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A review by mackenzierm
The Late Show by Michael Connelly
4.0
Young detective Renée Ballard works the night shift at the LAPD in Hollywood where she begins many investigations but gets to finish none, having to hand off her cases to the day shift detectives. She was put on the night shift as a punishment for filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. One night she catches two cases she doesn’t want to give up – one a brutal beating of a prostitute and the second, a nightclub shooting resulting in a dead young woman. Against orders and her partner’s wishes, Ballard keeps working both cases by day while maintains her night shift schedule at night, digging up new leads that pull her closer to her own demons.
I saw THE LATE SHOW was available on Libby and snagged it up, later discovering it to be a book that’s been on my Goodreads TBR since 2017 – I’ll call that a win!
I’ve never read anything by Michael Connelly so I enjoyed this first dive into his work. I loved getting to know Detective Renée Ballard through these pages. Her story is set within the Harry Bosch Universe, a large and popular Connelly series. Ballard is a strong-willed, courageous, and talented detective who is determined to get to the bottom of each case even when she’s supposed to have handed it off. I really enjoyed her narration and am excited to see how her character arc will progress in the rest of the series.
I love police procedural with a sort of ‘underdog’ character – in this case, Ballard is a woman in a man’s game, trying to work her way up the LAPD structure and show her worth. There’s some interesting office politics and I love how Ballard handles it with class.
I really enjoyed the plot of this novel with two tragic cases that have seemingly no connection. It’s a gripping read with a great pacing and a tense narrative. It was interesting to see Detective Ballard find, and carefully, put the pieces together. I adored the ending with a reveal that was an excellent sleight of hand – so crafty!
I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series!
I saw THE LATE SHOW was available on Libby and snagged it up, later discovering it to be a book that’s been on my Goodreads TBR since 2017 – I’ll call that a win!
I’ve never read anything by Michael Connelly so I enjoyed this first dive into his work. I loved getting to know Detective Renée Ballard through these pages. Her story is set within the Harry Bosch Universe, a large and popular Connelly series. Ballard is a strong-willed, courageous, and talented detective who is determined to get to the bottom of each case even when she’s supposed to have handed it off. I really enjoyed her narration and am excited to see how her character arc will progress in the rest of the series.
I love police procedural with a sort of ‘underdog’ character – in this case, Ballard is a woman in a man’s game, trying to work her way up the LAPD structure and show her worth. There’s some interesting office politics and I love how Ballard handles it with class.
I really enjoyed the plot of this novel with two tragic cases that have seemingly no connection. It’s a gripping read with a great pacing and a tense narrative. It was interesting to see Detective Ballard find, and carefully, put the pieces together. I adored the ending with a reveal that was an excellent sleight of hand – so crafty!
I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series!