Desert Star by Michael Connelly

Desert Star by Michael Connelly
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own 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 volunteer as an investigator in her 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 has to pull Bosch off his own 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.

It’s been a year since Detective Renee Ballard quit the LAPD, only to promptly return when offered her dream position. By doing so, she left Harry Bosch – and their joint dreams of working together – in the dust. Now, Ballard has reached out to Bosch, to request he join her new fledgling Open Unsolved division and help keep it alive. Can Bosch and Ballard return to working together when so much resentment still bubbles between them?

I’ve been reading this series for more than twenty years now, and still I find Bosch to be a gripping, page turning read – one that almost never fails to pull me out of a reading slump. Bosch is absolutely getting on in years now (aren’t we all?) and I appreciate Connelly not making Bosch able to easily run and jump and climb and do stuff virtually no seventy-something man can do no matter how fit or strong. Still mentally sharp, with decades of experience and the savvy knowledge of where to place one punch (instead of starting to brawl or chase) I found Bosch a joy to read.

Even though it’s set in modern – post covid – times, this book really retained that grittier, older style boiled detective feel that the series as a whole has always held for me. I felt the blend of old school and newer requirements was brilliantly handled. Things like a quasi psychic working on the team doing the genealogy/ancestry tracing online and through the web records mingled with Bosch’s knock on doors and well worn shoe leather really resonated with me and helped me turn these pages long past my bed time.

I also enjoyed how Ballard and Bosch both managed to work together while respecting each other’s strengths – and weaknesses. They can each be somewhat prickly and I remain firm in my opinion the reason they are able to work so well together is despite their differences in personality and approach, beneath it all they respect each other and value what they can both contribute. With that underpinning every step – even when they’re out of synch or frustrated with each other – there isn’t much they can’t both come back from with a bit of time, space and discussion.

Readers should know there is a wealth of history backing this series – it spans back to The Black Echo first published in 1992 – and I can thoroughly recommend this series as a whole for those who like a slightly gritter, more old school hard boiled police procedural series. That said, I feel this book can absolutely be read as a stand alone.

I feel the working relationship between Ballard and Bosch is well detailed as is the very cold case Bosch is determined to solve – and the carrot Ballard uses to lure Bosch onto her team. I do feel readers should be able to thoroughly understand and enjoy this book just picking it up by itself. But you’re missing out on an exceptional series if you’re not tempted to go back to the beginning and enjoy every part of this story. Highly recommended.