This is another novel from Michael Connelly featuring his new detective partnership, Ballard and Bosch. Renee Ballard is a young woman who, through no fault of her own, works the undesirable night shift at the LAPD. To supplement the drudge work she is assigned, she investigates cases on the side, with some assistance from retired detective Harry Bosch. Now that Bosch is 70 years old, he’s showing signs of wear and tear (his knee is a problem and he walks with a cane). Despite that, his appetite to solve crimes is undiminished and he does a lot of the leg work, whilst leaving the action and limelight to Ballard.
The book starts with the trial of a suspect charged with the murder of a judge. Unusually, Bosch assists the lawyer for the defence (his half-brother Micky Haller) and on examination of the case file, he finds a flaw in the original investigation. Being Bosch, he isn’t satisfied with helping Haller on the case, he revives the original investigation to find the real killer. Meanwhile, Ballard is called to investigate the death of a rough sleeper who burned to death in his tent. Whilst initially not suspicious, this case warrants further investigation because the deceased stood to inherit a fortune.
A further case is featured in this book, after a widow of Bosch’s former mentor passes a murder book to him. This seemingly unpromising case (a drug-related murder in a side alley 30 years ago) reveals much about the mentor and gives Ballard and Bosch the dual-challenge of not only tracking down the killer, but also keeping their investigation legitimate so that it can go to trial.
By coincidence, I read The Overlook just before this one, and that book has the story behind Bosch’s chronic myeloid leukaemia due to caesium poisoning.
As ever, Connelly has written a good page-turner in this book, although not up there with his best.
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