Renée Ballard is a Bosch/Not-Bosch-type character. They both have dogs. He's into jazz. She surfs. They both draw outside the lines in their police work. He's a lead Robbery Homicide Detective. She's babysitting crime on the night shift. They want to see justice done. He lives in the Hollywood Hills. She lives in a tent on the beach. And it's this last point that gives me pause. I'm not sure if her homelessness is a reaction to her sexual harassment episode, but it seems a bit unstable to me, especially for a cop. Honestly, Ballard is not very likable. If I was on the force, I'd certainly give her a wide berth at work. The plot was just okay and, being Michael Connelly, the novel is definitely a police procedural story. I probably won't pick up the sequel. ( )

Renee Ballard is full of awesome. Michael Connelly delivers again. Connelly has long been one of my favorite writers and nothing in this book will change that. His plots are always tight and I love both of the stories he juggles in this story. One a mystery and one a chase. I also love how well he captures Los Angeles in all of his stories. Read it and enjoy. ( )

A little rough around the edges as the author introduces a new character and series. There seemed to be a lot of unneeded procedural explaining and it want until half way through the book you find out why the main character Renée sleeps on the beach.
The second half of the book is much better.
Having male writers write about a strong female lead is always tricky, in this case the characters attitude and behavior is her own worst enemy, but the author reigns her in by the end of the book.
There are 3 storylines (crimes) In the book: a mass nightclub shooting, a credit card scam, and a S&M obsessed abuser of prostitutes.
Overall it is still a very good book ( )

I finished The Late Show by Michael Conley last night. Stayed up late on November 30th to finish it because I once it got going I couldn't put it down.

It took me a while to warm up to these characters. I think because I was more invested in Bosch as that was the last book that I read before this one. I know that the characters in this book will eventually overlap with the Bosch books. There's already been mentioned of Bosch in this book.

This series main character is Renee Ballard. She has multiple years on the LAPD but like Bosch she is targeted by higher ups who want to boot her out. Mr. Connelly really writes female characters well so I was able to develop an affinity for Renee and become interested in her story.

There are multiple storylines working in this novel, unlike other times that Michael Conley has dealt with that, they that where they all intertwined, none of these cases are intertwined. Each line of the story was wrapped up without feeling rushed or events skipped over.

I did enjoy the characters and of course the writing style and will be reading book two in the series after I read more of the Bosch series since he is a character in the series going forward. After getting caught up chronologically, I will come back to this series to read book 2 before I decide if I will stick with this series or not.


Disclaimer
I received via the OverDrive/Libby app from the Harris County Library system. It was read as a Kindle Book.

This review appeared on my website. ( )

Un gran bel libro, avvincente e coinvolgente, un nuovo personaggio, Renée Ballard, che spero di incontrare in altri libri dello scrittore e che presenta, al femminile, caratteristiche che rievocano in parte il mitico Harry Bosch.
Da non perdere. ( )