The Late Show
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4.4 • 2.3K Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this first installment of the Renée Ballard series, #1 bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces a "complicated and driven" young detective fighting to prove herself on the LAPD's toughest beat (The New York Times).
Renee Ballard works the midnight shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing few, as each morning she turns everything over to the daytime units. It's a frustrating job for a once up-and-coming detective, but it's no accident. She's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
But one night Ballard catches two assignments she doesn't want to part with. First, a prostitute is brutally beaten and left for dead in a parking lot. All signs point to a crime of premeditation, not passion, by someone with big evil on his mind. Then she sees a young waitress breathe her last after being caught up in a nightclub shooting. Though dubbed a peripheral victim, the waitress buys Ballard a way in, and this time she 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 intertwine, Ballard is forced to face her own demons and confront a danger she could never have imagined. To find justice for these victims who can't speak for themselves, she must put not only her career but her life on the line.
Propulsive as a jolt of adrenaline and featuring a bold and defiant new heroine, The Late Show is yet more proof that Michael Connelly is "a master of the genre" (Washington Post).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We’d bet that Michael Connelly—creator of veteran Los Angeles detective Hieronymus Bosch—counts Midas as a distant relative. His romping police procedural The Late Show—a timely reimagining of the hardboiled detective novel—really is pure gold. After being relegated to the LAPD night shift, tenacious investigator Renée Ballard stumbles upon three intertwining cases that force her to fight institutionalized dirty politics and rampant gender inequality while trying to get justice for female victims. Equal parts emotional and technical, this masterfully crafted novel owes its magnetic qualities to its offbeat, delightfully flawed heroine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The title of this excellent series launch from bestseller Connelly (The Wrong Side of Goodbye and 20 other Harry Bosch novels) refers to the midnight shift at LAPD's Hollywood Division. Det. Ren e Ballard has landed there in retribution for filing sexual harassment charges against her former boss, Lt. Robert Olivas. Two major crimes soon concern Ballard: the vicious beating of a woman, who says she was assaulted in the "upside-down house" but passes out before she can explain, and a nightclub shooting that kills five people. Though most "late show" cops hand off cases to their day shift counterparts, Ballard personally investigates the assault (with official approval) and the nightclub shooting (without). Olivas, who's leading the latter investigation, wants her nowhere near the case. What follows is classic Connelly: a master class of LAPD internal politics and culture, good old-fashioned detective work, and state-of-the-art forensic science plus a protagonist who's smart, relentless, and reflective. Talking about the perpetrator of the assault, Ballard says, "This is big evil out there." That's Connelly's great theme, and, once again, he delivers.
Customer Reviews
I wish I read this series in order…
For most authors, this would be at least a 4.5 stars (which I’d round up to a five). However, seeing as it’s Michael Connelly — it only gets a 5 star rating… On the Connelly Scale. To be fair, the fact that I unintentionally read this series of books out of order utterly RUINED the last two big twists in the story … But, I’m also giving this a 4 because it lost my attention at times, with even 1-2 days going by (more than once!) before picking it up again… Which is NOT my usual pattern for a Connelly book (regardless of which series of his I’m reading) — a pattern which ordinarily involves reading every single spare minute (thereby polishing off a book of his in a day, or maybe 2).
Really, what I’d like to be able to do is give Apple a 2 star rating for failing to have TWO out of the 5 books (thus far) in the
Renèe Ballard series properly indexed to show up under their listing of “Other Books in This Series” … Only after I went over to Amazon to check if books 2 & 4 were just not showing up here (sometimes there are old contract issues
limiting e-books to a certain distribution platform). I was really glad that they at least showed up when I searched on specific title names.
Don’t let me disuade you … if you like (love!) his Bosch books (or the TV series, Legacy spinoff & more spinoffs to come), then you will love te Ballard series & even book #2!
The late show
Not up to his normal standards.
A good read
I buy Connolly's books without bothering with reading any reviews - there aren't any crime novels any better than Harry Bosch and, lately, Mickey Haller. But neither are represented in this latest by Connolly.
That is not to say this isn't a good read - it is and I give it 5-stars. But it is not in the class of the best Bosch books.