The Bottom Line: One of the genre’s finest writers does not disappoint. It’s vintage Connelly, but a perfect starting point for new fans as well.
New Connelly character Renee Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood -also known as the Late Show – beginning many investigations but finishing none, as each morning she turns everything over to the day shift. A once up-and-coming detective, she’s been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
But one night she catches two assignments she doesn’t want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn.
Against orders and her partner’s wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the investigations entwine, they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won’t give up her job, no matter what the department throws at her.
Will this be the first book in a new series? We sure hope so, because Renee Ballard is one of Connelly’s best characters in years.
