Renee Ballard is a
detective working the graveyard shift, nights, in Hollywood. She
handles whatever comes along, and whatever comes along is why the
cops call the beat the Late Show. Ballard's been exiled to the shift
because of she filed a sexual assault beef against a lieutenant, and
her then partner didn't back her up. Now she works nights and passes
on her cases to the relevant desks in the morning; they follow up and
investigate. At least most of the time she does.
The Late Show
is Michael Connelly's 30th novel (in 25 years). Renee
Ballard is his first new series character since Mickey Haller made
his debut way back in 2005, and like Haller, she is instantly
convincing. The novel starts with her shift: moving quickly with her
through a busy night highlighted by a mass killing. You're already
into Ballard's head before you begin to learn the backstory, and when
she's slow to pass on a case, and manoeuvres to stay in the loop on
the big one, you know what she's all about.
I interviewed
Michael Connelly in front of a sellout crowd at Waterstone's
Piccadilly to celebrate publication of The Late Show, and
suggested that, in F Scott Fitzgerald's phrase, 'character is
action', and this book, like the Bosch series, like most of his
books, was driven by the character of its protagonist. He said he
always had a one-word description of each character in his mind: for
Bosch it was 'relentless' (which ruined my next question, which would
have been about Harry's 'dogged persistence'), while for Ballard it
was 'fierce'.
And fierce she is,
relentlessly fierce. It is Ballard's character that makes the novel
work, and draws the reader in. She is both unusual and believable.
She marches to the beat of a different drummer, finishing her shifts
and often surfing and sleeping in a tent on the beach. At times it
seems she is running on a store of built up resentment, a refusal to
let things lie, that is fierce indeed.
There are
comparisons to be made with Bosch, some of which Connelly himself
hadn't noticed, or played down in favour of concentrating on the
differences. She lost her father, with whom she lived after her
parents split, early, so she was, like Bosch, alone as she grew up,
despite the presence of her grandmother, at whose house she lives
when she needs a house or a grandmother. Her partner, Jenkins, is
similar in some ways to Bosch's Jerry Edgar: he's basically a good
cop, a loyal partner, but he has other things on his mind too, so
keeps the job in its place.
Obviously, Ballard
is at odds with at least part of the LAPD bureaucracy, which is a
defining point with Bosch. This is a key to The Late Show, because as
the stories intertwine, her partner's old betrayal, and the
lieutenant's animosity, both figure large.
The story resolves
itself with a set-piece scene that works, but will likely work better
on a screen: I asked Michael if he had considered that, or if the one
hand he keeps on the Bosch TV series had an influence, and he replied
that neither was a conscious decision. One thing about the
character-driven series novels Connelly writes, they continue to work
as procedural thrillers as well.
Ballard is too good
a character not to reappear soon, and Connelly is too good a series
writer not to draw Harry Bosch into her orbit, or her into his,
somewhere along the line. As he said, he likes to plant seeds in his
novels, which he can bring to full flowering in the future. Until
then, the future is now, and it's Renee Ballard. This one's a keeper.
The Late Show by
Michael Connelly
Orion, £19.99,
ISBN 9781409145547
This review will
also appear at Crime Time (crimetime.co.uk)
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