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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Cold Case Crimes
A review of the Little, Brown & Company audiobook (October 15, 2024) released simultaneously with the Little, Brown & Company hardcover/eBook.
The Waiting continues the Renée Ballard storyline with the sometime surfer detective still heading up the LAPD Unsolved Crimes Unit together with a group of volunteers. Harry Bosch's daughter Maddie Bosch asks to work part-time for the unit, seeing it as a way to accelerate her police career from patrol to detective work.
The story kicks off with Ballard having her gun and badge stolen from her car during a morning surfing excursion. The hunt for her IDs leads her to uncover a much larger conspiracy which allows for Harry Bosch to play a small undercover role.
Meanwhile back at the Unsolved Crimes Unit, a current DNA hit causes the squad to focus in on a historical case of serial rapes and murder. The hunt is on for the father of the current young offender. When Maddie Bosch joins the unit her curiosity leads her to the investigation of a notorious 77-year-old cold case which causes political blowback in a conflict with the DA's Office.
The several cases are juggled well in this police procedural, along with a Ballard subplot of the search for her lost mother in Hawaii. I did think the fictional solution of the 77-year-old case (I'm intentionally not saying its name here to prevent a spoiler) was a bit of a stretch. I have to guess that something of a spectacular nature was needed in order to give the Maddie Bosch character a prominent role.
The Waiting is primarily a Renée Ballard book with Harry Bosch and Maddie Bosch having smaller cameo roles. The audiobook did have TV series actors Titus Welliver and Madison Lintz voicing their respective Bosch characters, so that was great. Christine Lakin continues to voice the Ballard role but will not be portraying the character on screen, see below under Trivia for more on that.
Trivia and Link
Actor Maggie Q and an earlier Ballard novel. Image sourced from Deadline (see link below).
It has been announced that actor Maggie Q will portray Renée Ballard in an upcoming, currently untitled TV series (2025?) as a further spinoff to the Bosch (2014-2021) and Bosch Legacy (2022-2024?) TV series. The series is expected to use the LAPD Unsolved Crimes Unit as its story setting and Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch is expected to play a role. Read about that in a Deadline article here from March 21, 2024.
A review of the Little, Brown & Company audiobook (October 15, 2024) released simultaneously with the Little, Brown & Company hardcover/eBook.
The Waiting continues the Renée Ballard storyline with the sometime surfer detective still heading up the LAPD Unsolved Crimes Unit together with a group of volunteers. Harry Bosch's daughter Maddie Bosch asks to work part-time for the unit, seeing it as a way to accelerate her police career from patrol to detective work.
The story kicks off with Ballard having her gun and badge stolen from her car during a morning surfing excursion. The hunt for her IDs leads her to uncover a much larger conspiracy which allows for Harry Bosch to play a small undercover role.
Meanwhile back at the Unsolved Crimes Unit, a current DNA hit causes the squad to focus in on a historical case of serial rapes and murder. The hunt is on for the father of the current young offender. When Maddie Bosch joins the unit her curiosity leads her to the investigation of a notorious 77-year-old cold case which causes political blowback in a conflict with the DA's Office.
The several cases are juggled well in this police procedural, along with a Ballard subplot of the search for her lost mother in Hawaii. I did think the fictional solution of the 77-year-old case (I'm intentionally not saying its name here to prevent a spoiler) was a bit of a stretch. I have to guess that something of a spectacular nature was needed in order to give the Maddie Bosch character a prominent role.
The Waiting is primarily a Renée Ballard book with Harry Bosch and Maddie Bosch having smaller cameo roles. The audiobook did have TV series actors Titus Welliver and Madison Lintz voicing their respective Bosch characters, so that was great. Christine Lakin continues to voice the Ballard role but will not be portraying the character on screen, see below under Trivia for more on that.
Trivia and Link
Actor Maggie Q and an earlier Ballard novel. Image sourced from Deadline (see link below).
It has been announced that actor Maggie Q will portray Renée Ballard in an upcoming, currently untitled TV series (2025?) as a further spinoff to the Bosch (2014-2021) and Bosch Legacy (2022-2024?) TV series. The series is expected to use the LAPD Unsolved Crimes Unit as its story setting and Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch is expected to play a role. Read about that in a Deadline article here from March 21, 2024.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I told myself I was going to read any more of Ballard books after the last book Desert Star but this book had a 4.55 rating and I was intrigued by the idea of bringing in Harry's daughter, Maddie, who is now a cop. My complaints with this last book just repeat themselves with this one. The resolution of the 2 main cases the book revolves around were again unsatisfying to say the least. The characters are not developed especially Maddie. If Maddie is going to replace Harry, then make me care. There was way more to her character when she was a child / teenager in the early Bosch books. Then when there is a huge chance at the end to drive the arc of Ballard and who she is a person the book just ends.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Acronyms drive me crazy!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In this 39th entry into the Harry Bosch detective series and the sixth book in the series featuring his protege Renée Ballard. Harry has been diagnosed with cancer and is officially retired but he frequently finds himself in harness with someone else’s case like Renée or his adult daughter, Maddie. Here Renée is on mission to retrieve her badge and gun stolen from her car while she is surfing. Of course she can’t report the loss and watch her career drift away so she calls on Harry for help. Maddie Bosch has just joined Renée’s Cold Case squad AND come into possession of some forgotten evidence relating to the Black Dahlia case. Think Armand Gramache with his rough edges in tact and the Women’s Murder Club on the streets of LA.
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Really enjoyed this book! I loved the links to previous books and key characters.
Always a hit or miss, this one is a miss...
Having read all of Connelly's books, I am amazed at how some are really good and some not so much. The Bosch series and the Ballard series both go up and down.
This one seems to be slower paced than some and it felt rushed at the end, like Connelly wasn't sure how to end it so he went with the easiest idea.
One of the aggravating things about his writing, and more so in this one, is his need to explain things. Anyone who has read police procedurals or watched crime shows knows most of how the police and investigations work. The one that got me in this book was his need to explain and describe in a full paragraph what a tire iron is. Really!!
i give this one 3 stars.
Having read all of Connelly's books, I am amazed at how some are really good and some not so much. The Bosch series and the Ballard series both go up and down.
This one seems to be slower paced than some and it felt rushed at the end, like Connelly wasn't sure how to end it so he went with the easiest idea.
One of the aggravating things about his writing, and more so in this one, is his need to explain things. Anyone who has read police procedurals or watched crime shows knows most of how the police and investigations work. The one that got me in this book was his need to explain and describe in a full paragraph what a tire iron is. Really!!
i give this one 3 stars.
Hmm not great work. Two main issues is pacing it wrapped up the pillow guy SO quickly with no follow through and one of the plot lines felt shoe horned in and did not fit at all.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes