Audiobook Review: Desert Star by Michael Connelly + reminder of this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight

Desert Star
by Michael Connelly (Compact Disc Connelly)

 

Desert Star is the fifth novel by Michael Connelly to feature his newest protagonist, Renee Ballard. At the same time, it is the 24th novel to feature his longest-running series character, Harry Bosch. And Harry’s half-brother, roguish attorney Mickey Haller even pops up in a cameo late in the novel.

 

Ballard first appeared as a solo character in 2017’s The Late Show, but from her second novel onwards, she’s been teamed up with retired detective Harry Bosch in one capacity or another. Following crucial events in 2021’s The Dark Hours, Renee was given the plumb job of heading up a newly revived Open Unsolved Unit, focusing on cold cases, and when she’s given free reign to pick the volunteer researchers she wants to work with…Harry is #1 on her list. Though he’s dealing with some heavy personal baggage in his own life, the opportunity to have access to police resources again to try to close the one big case that has eluded him in his career is enough to pull the aging Bosch onto Renee’s team of volunteer specialists. But before he can focus on the Gallagher Family case, Bosch has to join forces with the other researchers to try to find new leads on the murder of a city councilman’s sister (from two decades ago) — the continued backing of the councilman, for the Open Unsolved Unit may hinge on them making some progress.

 

During the course of this novel, both of these cases reach conclusions, with some shocking developments along the way. The relationship between Renee and Bosch, who’s become a father-like mentor to the young detective, is tested. The dialog, plot and pacing are absolutely top notch — Connelly novels always feel like they’re captures of a bit of the lives of real people doing real jobs. Personally, I’ve listened to all of the Ballard titles as audiobooks-on-cd, and these are some of the absolute best audiobook out there. In the case of the Ballard & Bosch titles, Christine Lakin voices the chapters told from Ballards p-o-v, and Titus Welliver, who has portrayed Harry Bosch in the Amazon streaming series Bosch, voices the chapters told from Bosch’s p-o-v (and in scenes where the two converse, both voices are heard), and in the brief moments where Mickey Haller shows up, he is voiced by Peter Giles — who narrates the audiobooks of Connelly’s Haller novels).

 

I absolutely love these Ballard and Bosch collaborations, and will rue the day when Connelly brings Harry’s long and convoluted literary journey to a conclusion…which, rumor has it, may be coming sooner than his fans may wish.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try all of the Renee Ballard novels, of which this is the fifth, and the later entries in the Harry Bosch series (which has been going since 1992), particularly those since Harry retired from active police work.)

 

( official Michael Connelly web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

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If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting next week, April 27th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's book assigned topic of discussion is also the title selected for annual statewide One Book One Nebraska reading program, Mignon G. Eberhart's 1930 novel, The Mystery of Hunting's End.

 

Even if you haven't read anything for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Audiobook Review: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly

The Dark Hours
by Michael Connelly, narrated by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver (Compact Disc Connelly)

This is the fourth entry in Connelly’s Renee Ballard series, but it is also the 23rd entry in his Harry Bosch series. Unlike the previous volume, The Night Fire (2019), in which Renee and Harry took turns narrating the story, in The Dark Hours, Renee is the only point-of-view character. However, since this is an audiobook, in addition to Christine Lakin as the primary narrator, they did bring back Titus Welliver (the actor portraying Bosch in the recently-concluded Amazon Prime streaming series Bosch) to provide the voice of Harry Bosch any time his character speaks.

 

The Dark Hours follows Renee’s work on two simultaneous cases — first, she is reluctantly partnered up with a fellow female detective on the “Midnight Men” case — a pair of men working together to commit serial rape crimes against specifically targeted single women. And then, when a hispanic man, a former gang member who got out of that life, is killed by a gunshot during the chaos of midnight gunfire citywide as Angelinos go into the streets to fire their guns in the air at the toll of midnight on December 31st, 2020, Renee intuits that the death was not accidental but instead an intentional murder. Ballistics matches the gun used in the New Years Eve killing to an old, unsolved case from Bosch’s era — the retired detective and the young late shift detective combine notes and efforts to research that case. Meanwhile, Renee also follows a few promising leads on identifying a pattern to the tag-team rapists to try to predict their next move and prevent another woman from being victimized — while dealing with a burned-out colleague and lack of support from her supervisors.

 

Connelly is superb at creating realistic police procedurals, with compelling characters and tense plots. Renee Ballard has been a fascinating character to see evolve in her first four books, and her “unofficial” partnership with the older, retired Bosch as a mentor figure has been an interesting way for Connelly to keep his most-renowned character still active in recent years. I definitely appreciated the fact that in this book, we get to see how the L.A.P.D. is coping during the pandemic years — the bulk of the events take place in the first two weeks of January 2021, as even first responders in Los Angeles are mostly still awaiting COVID-19 vaccinations. With most contemporary series writers casting a blind eye towards the pandemic, it has been refreshing to see Connelly integrate the true reality of our world into his storytelling.

