I got so excited when I saw this book was available at my library. I immediately borrowed it and started listening. And within the first few minutes I realized that I had totally already read it! I thought initially that it was the new Bosch / Ballard book I had been waiting for. A few minutes after realizing I had already read it though, I decided that I had liked it the first time around, and enough time had passed between readings that I’d just listen to it again. I’m glad I did. I missed these two.
There are two central stories in this book (aside from the general story of awesomeness that is Ballard and Bosch). There’s a team of rapists dubbed the Midnight Men. They break into women’s houses after dark and rape them. So far it’s just been on holidays, so the cops are on alert on New Year’s Eve. Renee is partnered with a cop from the sex police (Lisa) who nearly couldn’t care less. While Renee and Lisa are waiting for the Midnight Men to strike, they’re called to a shooting scene. At first everyone thinks it’s just an accident, as in LA people shoot guns into the air at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and sometimes those bullets come down into people. It turns out to be an actual murder though, and it connects to an old Bosch case.
There are a lot of timely covid pandemic and police issues woven through this book. It felt even timelier on the second read as we’re kind of on the other side of it. Everyone is masked in the book, and there are a lot of ill feelings towards the police. I know some of that is still ongoing, but it seems like we’re out of the worst of the pandemic. It felt super real that it was mentioned though.
4 stars, even the second time around.
And here is the actual new Bosch and Ballard book I was waiting for! I borrowed the audiobook from my library, so I got to hear Titus Welliver as Bosch, and someone else equally as awesome for Renee Ballard. She’s been the Ballard voice for all the Ballard audiobooks I’ve listened to.
This book is considered Harry Bosch #24, and Renee Ballard #5. Like I said in the previous review, I love these two together. You just get the feeling that they care so much and want justice. It sounds cheesy, but they’re the real deal.
At the end of the Dark Hours, Renee quit the LAPD because she was so frustrated with how she was treated and how much red tape was involved with police work. She’s given a golden opportunity to recreate the cold case squad though after the chief of police offers her a job of her choosing. She picks Bosch to join her team, along with an ex-DA, a genealogist (who also is a psychic unfortunately), an ex-cop, and some other randos I can’t remember. Those are the important people. There’s a congressman / representative / councilman (something like that) funding their group, because his sister was murdered over a decade earlier. The team had been solving cold cases with the help of new DNA evidence, but once Harry’s on board, they all start working on the congressman’s sister’s murder case. Bosch finds some new evidence immediately and they go from there.
This feels like the kind of team that can be really useful, but there isn’t always time for. People have different opinions and ways to approach problems. I liked the idea. Anyway, Bosch is itching to work on one of the cases that got away from him before he retired. An entire family was murdered and buried in the desert. I don’t want to give anything away, but Bosch is Bosch, and I really thought he was going to be murdered in this book. I do think it’s officially his last though. He does the cool thing I love where the title of the book is mentioned in the story. A Desert Star is a flower that grows in the desert (see below). Harry also calls Renee a desert star at the end of the book, but I can’t find the quote! 4 stars, I’ll miss these two together, but I hope Renee keeps getting books!!
