This post is actually pretty late. I finished reading Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly in the middle of April. I have been behind with journaling. Playing catch up now and trying to get back on track.
This 2018 release brings together Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch for the first time. This is the second book in Connelly’s Ballard series and the twenty-first in the Bosch series. The story is told through alternating points of view from the two principal characters.
As always, Connelly moves things along at a pretty rapid pace. There are three unrelated cases that make up most of the plotline. The development of the main case is not as well done as in Connelly’s earlier titles. The “breakthrough” is a little too much luck versus detailed police work.
Connelly has always reflected his own social and political perspectives through Bosch. This was usually done through Bosch in a thoughtful, sophisticated way that was consistent with the character. In his past few books, it is much less subtle and not as well done.
Dark Sacred Night
By Michael Connelly
Renée Ballard is working the night beat again, and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours only to find a stranger rifling through old file cabinets. The intruder is retired detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin. Ballard kicks him out, but then checks into the case herself and it brings a deep tug of empathy and anger. Bosch is investigating the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway on the streets of Hollywood who was brutally murdered and her body left in a dumpster like so much trash. Now, Ballard joins forces with Bosch to find out what happened to Daisy and finally bring her killer to justice.
Published October 30,2018
249pages (print)