Exceptional, perscient, biting and original. Remains one of the best crime authors alive today. The bitterness of Ballard coupled with the cynicism of Bosch makes this a world-weary book - telling that the world is going to hell, and we are living in Los Angeles.

Michael Connelly is a living bookwriting legend. Drop the "Mike"!!

Fantastic read, the Dark Hours is a great introduction to a new Detective and I can't wait to read more. Although a little slow to begin it didn't take too long for the pages to turn that much quicker. What a team these two make! More please!

I found it difficult to get into as didn`t flow easy.
Detective Renee Ballard works the night shift on New Years eve when someone is shot in a crowded street, the dead body is of a ex gang member, the bullet comes from a gun used years ago and Harry Bosch worked the case. so they get together to solve the case.
Ballard seems to be having problems with the precinct on Christmas leave when another case comes in of a sexual assault in their own home which is another case of the Midnight Men.

I liked one storyline but not the other and found it difficult to understand the amount of cops working over Christmas on two major cases.
After a difficult start I started to get into it and loved Ballard`s character and of course Bosch and will definitely read more from the series.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another enjoyable read with Bosch and Ballard. A murder at New Year that links back to an old case of Harry's. A series of rapes by the Midnight Men. Michael Connelly doesn't disappoint. Set during Covid with references to underlying tensions within the police force. A well written thriller that doesn't disappoint.

New Year celebrations are disrupted by a death. Accidentally or is is murder. A number of rape cases by a group called ‘The Midnight Men’ is causing LAPD a headache. Can Ballard and Bosch solve the cases. A real page turner.

Michael Connelly is a master story-teller, and this, the new Ballard and Bosch thriller, is yet another humdinger of a read. I love the partnership between my all-time-favourite detective, Harry Bosch, and (fairly) new kid on the block, Renée Ballard, and couldn’t wait to read The Dark Hours. Once again, the author serves up a fast-paced, gripping and well-plotted story.
In The Dark Hours we get to revisit the fantastic teamwork between Bosch, who’s not getting any younger, and the feisty, straight-down-the-line Ballard. Neither is scared of putting in the hard yards, nor waiving procedure when it gets in the way of hunting down the baddies.
Ballard finds herself embroiled in two investigations. One is the case of a rare, two-man rape team that targets lone women in their homes after midnight. The other is the murder of a former gang member. His death may have been mistaken for a horrendous New Year’s Eve accident, but Ballard recognises it as a murder. Although not really in her bailiwick, she desperately wants to hang on to this investigation. Things have been bad in the force lately, and this big case may just be what she needs to pull her out of her despair. She’s disillusioned with the job, the department and the people around her.
With so much on her plate, she needs the help of her old friend and mentor, and old-timer Bosch is wonderful the way he drops everything to help. Now long retired, he trusts her judgement and is always there for her.
There are plenty of ups and downs for Ballard in this story, and we are given further glimpses into her personal life that add depth. There are also loads of police politics and, as usual, references to current affairs. Connelly doesn’t ignore the fact that the story takes place in the midst of a pandemic, and the January riots at the Capitol play their part as well.
This author is also wonderful with his brief descriptions of all the minor characters that make them spring off the pages (“his years on the job had also wrapped him in a tight cocoon of inertia”). I really got worked up about Renée’s useless colleague who was defeated by circumstances and spent her time trying to skive off. By contract, Bosch and Ballard give their all, with Ballard literally putting her life on the line to catch the Midnight Men.
All in all, a great read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Slightly slow start as we get to know the characters and the situation, but it makes for a really solid plot and good characterisation. I think this is the first time I've met Renée Ballard (being more of a Haller fan than a Bosch one until now) but I'll go and read the others she's appeared in very soon. I liked her a lot and she was certainly Bosch's match on the page.

In this story, Ballard is looking into two crimes - rapists who strike during popular holidays, and an unsolved murder that has links to an old crime Bosch worked on. I kept interest in both story strands and enjoyed the tension building up over the course of the book.

I always admire characters who are really competent, and you can believe in Ballard's police work (albeit I have no actual knowledge of police work, so this makes it easy for me!). Ok, perhaps she takes it too far towards the end, putting herself in danger to chase people down - but isn't that what we want memorable characters to do?

A good read.

I have read most of the Harry Bosch novels and cannot speak highly enough of them. This was another exceptional read. This can be read as a stand-alone.

The night shift detective Renee Ballard is waiting in her car. There are two rapists, known as the midnight men who strike on holidays and it is new year. Life has been difficult for the LAPD after the murder of George Floyd the previous year and the pandemic.

Amongst the celebrations where people are firing guns in the air somebody dies and this is the first murder of the year.

Brilliant read. Many thanks to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and Michael Connelly for the ARC of The Darl Hours in return for my honest review.

My thanks to Orion Publishing Group for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Dark Hours’ by Michael Connelly in exchange for an honest review.

This is Book 4 in the Renée Ballard series combined with Book 23 of his long running Harry Bosch series. I have read the first two police procedurals featuring Ballard and Bosch and rated both 5 stars. While I seem to have missed Ballard Book 3, each book works fine as a standalone as sufficient background is provided.

