The Dark Hours

Part of the LAPD Harry Bosch (#23)/Renee Ballard (#4) police procedural series, The Dark Hours, is primarily told from Ballard’s POV.

The dark hours is cop-speak for midnight to seven on the night shift, but the title equally sums up Ballard’s struggles in her personal life and career. Perfect narration by Titus Welliver (Bosch) and Christine Lakin (Ballard), with Connelly at his best. I love the way he’s allowed his characters to not just grow older, but to change and evolve through the years. Brilliant.

Michael Connelly continues to hit it out of the park when it comes to police procedurals. The Dark Hours is the fourth of his five novels about a young LAPD detective, Renee Ballard, who works “the late show” (the nighttime hours) and catches a midnight murder. She seeks assistance from a friend—the semi-retired detective, Harry Bosch—in working the case. I’ve read every one of Connelly’s Bosch Series books and have loved them all. Once you become involved and engrossed—usually by the third page—you cannot stop reading! Connelly’s novels are that good. 

Another great Bosch novel, even though he is now retired from the force. He teams up with a female officer (Ballard) and solves a murder taking place on New Year's Eve. Harry Bosch has been on the streets most of his life and now, facing retirement, can’t stop the addictive nature of the job he held for so long.  Connelley advances his protagonists by allowing him to work with an active female LAPD officer so the story goes on.