Desert Star - (Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel) by Michael Connelly (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch's "white whale"--a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. Yet, after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving "the Late Show" to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him--the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come work with her as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his "white whale" with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

First priority for Ballard is to clear the unsolved rape and murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. The decades-old case is essential to the councilman who supported re-forming the unit, and who could shutter it again--the victim was his sister. When Ballard gets a "cold hit" connecting the killing to a similar crime, proving that a serial predator has been at work in the city for years, the political pressure has never been higher. To keep momentum going, she must pull Bosch off his all-consuming investigation, the case that is the consummation of his lifelong mission.

The two must put aside old resentments and new tensions to run to ground not one but two dangerous killers who have operated with brash impunity. In what may be his most gripping and profoundly moving book yet, Michael Connelly shows once again why he has been dubbed "one of the greatest crime writers of all time" (Ryan Steck, Crimereads).

Review Quotes

Praise for The Dark Hours:

"One of this month's best thrillers... Ballard and Bosch are a great combination as they work in and around a police force that Ballard believes too often aims to 'protect and serve the image instead of the citizens.'"--Richard Lipez, Washington Post

"A thoroughly engrossing procedural... The Dark Hours offers plenty of shocking scenes and clever surprises."--Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

"Connelly is sharp as ever... his stories always manage to explore another piece of the city's soul."--Crimereads

"Extraordinary... [Connelly] is one of the best in the business at writing about investigations and creating intense suspense, but the relationship between Ballard and Bosch--a professional friendship that grows out of two brilliant minds dedicated to the same difficult but important work--is the cherry on top."--Collette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times

"Outstanding... Connelly is the most consistently superior living crime fiction author. The Dark Hours just reinforces that."--Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel

About the Author

Michael Connelly is the author of thirty-six previous novels, including #1 New York Times bestsellers The Dark Hours andThe Law of Innocence. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of three television series: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and The Lincoln Lawyer. He spends his time in California and Florida.