An LAPD Detective Chafes Under the Restraints of the Late Show

With this book, Michael Connelly adds yet another character to the Harry Bosch Universe, LAPD detective Renee Ballard. Ballard has much in common with Bosch who remains Connelly's principal protagonist. Like Bosch, Ballard is a loner. Like Bosh, she had a difficult childhood and lost her mother early. Like Bosch, her partners are sometimes unreliable; like Bosch, she has problems with people up the chain of command. Like Bosch, she has trouble following orders, particularly when she's told to stand down from an investigation. Like Bosch, she's not reluctant to bend the law a bit in the service of a higher cause, and like Bosch, once she gets her teeth into a case, she refuses to let go.

Because of an incident earlier in her career, Ballard has been assigned to the "Late Show." She's a detective on the midnight shift and her job is to begin an investigation at the scene of a crime and then turn it over to other detectives in the morning. She almost never gets to follow a case through to its conclusion. This is perfectly fine with her partner, who has no such ambitions, but it grates on Ballard.

As the book opens, Ballard is among the first on the scene at two crimes. The first involves a transexual prostitute who has been tortured, badly beaten, and left for dead. Ballard fears that the woman may be the victim of a predator who will attack others, but she seems to be the only one who really cares about the case.

The second case involves a mass shooting in a nightclub. Four men are sitting in a booth when suddenly one of them opens fire and kills the other three. While running out the door, the shooter also kills a waitress and a bouncer. A supervising detective with whom Ballard has clashed is in charge of this case and warns her to stay well away from it. Ballard, though, is reluctant to let go of either case and so, against direct orders, continues to pursue them in her off-duty hours. In doing so, she winds up putting both her career and her life on the line as these cases heat up.

This is another very compelling novel from Michael Connelly, who clearly writes the best police procedurals of his generation. Under normal circumstances, I'd happily give it four stars. I'm downgrading it to three because I'm disappointed in the fact that Connelly didn't make Ballard a more distinct character. 

The truth of the matter is that, with minor changes, this could have easily been a Harry Bosch novel. In point of fact, it really is a Harry Bosch novel, with Ballard playing the role of Bosch. I can understand that Connelly might have wanted to create a new character and that he might have wanted to write a female detective for a change. I have no problem with that at all, but I wish he would have differentiated Ballard from Bosch at least a little.

Certainly, Michael Connelly knows the LAPD much better than I, but are there no supervisors in the department who aren't complete jerks? Is there nobody in the department other than Bosch and Ballard who doesn't put departmental politics above all else? Are there no detectives who actually enjoy working with each other? Are there no detectives who are reasonably well-adjusted and trusting of others?

I realize that I'm exaggerating a bit in order to make a point. Occasionally, Bosch has had a supervisor who was reasonably supportive and occasionally he has had a partner he could rely on, even if only briefly. But for the most part, Bosch has been at war with his own department almost constantly, and the department has much more often frustrated rather than assisted him in carrying out his mission to provide justice for the victims of crimes. Introducing Ballard allowed Connelly the opportunity to show another side of the LAPD and to create a truly distinct character. I'm sorry that he chose not to do so.