Another excellent read by this author. This is the first book in a new series and I highly recommend it.

I am always and forever a fan of this guy and his books and this, although my heart lies woth Mickey Haller is a great read

I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

the late show by Michael Connelly.
a very good read with likeable characters. I liked the story too.
Detective Renee Ballard works the late show. it's the graveyard shift at LAPD.
Some nights are worse than others.
Tonight is the worse
Two cases hours apart.
A brutal assault and a multiple murder with no suspects.
Will she get the murderer?
Will she get the person who done the assault?
I didn't see that coming. 4*.

I have read each and every Michael Connelly ever written, so I was expecting another Harry Bosch thriller when I started this one. To my surprise it was a kickarse female detective ! I really enjoyed the book, especially the change in perspective (male to female). Really well done!

Alas, this book was archived before I got chance to read it.

For some reason, this is only the second book I have read by Michael Connelly, despite having my bookshelves and Kindle cloud full of his books. I really liked the first one, "The Lincoln Lawyer", and this one - the first in a new series with a female protagonist - was a real treat as well. Connelly adds a few too many details about the more tedious sides of policy work here and there which made my thoughts wander, but then he got the action going again with realistic twists and turns and grabbed a hold of me again and didn't let go until the last page was done.
Connelly knows his police work and has insights in the intra- and interdepartmental politics and personal dealings that can be a challenge to solving crimes and putting bad guys behind bars.
On this background, I know I have many hours of great entertainment waiting in the form of all the unread Harry Bosch books on my shelves!

Thanks everyone for allowing me to review this book. I love Michael Connolly and ow we have another new character which I loved and will be looking out for more books in the series.

Another brilliant book by Michael connelly introducing Renee Ballard. This detective had definitely got her own mind and stands by her principles. You follow Renee on her night shift there is a bit of everything in this book and if you like police dramas this is for you

Really enjoyable book with great long term series potential. I'll be fascinated to find out more about Renée. Bring on the next installment.

This is the first novel in a new detective series featuring Detective Renee Ballard, who works the night shift in the LAPD. I enjoyed reading about a female Detective, and the inherent sexism and casual jibes about being a woman that she had to deal with. I always enjoy a novel led by a female, especially women in law enforcement, and this was one of the main draws to me reading this novel in the first place.
My main criticism of this novel is the writing itself. It is dull and dry and has absolutely no pace or excitement. At one point the author writes about a kidnapping, and somehow even manages to make that boring and void of any excitement or sense of danger. This lack of excitement and tension in a thriller novel is disappointing and made this novel dry and tiring to read for me.
I did enjoy the character of Renee a lot, she was cool and kick-ass, and I enjoyed reading about her life and her paddle boarding etc, but this wasn't enough to keep my interest.
The rest of the characters are bland and under-developed and there is very little to say about any of them. They all lack characteristics or personalities, some fill cliches, and the rest are indistinguishable from each other.
You can tell from reading this novel that Connelly is either knowledgeable about police procedure or he has done a great deal of research, as this novel goes into great detail about the procedures, with many scenes filled with filling out forms and online reports. This would be perfect in a manual or a reference book, but in a thriller like this it felt unnecessary, and it made the novel even drier.
Overall I was disappointed by this novel, I was expecting a very exciting thriller with all the twists, but there are plenty better police thrillers available!

Renée Ballard is five foot seven, a heart in darkness, she's cool, has plenty of fight and heart, she just goes with the flow literally as she surfs by day and works the night shift, 'the late show'. She hits the beach with her rescue dog a Boxer mix, surfs and tents out for three hours sleep before heading back to the late show and catch persons of interest in the case this tale has you hooked into. She won't be bumping into Bosch on her night shift but she can live up to his coming alive upon the page and i can see this some time in the future playing out in a tv series like that of Bosch. These tales, these characters, the author does so well, he has mastery at writing a believable tale and characters, evoking before the reader scene upon scene. This was a strong memorable female debut that just has you having her left in your mind, an empathy for her, her day and her night plight for truth against odds and one that you want to walk the next beat, the next case with.

