I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.

I have read a lot of Connelly's previous books and enjoyed them. This one features a new lead character, Renee Ballard who is strong, eager and keen, and tenacious when working on her cases. A well written,steady paced police procedural which kept me interested throughout.
Recommended. 4.5****

8/10

As soon as this popped up on NetGalley there was no way I wasn't requesting this. Michael Connelly is a favourite of mine and he can weave a thriller with ease. It's the start of a (potential) new series with a female as a lead which added a whole different dimension to some of his other work and I was keen to see how it would all pan out.

It'd be quite easy to label this as Hermione Bosch which would be lazy and unjust but that was sort of how I felt it would read going into this. Harry Bosch will need to retire at some point and it makes sense to try something new (personally I hope for more Micky Haller books too) and this keeps the police procedural aspect going which Connelly excels at.

There are about 4 main strands to this story, more hectic than the usual Bosch novel, but all of them weave in and out and keep the pace flowing and intrigue levels high. Lots happen throughout and there are a number of twists and turns as would be expected which kept me guessing throughout.

I was happy with the main characters development and how easy it was to read about her exploits. The supporting cast weren't massively fleshed out but that might come at a later date. I'd be more than happy to read more in this series should there be more written in the future.

I'm a great fan of Michael Connelly and I was so pleased to be introduced to Renee Ballard, his latest protagonist. She reminded me somehow of a younger, female Bosch in some ways which is not to say she isn't a well rounded character in her own right.
Slightly damaged, fierce and on the hunt for "Big Evil". I loved every page!

Michael Connelly has created another strong and credible character in Renee Ballard. Great story, didn't see the twist at the end. Can't wait for 'when Renee met Harry' what a pairing that would make.

A mostly wonderful new start for Michael Connelly. He's created a new protagonist, Reneé Ballard, who is tough and smart and, best of all, not a Bosch-clone. When long-series authors create new characters, they are often just re-skinning of their most successful leads. In this case, Reneé stands and think on her own. Well done (at least the first 3/4 of the book. More on that later....)

And the new Reneé is set in the familiar police-world-L.A. that we know and love from Bosch. The detailed police work, the gritty streets of L.A., the rarified big houses up in the hills, the terrific mysteries and villains, the hidden truths. All terrific here, all clearly [b]shouting MICHAEL CONNELLY IS THE BEST.[/b]

We also see Connelly's crime tales brought fully into the 21st century. The detail on smartphone, police database and information technology capabilities shows he's done some real work to update his world. Well done! I very much enjoyed not just the modern tech, but Connelly's [b]confidence[/b] and understanding of it, and how it affects the action and plot. Wonderful!

In [b]The Late Show[/b] we have three or four main plots, a bit more than the usual Bosch.
a) Credit card theft
b) Assault on prostitute
c) Gang murder in a club
d) sub-plot of Ballard's betrayal by her ex-partner and boss

ALL of these are masterfully woven together, paced perfectly, unlike the badly flawed [b]The Wrong Side of Goodbye[/b]. Although that book has, perhaps, my favourite title of all Bosch ([b]The Concrete Blonde[/b] comes close), the book's structure and pacing were terrible. The plots were interwoven very poorly, which I attribute to Connelly's being distracted by the superb Amazon [b]Bosch[/b] tv series.

As I said, the plots/stories in this book are woven so well, with just the right amount of page coverage of each plot before switching to another, and then to the next. Superbly done. The overall pacing is terrific. I read [b]The Late Show[/b] in one day, interrupted only by chores and meals. What great fun, and so nice to see Connelly back in form!

[b]However, the last 1/4 of the book is a chaotic mess.
Very sad. Very disappointing.[/b]
Note: I was given an advance copy by NetGalley.com, Thank you. This copy had horrific typography flaws, see below. I am also worried that perhaps the last 1/4 of my advance copy was "not finished". It sure reads that way...

So many plot threads, developed so well in the first 3/4 of the book, are suddenly dropped onto the floor like a large windchime. CLANG CRASH BONG. Switching between the 3 or 4 plots is far too fast, with puzzling clues and events not developed, and leaving the reader confused and disappointed. It seems the narrative changes 1,000 times in the last 50-60 pages of the book. The eventual resolution concept is very good, but very very clumsily presented here. It's almost as if Connelly got tired of this book (we've seen this before, especially in older authors, ref: Robert B. Parker's later Spenser books) and just swept all the potentially great plot resolutions into a bucket. Very upsetting, really.

