The Late Show, A Novel by Michael Connelly

 The Book

    Book One of Renee Ballard. Michael Connelly has once again taken us back to his favorite LA police precinct, Hollywood. Here he introduces us to Renee Ballard, a cop in her mid-thirties who works the graveyard shift, or as they call in Hollywood, The Late Show. Which is where the title of the book comes from. We find out pretty quickly Ballard has been relegated to this shift because she filed a sexual harassments complaint on her previous lieutenant, but because her partner at the time who also witnessed it was too afraid to speak up, Ballard's allegation was dismissed and she has been punished. But she likes it, it gives her time to surf. 

    On this particular Thursday evening, Ballard and her partner Jenkins catch a number of cases. A pre-op trans prostitute was savagely beaten and left for dead. But the victim is a fighter, even if she's in a coma. And Ballard can't let it go. Instead of turning the case over to the day shift detectives, she works it alone. But before she can get started on that case, she's called to work an incredibly violent mass shooting event. 

One victims is clinging to life in the same ER. When she tragically doesn't make it, Ballard has to go take the evidence from the victim to the club where 4 more people lay dead from a gunman's bullet. There Ballard finds out her ex boss and her ex partner are running the case. She hands over the evidence and gets told off. She's not a quitter, but she does as she is told. 

So that makes it strange when another detective is sent to follow up on her account about what happened at hospital. Ballard is on alert, thinking she'll get screwed. And that throws her off her game a bit. And for everyone's sake, we have to hope that's not deadly. 

My Thoughts

    We see how the model of a rebel cop has evolved over Connelly's 30 year career in business. He is an expert story teller. Ballard is a new character with a new set of problems. She chooses to sleep on the beach instead of live in a house. She loves surfing, her dog, and feels deeply betrayed by her department. But she has a calling to speak for victims. which makes her and her Hollywood beat a worthy successor to Bosch.  And since being on The Late Show means she has to turn over most of her cases, she see less satisfaction. All in all not a bad introduction to an interesting character. She's sympathetic and smart. All the things a good heroine needs to be in this day in age. But, like the last Bosch novel, I do not think this in Connelly's greatest work. Perhaps it is because he's moving a female character from feature status to center stage, and he's still getting comfy in her shoes, but these doesn't seem to be a stretch for him, story telling wise. But then, the beginning of a series is not where an author usually does it. He's done a solid job here. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book entered my library on July 17, 2017. It has been read by gentle, respectful hands, but frequently enough to be easy to hold. Reading this and the Bosch novel that came out in the same year back to back, I can see that they gave them very similar cover treatments. So similar in fact, I thought I had returned the wrong book when I returned the Bosch novel. The cover says the retail price was $28.00 for the 405 page book. 

This Book                               $28.00

This Summer                        $523.87