Really enjoyed Desert Star. I love the dynamic between Ballard and Bosch and how they play off of eachother. The cold cases are always interesting and I genuinely couldn’t stop reading this one. Makes me eager to get back to my Bosch reread! Always highly recommend this series!

There’s no I in team and there’s certainly no Bosch in one either!
Another brilliant encounter with Bosch and Ballard. This time Ballard is Harry’s boss as she heads up the newly resurrected Open-Unsolved unit. The unit’s first focus has to be the murder of the councilman’s sister, but Harry’s main focus is on the Gallagher case, one that got away from him before.
As usual Connelly’s engaging writing pulls you in from the first page. Connelly has kept Bosch real, aged him accordingly and placed him in the modern world where it’s not just the advances in DNA that have changed. Like Harry I had to Google the new meaning of “Roger That”! As Bosch’s moto “everybody counts or nobody counts” is put into action sometimes you do the wrong things for the right reasons.
Nice cameo appearance of Mick Haller too.
I’ve read all the Bosch books and found some of the scenes towards the end quite emotional.
Keep Bosch real but above all keep him with us.

The Cold Case unit (aka Open-Unsolved) is officially up and running again, with Renee Ballard in charge as the only current serving officer. Of course, she ropes in Harry Bosch to the team, even though "team player" is not what he's ever been.

Pulling some of the strings is local councillor Jake, who has a vested interest - the murder of his sister is one of the cases under review.

And while this is the political priority, Harry (as usual) is not staying on message. He's still carrying one of his old cases around - the murder of an entire family.

Advances in technology, particularly DNA, have placed both cases back in the spotlight. And some unpleasant truths soon begin to surface.

Can Harry and Renee bring closure to two families?

Another brilliant episode in the long-running Bosch series

There has been significant change in this latest in Michael Connelly's latest Los Angeles based series featuring Detective Renee Ballard with Harry Bosch. Ballard now finds herself the boss of the resurrected Open Unsolved Unit Cold Cases, within the Robbery and Homicide Division, and all the complexities that go with that position. She is having to handle the politics, the machinations from within the police hierarchy, and the likes of councilman, Jake Pearlman, who is responsible for championing the new unit. However, its future depends on Ballard and her team of volunteers solving a specific cold case, the brutal murder of Pearlman's 16 year old sister, Sarah, with Ballard having to report regularly to his chief of staff, Nelson Hastings, who has insisted on Ted 'Lou' Rawls joining her team. The cold case murder book collection is poignantly referred to as the library of lost souls.

Ballard has managed to convince Harry Bosch to join the team, making it clear to him that the priority is solving Sarah's murder, but that he will be able to pursue a case that had haunted him through the years, the murder of the entire Gallagher family, including their young son and daughter. The four bodies of the Gallagher family were discovered buried in the Mojave Desert, a place marked by the desert rose that he visits, willing to do whatever it takes to bring the killer, thought to be Finbar McShane who disappeared, to justice. Ballard team of volunteers includes ex- FBI Thomas Laffant, Paul Masser, and a genealogy expert, Colleen Hatteras. Using the latest developments in DNA techniques, they get a break that links Sarah's killer with another cold case, the 2005 murder of 24 year old Laura Wilson. Cracking the cases bring danger and threats to the existence of the cold case team.

It has to be said that whilst Ballard and Bosch have a strong relationship developed over the years with the cases they have worked, Ballard inevitably finds Bosch a difficult character to manage, even on occasions, her ability to trust him is to be tested. Connelly exercises his trademark in depth attention to the police and legal procedures and details, and this addition to the series culminates in a sombre finale in Key West, Florida, where Bosch finds himself doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, something he eventually opens up about to Ballard. As always, this is a engrossing and engaging crime addition to a wonderful series, it will appeal to readers of the crime and mystery genre, particularly to fans of the author. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.