Desert Star
Ratings20
Average rating4.1
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. 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. 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).
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Series
25 primary books29 released booksHarry Bosch
Harry Bosch is a 29-book series with 25 primary works first released in 1992 with contributions by Michael Connelly.
Series
6 primary booksRenée Ballard
Renée Ballard is a 6-book series with 6 primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Michael Connelly.
Series
39 primary books47 released booksHarry Bosch Universe
Harry Bosch Universe is a 47-book series with 39 primary works first released in 1992 with contributions by Michael Connelly.
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If this ends up being the last appearance of Harry Bosch, I can complement Mr. Connelly on another great novel.
The Bosch series is pretty consistently good, but I've really enjoyed the addition of Renee Ballard to the overarching series, because their dynamic is really good. The previous one was actually my least favorite of the series, but Desert Star is a return to form. This is just good old fashioned crime fiction done well. Bosch is one of my favorite non-fantasy protagonists.
One aspect I don't see talked about is the audiobooks. Maybe it's just on my mind because of the very end of this book, but I've never seen audiobooks done the way the Bosch universe does them. The actor who plays Bosch on the show, Titus Welliver, went back and recorded some of the older Bosch books and now does all the Bosch audio. The voice actress who does the Ballard books also does Renee Ballard. So these collab books have trading viewpoints, but the dialogue of the opposite character is always done by the respective voice actor (so Titus will voice Bosch in Renee's POV chapters) and Connolly has a third series, the Lincoln Lawyer, which also crosses over occasionally. This book had that character in for a single conversation and they brought in the voice actor for those books to do like 10 lines. I just really like this approach. I wish more series did it.
8/10
There's an elegance to Michael Connelly's writing. No fancy prose. No unnecessary words. Like his principal characters, it's terse and gets the job done, but there's a real pro's prose at work. I always enjoy reading his books. The grit and realism make the words hit harder, and they make the impact of the scenes stronger.
With this book, Harry Bosch is all but done with the game. When Renee Ballard gives him a chance to go after his white whale, Finbar McShane, Harry can't resist. He joins Ballard's Open-Unsolved Cases Unit as a volunteer and starts the legwork to find the man who murdered a family with a nail gun and buried them in the desert nine years ago.
Like the rest of Connelly's work, the book is compelling and moves at a brisk clip. Unlike the rest of Connolly's work, it really feels like Harry Bosch is closing in on the end of not just a series, but the life he's lived. It feels like this could be Bosch's penultimate journey. It feels like Connelly is setting up Bosch's jaunt through the literary world to end once and for all.
All good things must come to an end, and Bosch is included in this. It wouldn't make sense for him to be written by anyone else, and after 30+ books with Bosch, this might be setting up the great cop's finale.
I, for one, will be sad to see him go, as Connelly's books are something I look forward to every year. Give me at least one more ride around LA with Bosch, Mike, and then I'll be ready to close his case.
