Bob Moyer starts our reading year off right with a review of the new novel from one of his (many) favorite authors.
Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer
THE WAITING. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 403 pages. $30.
Buy two, get one free
That’s what happens when you get the latest Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch book. Of course, you know that at some point Lt. Ballard of the LAPD will have to bend some rules, and who better to help her than the master bender, who’s been bending rules before she was a glint in someone’s eye? Sure enough, someone steals her badge, and she can’t report it without getting into trouble. She calls Harry Bosch after she finds out who bought the badge from the thief, and they hatch a plan. In setting it up, they uncover a plan so big they have to bring in the FBI – and work harder to get the badge.
Meanwhile, Renee and her volunteer staff of the “lost souls” or Open Case unit have come up with a solid lead on the Pillowcase Rapist Case from years ago. Currently, they are in what Tom Petty called The Waiting — for DNA reports, witnesses to call back, the district attorney to decide to move, Renee’s boss to approve expenses. … While they are tracking down clues, Renee gets a new volunteer for the unit, and the reader gets a bonus Bosch for their money — Maddie, Harry’s daughter. She’s a patrol cop for the LAPD, and wants to get the additional experience. She brings another badge, and her father’s intensity. She also brings a trunk of photographs she got at a public storage auction. She thinks there’s a link between the pictures and the most iconic case in LAPD history, the Black Dahlia murders. Comparing the photographs leads her and Renee to a possible solution to that crime.
Connelly keeps us engaged by shifting back and forth among the plot lines. He gives us the procedural detail and then entertains us as Renee skirts the rules. As always, one of those shortcuts leads to a dangerous confrontation, this time with the Pillowcase Rapist. Renee’s unorthodox ways also lead to the kind of justice Bosch always gave us, the kind that doesn’t come from a court. Connelly gives a double-barreled blast for a finale, and leaves us with Renee Ballard about to head out of town. Don’t be surprised if the next book happens in Hawaii.