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).

Listening Length

9 hours and 37 minutes
Author

Michael Connelly
Narrator

Titus Welliver, see all
Audible release date

November 8, 2022
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown & Company
ASIN

B09X295Y68
Version

Unabridged
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Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 37 minutes
Author	Michael Connelly
Narrator	Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, Peter Giles
Audible.com Release Date	November 08, 2022
Publisher	Little, Brown & Company
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B09X295Y68
Best Sellers Rank	#435 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1 in Crime Action Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #2 in Mystery Action Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #5 in Police Procedural Mysteries

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4.7 out of 5

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Misha Davidavich

Harry Bosch at His Best

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 27, 2022

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I mostly read thrillers. I dabble in some sci-fi, some of it space war trash, some of it recent like Axiom's End and the Area X trilogy. A couple of years ago I broke down and back filled all those Dune books that Brian Herbert wrote from daddy's cache of unfinished drafts and outlines (wink wink). But mostly I read thrillers like all the different David Baldacci series's, the first few Brad Thor books until his reactionary politics started to be the point instead of beside the point. Matt Greaney's [Gray Man] books, the Terminal List books. I've read classics like LeCarre, Fredrick Forsythe, lots of Elmore Leonard in the '80s and '90s, and even a couple of Bond books. Did I mention nearly everything by Stephen King?

But my regulars are Nelson DeMille, James Lee Burke (father was a Burke fan, Dave Robochaux and the westerns), Baldacci as already mentioned, and Michael Connelly. I've read all the Harry Bosch books, the Lincoln Lawyer books, the Bosch _AND_ Mickey Haller books, and now that Bosch is getting a little long in the tooth, the Ballard books plus the standalones like the Poet books and the Bloodwork books.

All this not to boast but to establish my bona fides.

When I say I know something about Connelly (if you assume I've seen the Bosch shows on Amazon and on FreeTV you'd be right) and Bosch, I do. One of the touches Burke did to Robochaux and Connelly has done to Bosch is to age the protagonist. As the author has aged so has the protagonist, in this case Bosch. Connelly's in his 70s and so is Bosch. Plus a medical condition that was in a book a decade ago (and BTW the Amazon series as well) came back to bite Harry a couple of books ago and is gnawing his bones. And that's okay, it adds verisimilitude. That and the few steps behind Bosch is showing. It would be a little preposterous for Harry to be the same tunnel rat today he was in 'Nam. This Bosch is almost current with 2022: LA is trying to recover from Covid, there's a recall election in the DA's office, and though he's back working cold cases for LAPD, he's fully retired (it says so on his badge) and working for Renee Ballard as a civilian volunteer.

Though he's physically past his prime, Harry is as tough and smart as ever.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

12 people found this helpful

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George P. Wood

End of the Line for Harry Bosch?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 18, 2022

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Harry Bosch is getting old. To be precise, he is 72 years old in 2022, when the events in Desert Star take place. His motto has always been, “Everybody counts or nobody counts. This is the driving force in his pursuit of justice for victims. But how long can he keep going?

That’s the question I had in mind when I cracked open the latest installment in Michael Connelly’s long-running series of crime novels featuring Bosch. Connelly debuted the character in 1992’s The Black Echo, I discovered the Bosch series in 2015, and I have been a huge fan ever since. (The television show is also very good.)

With Bosch, Connelly has created a Los Angeles-centric universe of characters who interact with one another, such as Mickey Haller (the “Lincoln lawyer” and Bosch’s half-brother) and Renee Ballard (Bosh’s erstwhile partner). As Bosch ages, Connelly is able to shift the focus from him to these other characters. Because fans are already invested in them, they find it—I find it—easy to pick up the new books.

This is especially true as some of the protagonists in my other favorite series age. Jack Reacher is too old to be homeless in America. Walt Longmire—who’s older than Bosch—is too old to be running around the Rez. And Gabriel Allon—who’s contemporary to Bosch—has retired from Mossad. What do you do with these beloved characters?

