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harperv28's review
4.0
This is Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch, book number four. It is the year 2020, and with the pandemic and lots of pushback to police behavior, many police are just phoning in their jobs, but Renee is still very dedicated to solving crimes. In this book, she is involved in two different cases.
The first is the murder of Javier Raffa on New Year's Eve. He used to be part of Las Palmas 13, but he bought his way out many years ago, so it doesn't really make sense that the gang would murder him all these years later. Renee, of course, wants to work the case as much as possible before she has to hand it over. In this case, she would turn it over to West Bureau, but luckily, they are very busy with another big case, so she can do a lot of the work. This is where Harry comes in because the gun used to kill Javier Raffa is tied to a cold case that Harry worked on, and the murder book is missing, so she contacts Harry to see what he remembers about the cold case.
While she is starting the investigation for that case, a third rape comes in by two men that Renee has dubbed the Midnight Men. It is unusual for rape to be a two-person crime, and these men also strike on holidays. Everyone is assigned a partner, even Renee, for New Year's Eve. Her partner for the night is Lisa Moore from the Hollywood Division Sexual Assault Unit. However, the rape case doesn't come in until after she is off, and she leaves town to be with her boyfriend and leaves Renee to do most of the work.
Renee gets some hatred from other cops who aren't currently doing their jobs due to the current political climate. She also gets herself into some tricky sitatutions with both cases.
The book leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger, so it will be interesting to see how the next book starts off.
The first is the murder of Javier Raffa on New Year's Eve. He used to be part of Las Palmas 13, but he bought his way out many years ago, so it doesn't really make sense that the gang would murder him all these years later. Renee, of course, wants to work the case as much as possible before she has to hand it over. In this case, she would turn it over to West Bureau, but luckily, they are very busy with another big case, so she can do a lot of the work. This is where Harry comes in because the gun used to kill Javier Raffa is tied to a cold case that Harry worked on, and the murder book is missing, so she contacts Harry to see what he remembers about the cold case.
While she is starting the investigation for that case, a third rape comes in by two men that Renee has dubbed the Midnight Men. It is unusual for rape to be a two-person crime, and these men also strike on holidays. Everyone is assigned a partner, even Renee, for New Year's Eve. Her partner for the night is Lisa Moore from the Hollywood Division Sexual Assault Unit. However, the rape case doesn't come in until after she is off, and she leaves town to be with her boyfriend and leaves Renee to do most of the work.
Renee gets some hatred from other cops who aren't currently doing their jobs due to the current political climate. She also gets herself into some tricky sitatutions with both cases.
The book leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger, so it will be interesting to see how the next book starts off.
wvteach's review
5.0
I loved the story! I thought it was interesting, exciting and although I figured out the end it was very good!
It took a little while to get caught up in the story but background info is needed.
I’m already on to the next one.
It took a little while to get caught up in the story but background info is needed.
I’m already on to the next one.
throwerp's review against another edition
3.0
Always a swift and pleasant enough read, but nothing amazing to report on this one.
constantreader471's review against another edition
5.0
Although this book is 388 pages long, I devoured it in 2 days. Connelly's books are that good. I rate it 5 stars and it is the 37th book that I have read by Connelly. In this book, #4 in the Renee Ballard series, she is working the midnight shift when she gets called to the scene of a man killed by a gunshot. It is the New Year and people shoot off guns at midnight. While she works on this case, she is called to the scene of another crime. A rape has happened and it is the 3rd in a series of what the LAPD(Los Angeles Police Dept) calls the "Midnight Men." Two person rapes are unusual--usual M.O.(Modus Operandi) is either 1 person or a gang rape of several people raping 1 woman.
Ballard works outside dept boundaries and brings in retired detective Harry Bosch for assistance
While she incurs the wrath of superiors, she does solve both cases, with Bosch's help, at the risk of her own life.
One quote: Ballard on her sex crime partner: "Ballard had long realized that Moore had lost her empathy. Working sex crimes full time probably did that. Losing empathy for victims was a self protective measure, but Ballard hoped it never happened to her. Police work could easily hollow you out. But ash believed that losing one's empathy was losing one's soul."
I rate this library book 5 stars because Connely is a master at writing police procedurals. I now see Titus Welliver when I read Bosch's words.
Ballard works outside dept boundaries and brings in retired detective Harry Bosch for assistance
While she incurs the wrath of superiors, she does solve both cases, with Bosch's help, at the risk of her own life.
One quote: Ballard on her sex crime partner: "Ballard had long realized that Moore had lost her empathy. Working sex crimes full time probably did that. Losing empathy for victims was a self protective measure, but Ballard hoped it never happened to her. Police work could easily hollow you out. But ash believed that losing one's empathy was losing one's soul."
I rate this library book 5 stars because Connely is a master at writing police procedurals. I now see Titus Welliver when I read Bosch's words.
morandareads's review against another edition
5.0
I never review Connelly’s books because honestly they don’t need reviewing. If you like one Harry Bosch book you are going to like them all. Some are better written and some ware worse. However this book deserves a review. This book is epically good. I personally loved how relevant it was. I enjoyed that he didn’t glaze over the upheavals in government and policing. Touching on the exhaustion of the pandemic was also necessary and made the book feel more realistic. I think Renee Ballard is a fascinating character. The plot of this book was also intriguing and I wish it had been fully resolved (as in we see the dirt bag boyfriends get arrested too). I am excited to read more of Renee!
markreadsbooks_sg's review against another edition
4.0
I got The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly for free for a fair and honest review
At the start of 2021, night shift detective Ballard is sat in a car waiting to hear about the latest attack by two rapists called the midnight men, who generally strike on the holidays.