First we had Bosch, then we had Haller... now we have the deliciously different Renee Ballard. Renee Ballard is Hawaiian surf/paddle freak. She lives with her rescued dog in a van which she parks up near the coast, snatching a few hours sleep in her pop up tent before starting the late shift at LAPD.
Ballard is as addictive as Bosch yet she's very different. Her back story has ended her up working the late shift with a partner who counts the hours till morning so he can get back to nursing his ill wife. Ballard, like Bosch has principles and is stubbornly committed to maintaining them. As The Late Show begins, Ballard and her partner are called to the scene of a brutal attack on a transgender woman in a less than salubrious side of town. meanwhile a shooting at a night club with five dead piques Renee's interest. mainly because her ex -partner, who betrayed her before, and his boss, whom she took out a complaint against are heading up the investigation. Ballard is sidelined because she's on the late shift, yet with all the tenacity of a Pit-bull, she can't let it go.
Her tenacity yields results for Ballard and I found myself more and more committed to her as the book stormed along. She is fiercely independent and maintains her dignity in a very male orientated environment. She is respectful of the victims she comes across and doesn't allow herself to be brought down by the sexism that undermines her skills and relegates her to the dead end night shift where she mops up for the 'real' detectives. Her intelligence, commitment and empathy draw you in as does the backstory that we learn more about throughout the novel.
For me this was unputdownable. I read it in a couple of sittings and will definitely look forward to more Ballard.

Michael Connelly is labelled a “thriller” writer and it used to be an accurate description for a lot of his books. Ten years ago I loved novels like The Lincoln Lawyer, The Scarecrow and Echo Park for their fast-paced plots with Connelly throwing his characters into tense situations against murderers and sadists. Alas, that’s not the Michael Connelly of today who only seems capable of robotically churning out dull police procedurals like The Late Show.

Detective Renee Ballard works the graveyard shift (aka “The Late Show”) in Los Angeles. In this book she’s faced with finding the killer responsible for a nightclub shooting and a sicko who beats up trans-hookers. Sound exciting? Not in Connelly’s hands it isn’t!

Connelly has a real problem with characters, as in he doesn’t really know how to write any memorable ones. They’re all bland, two-dimensional puppets. Ballard could easily be Bosch or Mickey Haller and the supporting cast are just interchangeable archetypes: the police chief, the reporter, the lawyer, the nurse, etc.; their names don’t matter.

Meanwhile the weak patchwork story moves at a disappointingly sluggish pace. Almost all of the book is made up of dreary, pointless scenes full of the most uninteresting detail of modern day police work. I can’t overemphasise how little I care about police procedure so it really sucked having to read about so much of it.

The scene where Ballard is one-on-one with the sadist in his home was momentarily exciting - the Connelly of old appearing all too briefly. Also, generally speaking he can write convincing dialogue and I buy that this is how LA cops talk. But it’s precious little in an overwhelmingly un-thrilling novel bloated with tedious, trivial and instantly forgettable detail.

Utterly pedestrian, uninspired and boring, The Late Show is Michael Connelly on autopilot - definitely not worth picking up unless you go in for the driest of dry police procedurals. If you want to read some fantastic Connelly novels that’ll grab and hold your attention the whole time, check out the novels I mentioned at the top of the review.

A new book by Michael Connelly is always an event, as he is the doyen of the police procedural and no more so than when he introduces a new character, a dedicated young detective trying to prove herself in the LAPD when all the odds are stacked against her.

Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, a punishment given her after her harassment accusation against a senior officer was thrown out when the system rallied round and worked against her.

Here she works relentlessly to clear a number of serious crimes using skill, ingenuity and low cunning.

She is a worthy compatriot to Harry Bosch and she shares his maxim of "everyone counts" when it comes to helping victims of crime.

As always by this author the book is impeccably researched and accurate and it is a compelling and even at times, sensitive read.

The best thriller I have read this year.

This book is an exciting start to what promises to be a great new series. Detective Renee Ballard is a formidable and tough detective working late shifts in LA. She is gutsy, brave and determined. We have different plots running through the book but they are all woven together very masterfully by Michael Connelly. I really love the character of Ballard and I am looking forward to reading more of her. Many thanks to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads.

