I’m a BIG Michael Connelly fan. Recently, I have enjoyed 2020’s Law of Innocence, (he latest “Lincoln Lawyer” novel featuring Mickey Haller) and Fair Warning (with Jack McEvoy from The Poet and Scarecrow books), but have been eagerly awaiting more of Detective Renee Ballard, introduced in 2017’s The Late Show. The strong female protagonist always appealed to me, and the combination of Detective Ballard and retiree Harry Bosch is terrific! 

In Connelly’s latest, The Dark Hours, Ballard is back! No longer sleeping in a tent on the beach when she isn’t crashing briefly with family, Renee has an actual apartment and is looking for a new dog to replace her former tentmate and protector. She is still working the night shift, and as the story opens, it is New Years Eve and she is temporarily partnered with Lisa from Sex Crimes, working the case of the “Midnight Men”, serial rapists who have been terrorizing women in L.A. A call comes in about a death possibly caused by one of the many  falling bullets that come down after being shot into the air in celebration of the start of the New Year (or perhaps the end of the past year, which has been a tough one for the everyone, but even more so for police, with both the pandemic and the anti-police feelings going strong throughout the community). 

Lisa displays a serious lack of work ethic, which aggravates Ballard, even though she gets it: “After a year of pandemic and anti-police sentiment, commitment to the job was sometimes hard to find.” Both issues (pandemic and anti-police sentiment) are deftly woven throughout the story, and Connelly superbly captures Renee’s frustration as she deals with what seems like a lack of support from fellow cops, too burned out to want to even leave the precinct, let alone seriously pursue solid leads. Fortunately for Renee, one of her leads goes straight to a cold case that was handled back in the day by none other than Harry Bosch, someone with whom Renee has a history of tackling sticky situations in a slightly unorthodox way. 

I love Renee’s struggle as she tries valiantly to work the cases despite challenges that are exacerbated by departmental politics intertwined with current social and public health issues.  “It sometimes seemed to her as though the biggest barricades in the so-called justice system were on the inside, before you even got out the door.” Although there is some resolution to the cases Renee is working so hard to solve, the story ends with a bit of a question as to what is next for Renee, both personally and professionally. Here’s hoping she and Harry Bosch are back soon with another outstanding entry in this series. Five stars, and thanks to Little, Brown and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review.