Connelly has solved that problem by moving Bosch into a secondary position as a supporting character to LAPD Detective Renee Ballard. In Desert Star, she runs the reconstituted Open-Unsolved Unit that tries to close cold cases. With Bosch as her first choice, she has created a volunteer group to sift through cold cases and use DNA or other new developments solve old murders. The team includes another retired (but lazy) LAPD officer, a retired deputy DA, a retired FBI agent, and an investigative genetic genealogist with a penchant for the psychic realm.

Desert Star focuses on two cases. The first is the 1994 murder of Sarah Pearlman, sister of LA City Councilman Jake Pearlman, who has been instrumental in restarting the Open-Unsolved Unit, and who expects his sister’s case to be prioritized.

The second is the Gallagher Family case, the 2013 murder of Dad, Mom, and two kids. Bosch worked the case and identified a suspect, Finbar McShane, but the case went cold long before he retired. It’s the one that got away.

Connelly’s plot is a slow burn, with the major action reserved for near the end of the book. It’s a classic police procedural. The plot twists and turns as new evidence and new insights about old evidence lead readers to the book’s denouement, which hits close to home.

Bosch has often been in perilous, even life-threatening situations, but this is the first time I genuinely worried for him in the years I’ve been reading the series. Is this the end of the line for Harry Bosch? You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out.

Whether or not it is, however, I’m glad that Connelly had the foresight to introduce Renee Ballard in the Bosch literary universe several years ago. She’ll carry on when Harry can’t. I enjoyed Desert Star, and I’m looking forward to the next novel.

55 people found this helpful

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John Carroll

cold Case Saga

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2023

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Michael Connelly is a masterful story teller, He brings the reader into the action and weaves a story you can’t put down. In reality there are more unsolved cases than are eventually solved, but is rewarding when Justice is done. That is so rewarding on so many levels and even better when innocent people are rescued. This is all accomplished in this read. Harry Bosch is the perfect cop. He can be brash and abrasive, but analytical and incisive in his quest for solving crimes. At a time when police are derided Harry is the super cop honing his skills. He is the cop you want on your side.

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Top reviews from other countries

James Brydon

Another very sound, very entertaining, and very welcome, addition to the Bosch canon.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 21, 2022

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Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch has spent most of his life investigating crime in Los Angeles, both as a detective for LAP and thereafter in a private capacity. Now nearing, or maybe slightly beyond, the age of seventy, he may be a bit slower physically, but his determination for justice remains undimmed. Towards the end of the Dark Hours, the previous novel in this sequence, Bosch had panned to go into partnership as private investigators with his considerably younger sometime colleague, Detective Renee Ballard, who had become so disaffected with the many failings of LAPD. At the end of that novel, however, she had been enticed to remain on the force, and had been installed as head of a new cold case unit, which has been established by the department at the behest of a prominent local politician.

In this capacity, Ballard has recruited Bosch to help out as a volunteer, along with a handful of colleagues, most of whom are also retired from careers in different aspects of law enforcement. Ballard has identified one case as a priority as it involves the murder several years before of the sister of the politician who ad campaigned for the establishment of the Unit. Bosch is assigned various tasks, but is also keen to work on an other case that Ballard has drawn from the archives. This was the murder of a whole family which Bosch had investigated while still on the force. When he learns that new DNA evidence may have been uncovered he is keen to pursue the lead,

Connelly lets the narrative unfold with his customary dexterity. Before becoming a novelist he worked as a journalist, covering the crime beat. The skills he acquired in that career are evident in his novels, where the story is offered with great clarity and directness. I try to encourage members of my own team, which among other things deals with ministerial correspondence to follow the drafter’s ABC; accuracy, brevity and clarity, and it is clear that Connelly abides by the same rule.

Bosch is a well-crafted character. He has now featured in nearly thirty novels, during which he has aged in real time, which lends great verisimilitude to the stories. His motto is that, ‘Everyone counts, or nobody counts’, and this drives his keenness to investigate every crime that he can. Ballard is hewn from similar stock, and has clearly been influenced by Bosch during their few encounters in previous cases.

This is another very sound, and very welcome, addition to the Bosch canon.