I was delighted to receive the latest Michael Connelly novel to review as I am a great admirer of his books. This is the start of a new series featuring LAPD detective, Renee Ballard who works the Hollywood night-shift with her partner Jenkins. The night-shift is known as the late show, hence the title of the novel. Renee was moved to the night-shift after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against the head of the homicide team, Lieutenant Robert Olivas. When she was not backed up by her then partner Kenny Chastain she was left with few other options than to change shifts. Renee is a very conscientious worker and is quite likely to break rules where necessary to get results. On one very busy night-shift Renee deals with three cases, a credit card burglary, a brutal beating that leaves a prostitute named Ramona Ramone fighting for her life and a shooting where three men and a waitress are killed. Something about these cases makes Renee want to run with them and she decides to investigate in her own time. Needless to say there are lots of thrills and spills along the way as Renee pursues the truth risking her job and possibly her life.

I love Michael Connelly books and yet again he has created a strong character that will no doubt be a successful series of books. The main character Renee is a strong woman who has all the qualities that make a good detective character, stubborn, courageous, risk taker and a tendency to bend the laws to get her man.
Excellent novel by a first rate author.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Orion Publishing Group for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a fan of Mr Connelly's previous Bosch books. This is up there with the best. Nice to have a new main character to get to know. Good multi threaded story, which builds well to a twisty ending.

Would like to see more of the main character Renee please!

Highly recommended to existing Connelly fans or as a good entry point for new readers.

Being a big fan of Bosch - both the books and the TV series - I started this book with a little trepidation, sort of partly hiding behind the sofa, with a cushion in front of my face, and one eye closed! To be fair and honest, once I had read a few pages, all the defenses I had raised crumbled as I realised that I had nothing to fear from this, the series opener for Mr Connelly's new character Renee Ballard, night shift detective.
I am not sure that it helped that the series was set in the same world as Bosch. There were many familiar faces and places interspersed throughout the book that it most definitely didn't hinder and also made me feel a little more comfortable with all the shiny newness around.
So, Reene works the night shift in Hollywood. Along with mentor/father figure Jenkins, they are responsible for reacting to everything that happens overnight. Then, every morning, each case is handed off to the relevant department for follow-up investigation meaning that they very rarely see a case through. Renee was lucky enough to score this wonderful gig by virtue of the fact she filed a sexual harassment charge against her former boss, Olivas, which also had the side-effect of splitting her up both workwise and personally (he sided with the boss) with her former partner Kenny Chastain.
Then, one night, she gets called to a couple of cases that she just can't let go. The brutal beating of a prostitute and the death of a young woman caught up in a nightclub shooting. She then takes it upon herself to investigate these two cases herself - one with departmental blessing, the other off the books. Things then start to escalate and really get personal for Renee as she suffers the loss of an old (albeit estranged) friend as well as facing her own danger. Can she manage to put her past behind her and muster all her strength to get to the bottom of what really happened that night?
Well... I for one am now a big fan of Renee. I took to her straight away - gotta love a gutsy, tenacious, never-give-up cop! Oh and she's also got a pretty cool dog in Lola whose start in life reflected her owners somewhat. The story she, and her supporting cast, plays out is tightly and flawlessly plotted and kept my attention completely throughout the whole book. Especially impressive considering that there is an awful lot going on with other smaller cases also being worked alongside the two main ones. It does get a bit frenetic towards the end as we race for the finish line in a few things but, all things considered, this upping in pace matched what was going on perfectly and so it would have felt disjointed to me if it was slower.
All in all a cracking series opener which introduces a rather interesting and compelling character that I, for one, can't wait to revisit in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I'm a big fan of Michael Connelly so was excited to receive his new novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It featured a new protagonist, Renee Ballard who works the night shift for LA Police Department. Working all night and sleeping and surfing the waves all day Renee is an interesting character with a backstory that is gradually revealed as the book progresses.
In the book Renee investigates several incidents that occur on her watch including a horrific attack on a transgender woman and a shooting in a night club that leaves a number of people dead including a waitress, Trying to find out why the shooting happened brings Renee into conflict with her own department where she has a number of enemies due to an earlier sexual harassment claim against a colleague which she lost.
Her investigation of the attack also lands her in big trouble both with the department and the possible perpetrator whom she manages to track down on her own.
There were a lot of characters and sub plots in this novel which made it hard to follow at times. I liked Renee as a character but I did not find the book quite as compelling as Connelly's Bosch and Haller series.
However it was well researched with lots of interesting facts and forensics. It was good to have a female protagonist as the lead in a Connelly novel and I will be keen to read the next installment when it is published. I am wondering whether Renee will eventually find her way into the Bosch and Haller books too!