she sees a young waitress breathe her last after being caught up in a nightclub shooting. Though dubbed a peripheral victim, the waitress buys Ballard a way in, and this time she is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night.
As the investigations entwine, Ballard is forced to face her own demons and confront a danger she could never have imagined. To find justice for these victims who can't speak for themselves, she must put not only her career but her life on the line.
Propulsive as a jolt of adrenaline and featuring a bold and defiant new heroine, The Late Show is yet more proof that Michael Connelly is "a master of the genre" (Washington Post).

Author 

Michael Connelly began writing for the Los Angeles on the Crime Beat. He turned out his first novel in 1992, Bill Clinton was spotted purchasing Michael’s third novel, Concrete Blonde, in 1994 and he never looked back. 26 novels later and he’s still going. On a personal note, with the title “The wrong side of goodbye” I’m a little nervous about reading the 2016 novel for fear of Harry dying off… no comments giving that away people, I’m hoping to address that demon over Christmas.

Books by the same author

There are so many novels he's written, a full list can be found here. But I'm going to focus on what I consider to be the most significant in terms of Harry Bosch's character development.

The Black Echo (1992)
The Last Coyote (1995)
A Darkness More Than Night (2001)
Nine Dragons (2009)
The Drop (2011)
Switchblade (2014)