9 people found this helpful

Lagoon

Bish bash Bosch

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 9, 2022

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Harry Bosch rues the one the got away. A cold case. A family of four, slaughtered and buried in the desert. The killer may still be out there, but Harry no longer carries a badge. Renee Ballard runs the cold case unit. Progress is slow but she has an ace up her sleeve. Harry is given a chance to revisit his case. One last crack at getting justice for the departed. Of course, Harry being who he is, he doesn’t always play by the rules and he doesn’t always remember that there is no I in team. Still, Ballard either takes Harry as he is or runs the risk of the Desert Star case forever remaining on the books.

There are many classic Bosch elements here. His lateral thinking, his tenacity, his empathy and his unwavering determination to do whatever needs doing. Ballard becomes more like Harry with each passing day and that may or may not prove to be something in her favour.

The story covers other unsolved murders but it is Harry’s case that steals the show. It was great to see Harry in such bullish form. Stay with us Harry.

6 people found this helpful

E Evans

Workman like story - but Ballard still feels like work in progress

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 21, 2023

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Ballard has been persuaded to return to LAPD to head up the new cold case unit. With an assorted collection of ex-law officers and civilian volunteers she is supposed to be closing long outstanding cases, starting with the brutal rape and murder of a leading Councilman’s young sister - a case that is particularly important since he is the one driving the finance for her new unit. Bosch is persuaded to come on board as it gives him the opportunity to track down the perpetrator of a case that has haunted him - the murder and disposal of an entire family - including two children.
Most of the action centres around the Councilman’s sister as it becomes obvious she wasn’t the only victim. To be honest not too difficult to work out who-dunnit it here. Bosch’s case takes centre stage again at the end and feels like the author’s attempt to say goodbye to him once more.
This is a perfectly workman-like book but Ballard still lacks that something that elevated the Harry Bosch stories. I have the feeling the author thinks so too, given the way he keeps reinventing the character - she’s very far from the outcast, surf-riding, night detective, he started out with.

5 people found this helpful

Lady Dido

Another win for the lonely detective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 29, 2022

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Michael Connelly always delivers. His books never fail to carry you through to the end.

He has found in Rachel Ballard an intriguing partner for the famous Harry Bosch. Neither Rachel nor Harry could be described as lovable – but they are interesting, and their actions and interactions are never predictable.

With every book recently I have wondered if it is Harry’s final adventure. It is hard to see now how he can carry on…. but we live in hope of one last case. I am not sure that Rachel alone will be sufficient to keep fans of Connelly happy. However, if he draws more and more on Mickey Haller, he will have me hooked. Haller is, in my opinion, by far his best character.

Desert Star tracks two separate cold cases through the new unit run by Ballard. Bosch is one of her chosen unit members, along with some other interesting characters. Predictably, Bosch struggles to stick to the rules and submit to Ballard’s leadership – the lone wolf frequently goes his own way and, of course, gets results using his unconventional methods.

My main criticism would be the lack of warmth and humour with the two main players. For me, these two elements are vital to the enjoyment of a novel. Thus only 4 stars.

However, I am looking forward to Connelly’s next book with interest. Where will he go next? Haller I hope!

4 people found this helpful

WorcesterBlue

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 10, 2023

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This is the twenty fourth Harry Bosch novel and the fifth one with Renee Ballard. I love reading Michael Connelly novels, they are such a consistently high standard. Exceptional characters, well thought out plots and so well written.

LAPD detective Renee Ballard and retired detective Harry Bosch are back together trying to solve cold cases. Twelve months ago Renee Ballard quit the force but now she is back leading cold cases with the help of retired ex detectives. With their past experiences together Harry Bosch was always going to be asked to join the team and with his vast knowledge and expertise he is going to move mountains. There is an old case that still haunts Harry, the murder of an entire family by a psychopath that was never found and still walks free. So when Renee offers him the chance to join the team as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit it also opens up another chance to solve his obsession with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

I loved this from start to finish and didn’t put it down once. I know the characters and the writing style so well that I am instantly into the story and only wished I had another twenty four Harry Bosch novels to read.

3 people found this helpful

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