 

The Dark Hours is another superb Connelly title — he rarely disappoints!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the first three Renee Ballard novels by Connelly, particularly in audiobook format, all read by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver.)

 

( official The Dark Hours page on the official Michael Connelly web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

 

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly (as an audiobook)

The Night Fire
by Michael Connelly (Compact Disc Connelly)

This is the third Renee Ballard novel by Michael Connelly, and the second to cross over with the Harry Bosch series (after Dark Sacred Night). Knowing that Connelly had aged Bosch out of the police force, and the author was looking for fresh LAPD ground to trod, I was very impressed by the first novel to feature his female detective Renee Ballard (The Late Show). It was obvious that that new series was set in the same storytelling universe as his Bosch novels, not to mention the Mickey Haller legal thrillers (Mickey is Bosch’s cousin). So at the end of The Late Show, I knew a cross-over with Bosch was going to be coming eventually. I was disappointed that Connelly didn’t let Ballard stand on her one for more than a single novel before his more senior sleuth showed up, and Dark Sacred Night felt a bit forced.

In The Night Fire, Ballard and Bosch’s unofficial working relationship — she’s still a cop on the Hollywood “late shift”, and he’s still a retired investigator who’s taking a shot at some cold cases — seems to have gelled a little more. As in most Connelly novels, there are multiple cases and plot threads running simultaneously, and in the end, most of those converge and end up having something to do with each other. This time, Renee feels compelled to keep an eye on the arson death of someone living on the street, and Bosch has a personal connection when his mentor dies and the murder book for one of his old cases is found among his belongings — apparently not worked on for 20 years. The arson murder is too “planned out” for it to have been spur-of-the-moment, and Bosch’s mentor appears to have been hiding things, even from his own wife.

Titus Welliver, who is playing Bosch in the Amazon Prime TV series of that title, narrates the chapters told from Bosch’s point-of-view, and Christine Lakin narrates the chapters seen through Ballard’s eyes. In the chapters where they interact, both actors narrate together. The audio version of this story was very compelling — taut storytelling, excellent police procedural plotting, and dark humor. There’s dramatic action and suspense, especially in the final 70 pages. I should also point out that Mickey Haller crosses over into this volume, as he and Harry scratch each others backs to get some mutual assistance, much to Ballard’s confusion/distrust.

I loved this one. After a brief stumble with the second Ballard, Connelly’s back on track with a winner in The Night Fire.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Connelly’s earlier Ballard novels, The Late Show, and Dark Sacred Night, or any of his Harry Bosch novels.]

[ official The Night Fire page on the official Michael Connelly web site ]

See Scott C.’s earlier reviews of both The Late Show and Dark Sacred Night as Books-on-CD here on BookGuide!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Review: The Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly (in audiobook format)

The Dark Sacred Night
by Michael Connelly [Compact Disc Connelly]

Though I’ve never been a hard-core fan of the Harry Bosch series of crime novels by Michael Connelly, I have read a couple of them and recognize that they are extremely well-written. When Connelly started a new series, focused on a young female police investigator, Renee Ballard, in 2017, I immediately became hooked, and knew I would be looking forward to the next Ballard novel. The big question on the minds of most Michael Connelly fans was — how soon would he cross over Bosch and Ballard? After all, Bosch clearly crosses over with another of Connelly’s on-going L.A. series, those focused on seedy lawyer Mickey Haller.

Well, we didn’t have to wait long — The Dark Sacred Night is the second Renee Ballard novel, and it is simultaneously the twenty-first Harry Bosch novel. Bosch’s position in the police heirarchy has changed dramatically over the years, but he’s still with the department. Ballard is still working the Hollywood Division late night shift. When their paths cross and Ballard figures out the old, cold, case that Bosch is working on, she insists that she wants to work it with him. Each of these detectives has primary cases that they’re working, but they team up to do the nitty-gritty research to identify a potential suspect in the murder of a young woman — the daughter of a trouble friend of Bosch’s.
This is another extremely well-written police procedural, and Bosch and Ballard play off of each other very well. I can see them being good investigative partners in years to come. However, I will admit to some disappointment. I really would have liked to have seen Ballard establish herself more on her own bonafides before teaming up with Bosch. It would have been nice to see at least two or three Ballard novels before Harry entered the picture. That quibble notwithstanding, I enjoyed this novel very much — especially the audiobook version that I listened to. It is narrated by two voices — Christine Lakin (who narrated the first Ballard audiobook) does the honors for the chapters focusing on Renee Ballard; actor Titus Welliver narrates the Bosch chapters — very appropriate since he has been portraying Harry Bosch in the television series which is exclusively available on Amazon Prime streaming. He really has become the “voice” of Bosch, and his narration here is tired and gritty, just like the character has become.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Late Show, the first Renee Ballard novel by Michael Connelly.]

[ official The Dark Sacred Night page on the official Michael Connelly web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!