Kerry Hammond is here with the latest report from the
Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. They read the first in a new series
by one of their favorite authors, Michael Connelly.
This month we returned to a known author and read The Late Show by Michael Connelly.
Connelly has been entertaining us for years with
Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, but he now has a third series, featuring a
female police officer who works the night shift in Hollywood—dubbed the "Late Show.”
She was once a day shift detective with a great career ahead of her, until she
filed a sexual harassment claim against her powerful supervisor and received no
back up from her partner, who saw the whole thing.
She has been sent to the Late Show where cops are meant to start
investigations for crimes that happen on their shift, and then turn the work
over to the day shift to complete. Ballard gets caught up in two cases that she
just can’t let go, and continues to investigate against advice from her own
partner. One case in particular will take her to her breaking point and allow
the reader a glimpse of just what she’s made of.
Renee Ballard is extremely driven. She grew up in Hawaii and
hasn’t given up her love of the water, frequently paddle boarding to relieve
her stress. She’s a bit of a nomad and sleeps in a tent on the beach more often
than not. Some of the club members likened her to Jack Reacher with a day job
and a few extra changes of clothes.
Almost everyone gave this book high scores. One of the
criticisms was that Ballard is still a mystery to us, even after book one. We
suspect that Connelly will dole out her backstory in pieces as he writes the
series, revealing more and more about what makes her tick. We will definitely
be reading book 2.
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