However, while she is waiting about this she gets a report of a man killed while guns are being fired into the air to celebrate the new year.
However, the previous year 2020 has been one of the hardest, with the pandemic, a disputed general election, and the BLM protests after the murder of George Floyd, mean that the moral of the police is at an all-time low.
So, when the murder leads back to an old case of Harry Bosch, she neds all his help she can get.
This is the first novel by Michael Connelly, that I have read, however with the writer’s style of writing and the narrative of the story I was never at a loss even though this is the 23rd Bosch story and the 4th Ballard one.
Which means I can not comment on how this compares to the previous stories but take it as a standalone.
While I Have read a few novels that have mentioned the events of 2020/21 in passing this is the first novel that the events of that year have formed an integral part of the story.
Which I think really gave the novel a felling of time and had a real effect on the narrative of the story.
As for the two main characters of the novel Bosch and Ballard, with each of these characters being in multiple books, it can feel when as a reader who meets them for the first time.
The writer does one of two things makes them a caricature of what the want them to be, so it does not hinder the reader if this is the first book they have read.
What I feel Michael Connelly did, is write well developed characters, which when you read a book that is not the first of the series you know the depth of the character and at some point, you think you know that they have changed over time.
All this makes The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly a well-rounded novel which I can highly recommend even if this is your first Ballard & Bosch Novel.
At the start of 2021, night shift detective Ballard is sat in a car waiting to hear about the latest attack by two rapists called the midnight men, who generally strike on the holidays.
However, while she is waiting about this she gets a report of a man killed while guns are being fired into the air to celebrate the new year.
However, the previous year 2020 has been one of the hardest, with the pandemic, a disputed general election, and the BLM protests after the murder of George Floyd, mean that the moral of the police is at an all-time low.
So, when the murder leads back to an old case of Harry Bosch, she neds all his help she can get.
This is the first novel by Michael Connelly, that I have read, however with the writer’s style of writing and the narrative of the story I was never at a loss even though this is the 23rd Bosch story and the 4th Ballard one.
Which means I can not comment on how this compares to the previous stories but take it as a standalone.
While I Have read a few novels that have mentioned the events of 2020/21 in passing this is the first novel that the events of that year have formed an integral part of the story.
Which I think really gave the novel a felling of time and had a real effect on the narrative of the story.
As for the two main characters of the novel Bosch and Ballard, with each of these characters being in multiple books, it can feel when as a reader who meets them for the first time.
The writer does one of two things makes them a caricature of what the want them to be, so it does not hinder the reader if this is the first book they have read.
What I feel Michael Connelly did, is write well developed characters, which when you read a book that is not the first of the series you know the depth of the character and at some point, you think you know that they have changed over time.
All this makes The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly a well-rounded novel which I can highly recommend even if this is your first Ballard & Bosch Novel.
anionce's review against another edition
4.0
Another great installment, another great adventure during the late show
cgcang's review against another edition
5.0
Okay, this one confirmed for me that Connelly is the grandmaster of police procedurals and no one does it better than him.
I think I like this one more than both Dark Sacred Night and The Night Fire, probably because it's primarily a Ballard novel, not a Ballard and Bosch novel as advertised, I mean... Bosch was much more prominent in The Reversal and it wasn't even called a Haller and Bosch novel, it was just a Haller book. And the reason I like this one more than the last two isn't that I like Ballard more than Bosch in any way. It's just that both DSN and TNF were more or less cut in half and shared between Ballard and Bosch, making them not complete Ballard and Bosch novels but a mishmash of two half novels. So when I say The Dark Hours is a Ballard novel, I mean it feels like a complete novel, not shared between two important characters who both need their own space and effort. Therefore it feels more natural, more developed, in a way a like direct follow up to The Late Show, because once again it's completely Ballard's show. She has the space to herself now that there isn't a lot of Bosch and it really works.
In turn, there is very little of Bosch and I'm not really okay with that. I really want to see a solo Bosch novel, or at least Connelly can do for Bosch what he did for Ballard here and make her some kind of supporting character at least for one more book. Because Bosch is getting really old and I don't want him to just leave everything to Ballard and completely retire or possibly die of old age. We deserve a solo Bosch book, even if it's going to be the last one we ever get.
I think I like this one more than both Dark Sacred Night and The Night Fire, probably because it's primarily a Ballard novel, not a Ballard and Bosch novel as advertised, I mean... Bosch was much more prominent in The Reversal and it wasn't even called a Haller and Bosch novel, it was just a Haller book. And the reason I like this one more than the last two isn't that I like Ballard more than Bosch in any way. It's just that both DSN and TNF were more or less cut in half and shared between Ballard and Bosch, making them not complete Ballard and Bosch novels but a mishmash of two half novels. So when I say The Dark Hours is a Ballard novel, I mean it feels like a complete novel, not shared between two important characters who both need their own space and effort. Therefore it feels more natural, more developed, in a way a like direct follow up to The Late Show, because once again it's completely Ballard's show. She has the space to herself now that there isn't a lot of Bosch and it really works.
In turn, there is very little of Bosch and I'm not really okay with that. I really want to see a solo Bosch novel, or at least Connelly can do for Bosch what he did for Ballard here and make her some kind of supporting character at least for one more book. Because Bosch is getting really old and I don't want him to just leave everything to Ballard and completely retire or possibly die of old age. We deserve a solo Bosch book, even if it's going to be the last one we ever get.
kgentry4's review against another edition
4.0
Please, oh please, just keep my Harry Bosch books coming!