What a sad way to end a superb book. I can only hope that my advance copy was subsequently editted to fulfil the wonderful potential of Connelly's newest creation.


Quotes and notes:

1. Ballard feels "her mission" - superb!
[i]The adrenaline jolt Ballard had felt earlier now turned into a locomotive charging through her veins. To her mind, Trent was no longer just a person of interest. The train had gone by that stop. She believed he was her man, and there was nothing quite like that moment of knowing. It was the Holy Grail of detective work. It had nothing to do with evidence or legal procedure or probable cause. It was just knowing it in your gut. Nothing in her life beat it. It had been a long time coming to her on the late show but now she felt it and she knew deep down it was the reason she would never quit, no matter where they put her or what they said about her.[/i]

2. Classic Connelly Introspection -
[i]... the scent of adrenalized perspiration left in her blouse from that moment when Nettles left the room and she saw he had a gun. She paused for a moment to relive that thrill. The feeling was addictive and dangerous, and she wondered whether there might be something wrong with her for craving it.[/i]

3. The binding of victim and detective - Classic Connelly - Wonderful -
[i]Ballard felt that she had let her down by putting her own agenda with Chastain first. It went to the sacred bond that existed between homicide victims and the detectives who speak for them. It wasn’t Ballard’s case but Haddel was her victim and the bond was there.[/i]

4. There are just-enough cross-links with Bosch, both in characters and events, to be satisfying
[i]She had played the part in an episode of a television show called [b]Bosch[/b], which Ballard knew was based on the exploits of a now-retired LAPD detective who had formerly worked at RHD and the Hollywood detective bureau.[/i]

5. The continuation of The Mission, across time and authors - love it
[i]Ballard had been in the Dancers and knew the club got its name from a club in the great L.A. novel [b]The Long Goodbye[/b].[/i]


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Preview eBook Format Abortion :(

Wow, this preview from NetGalley is a hard format to plow through. You see of these ten long run-ons or more per page!

“TheDancerswasnexttoanoldSpanish-stylebuildingwitha centercourtyardandgarden.Ithadbeenanoutdoorseatingarea for the Cat and Fiddle, an English pub and major hangout for off-duty and sometimes not-off-duty officers from the nearby HollywoodStation.Butitwentoutofbusinessatleasttwoyears earlier—a victim of rising lease rates in Hollywood—and was vacant.Ithadnowbeencommandeeredasawitnesscorral.”

Michael Connelly has begun an exciting new series with a new LAPD detective, Renee Ballard, who with her by the book partner, Jenkins, works the Hollywood nightshift, otherwise referred to as The Late Show. This means they pick up cases, which are then passed on to the dayshift cops, Renee has been shunted onto the Late Show because she had the temerity to file a sexual harassment complaint against the head of the homicide team, Lieutenant Robert Olivas. She had been betrayed by her then partner, Kenny Chastain, who refused to back her up. Renee is tenacious, courageous, determined and a gifted detective who has no qualms about doing whatever is required to bring down the evil she encounters on her job. Her father died whilst surfing, although this has not put her off continuing to enbrace surfing and the itinerant lifestyle that often accompanies it using her grandmother, Tutu's home, as her permanent address. It's her way of diffusing the dangers and tensions experienced on the job. She rescued her dog, Lola, from an abusive scenario, earning her Lola's lifelong loyalty.

On one busy night, Renee catches three cases, a credit card burglary, a vicious beating that almost kills Ramona Ramone, a prostitute undergoing a sex change, and a shooting spree that kills three men, a bouncer and a waitress at the Dancers Club. However, this time she wants to run with the cases, and through a mixture of stealth and manipulation, begins her investigations working through the days. Jenkins refuses to back her on this, but Renee is fine with being a loner and carries on regardless. The Dancers Club case is headed by Olivas who will not tolerate Renee's presence on his team. However, when her ex-partner, Chastain, is shot dead, Renee cannot leave it alone despite what Chastain did to her. In the meantime, the dirty politics in the LAPD means that there are people who cannot wait to get rid of her, ensuring Renee has to watch her back constantly. Renee's investigations put her into the path of dangerous and ruthless people, people who are willing to kill, but Renee has every intention of surviving.

Connelly has written a thoroughly gripping novel with faultless plotting. His new heroine is offbeat, resilient and so very compelling and interesting as a character. The storylines are full of the details and procedures of police investigations which highlight the research the author must have done. The narrative is tense, suspenseful and twisted. A book that I found very hard to put down. A great new series and a brilliant read. Highly recommended. Thanks to Orion for an ARC.