LAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold, with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.

Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her solo mission leads her into greater danger than she anticipates. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch.

Finally, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit. Bosch’s daughter Maddie wants to supplement her work as a patrol officer on the night beat by investigating cases with Ballard. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.

Winter Crime Reading

Honestly, there ain’t much better than cracking open a new Michael Connelly on a cold winters evening. Rain occasionally hitting the window like a handful of gravel, curtains drawn and heating on, wee glass of the good stuff sitting beside you. Take your simple pleasures where you find them.

Ballard and Bosch

Lets get this out of the way early doors; there ain’t much Harry Bosch in this book. We don’t get any Harry led chapters (is this a first?) so this is very much a Renée Ballard outing. Harry does play a part, but on one of the side quests, if you know what I mean. The body may not be as willing, but he still has that instinct we know too well.

Whilst there’s a lack of Harry, we do get an extra dollop of Bosch in the form of Maddie, who wants to mix up her patrol duties with a little bit of cold case work with Ballards raggle taggle unit. I liked Maddie’s work in this one - she stumbles into a cold case that crime fans just might have heard of. I’m saying no more.

I think we can see how the Ballard and Bosch brand can very much continue. These are two strong female characters that can certainly continue to crack a few more cases and upset authorities along the way. Will they be enough to carry the series? Time will tell.

Audiobook

I went for the audiobook for ‘The waiting’ because I find that Connelly’s writing suits the format so well. There’s a lot of dialogue for one, and his images are just so crisp and clear that you don’t get bogged down in verbose passages of prose.

Titus Welliver of course reprises the role of Harry, whilst I think it’s a really good idea to have Madison Lintz from the Bosch series in the role of Maddie. It certainly adds a feeling of familiarity and continuity.

I really like Christine Lakin in the role of Renée. She’s got a good range, and a pleasant timbre to her voice. At times she’s authoritative, whilst at others you can hear a bit of weariness creeping into her voice. And exasperation, especially with a certain Colleen Hatteras, who at times who would try the patience of a saint.

The Cases

I think Connelly does a great job in pacing the three stories - The Pillowcase Rapist, Ballards missing badge, and Maddies cold case. I never got confused with the overlapping cases, as each is distinct enough. There’s also a little bit about Ballards early life, which doesn’t interfere with the narrative and adds a bit of flesh to her backstory.

Maggies cold case is the only one I was unsure about, even thought I just went along with it. It is a fictional book after all, though perhaps it’s strange that Connelly has included a real life case. I know some true crime aficionados have got worked up about it, but I never thought of it as anything more than Connelly using an old case to introduce Maddie to readers as having detective potential.

The Waiting

‘The waiting’ gets a mention as a Tom Petty song during the book, but it also refers to a lot of the waiting around that takes place in police work. There’s the waiting around for suspects to emerge from homes or restaurants so that they can be tailed. The waiting for them to leave a table so a bit of DNA can be bagged from a cup.

Then there’s the waiting for results to arrive. Because Ballards cold cases largely revolve around DNA, there’s a lot of waiting on phone calls or emails from labs to come through.

As usual, I love the details about the police work, even the more mundane aspects. The cases that are a slow burn are my favourite, seemingly at a dead end before a call comes through about results, possibly leading her and the team in a different direction.

Renée

Renée has grown on me, I must say. There’s enough in her back story to intrigue me, and Connelly leaves the book in a place where it’ll be easy to pick up. I like how she goes about her work, she has a healthy level of cynicism towards the LAPD hierarchy, and whilst she’s learnt from the best from her former partner and mentor, she also follows her own instinct and is usually right.

I think we can see the direction of the future books now, with Maddie playing more of a part. She has a bit more growing to do - I don’t think she’s that well developed as a character yet, so interesting to see what Connelly does with her.

Still, I think there’s at least one more big case in Harry. Maybe not in the lead role, but certainly a stronger supporting role than this one. I would like to see him go out in style - he’s one of my favourite fictional crime creations and I think he deserves it. Better to burn out than fade away, as Neil Young sang.

Summary

I found this to be a really strong outing, with a particularly engaging lead story that was backed up by a couple of really solid side cases. Maddies cold case added an extra element to the book, one of the LA’s most notorious unsolved crimes; I enjoyed learning more about it.

I think Connelly is really hitting his stride now with Ballard and I’m really looking forward to where he takes her next.

Still one of the best around.

Amazon US Amazon UK

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2024 by Little Brown and Company

10 hours 49 Minutes - Hatchette UK