On New Years Eve, in a USA tradition that gives me the heebie-jeebies, revellers shoot their guns into the air at midnight. Of course, inevitably this leads to a rain of lead. In the middle of a street party a man is shot dead. It seems at first a tragic accident until Detective Renée Ballard connects the bullet to an unsolved cold case last worked by legendary ex-LAPD detective Harry Bosch. They again team up to investigate.

In addition, Ballard is working a case involving a pair of violent predators, dubbed the Midnight Men, who stalk the city during the dark hours.

Again, Connelly is a crime writer who I have found is consistent in his plotting and characterisations. Once started I find them almost impossible to set down.

Alongside these complex cases Connelly integrates current events impacting on the LAPD police department including the pandemic, the George Floyd and BLM protests, and the events of January 6th.

A novel and series that I highly recommended for readers who enjoy USA based crime fiction.

I’ve said it before, but it’s true. There is no classier an act than Michael Connelly. His books are sublime. Like any artist, the pictures he draws have depth and range; his characters are three dimensional and everything is contextualised in the brush strokes; none of it heavy handed, but in a few strokes conveying the light and shade that gives meaning to what you are reading over and above a skilled and layered plot.

In The Dark Hours, Renee Ballard is finding it tough going. The protests against police brutality and racism following the death of George Floyd and the impact of the close-following pandemic has led to a bigger breakdown of public trust in the police than she has known before. The events surrounding the Capitol in January have been so disturbing that it is hard to understand what is happening to American civil society, other than it is substantially less civil than it felt before.

The police are finding difficult to do their jobs and many are simply not bothering to do more than go through the motions. The malaise is impacting on Ballard’s assigned partner and so for much of this case, she is on her own.

It’s New Year’s Eve and Detective Renée Ballard is quietly cursing the insanity of those who celebrate by firing their weapons in the air. A man has died after this ‘celebration’ but it is soon clear that this – the first murder of the year -was no accident. By rights she should pass this case over. She’s not on the murder squad; instead she and her partner are working a serial rape case, sitting waiting for the next victim in the hope that they can find similarities that will allow them to track the perpetrators. But Ballard wants this murder case and she has found a connection between it and one that Harry Bosch worked more than a decade ago.

If Ballard’s partner is lazy and all too often missing in action, Bosch, whom Ballard has worked with before, is the opposite. He may be retired, but he hates to let a cold case go unsolved and Ballard knows he’s as dogged and determined as any policeman.

In The Dark Hours Ballard is working both the serial rapist case whose perpetrators have been tagged ‘The Midnight Men’ and the homicide with Harry Bosch lending a hand and his expertise. She also has to contend with departmental politics and some on the LAPD team who still resent her for speaking out about unacceptable harassment.

Connelly laces his utterly gripping police procedural with some well-placed observations about the current state of America. Not just what’s happening to the Police, but the growing homelessness epidemic, and the growing problem of an unregulated, unchecked dark web where the worst of all aspects of manhood goes to fester and suppurate until it boils over into unchecked rage and criminal action.

Ballard is a smart and determined cop and she is prepared to work all the angles to find the answers to both these crimes. Doing so will endanger her job and her life and cause her to question everything that is important to her. Bosch, despite his brush with serious illness is still mentally agile and a great silent partner to Ballard, using his extensive memory and cold case files to assist and ensuring she has back up when required. They are a terrific team who understand each other and work well together.

Verdict: I got more of a sense of Renee Ballard in this book than ever before and as a consequence she has become more likeable and more admirable. This partnership has fast become unmissable and I really hope that there will be many more to follow. Michael Connelly is such a fantastic writer and these books encapsulate the essence of the best of police procedurals, married with fantastic characterisation, well–layered plotting and a sense of the state of America today that is both riveting and worrying. It is to be hoped that these dark hours are coming just before the dawn…A top class, five star outing not to be missed.

I got The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly for free for a fair and honest review

At the start of 2021, night shift detective Ballard is sat in a car waiting to hear about the latest attack by two rapists called the midnight men, who generally strike on the holidays.
However, while she is waiting about this she gets a report of a man killed while guns are being fired into the air to celebrate the new year.
However, the previous year 2020 has been one of the hardest, with the pandemic, a disputed general election, and the BLM protests after the murder of George Floyd, mean that the moral of the police is at an all-time low.
So, when the murder leads back to an old case of Harry Bosch, she neds all his help she can get.
This is the first novel by Michael Connelly, that I have read, however with the writer’s style of writing and the narrative of the story I was never at a loss even though this is the 23rd Bosch story and the 4th Ballard one.
Which means I can not comment on how this compares to the previous stories but take it as a standalone.
While I Have read a few novels that have mentioned the events of 2020/21 in passing this is the first novel that the events of that year have formed an integral part of the story.
Which I think really gave the novel a felling of time and had a real effect on the narrative of the story.
As for the two main characters of the novel Bosch and Ballard, with each of these characters being in multiple books, it can feel when as a reader who meets them for the first time.
The writer does one of two things makes them a caricature of what the want them to be, so it does not hinder the reader if this is the first book they have read.
What I feel Michael Connelly did, is write well developed characters, which when you read a book that is not the first of the series you know the depth of the character and at some point, you think you know that they have changed over time.
All this makes The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly a well-rounded novel which I can highly recommend even if this is your first Ballard & Bosch Novel.

This is the fourth book in the Renee Ballard series and the twenty fifth in the Harry Bosch series, but no prior knowledge of the characters or their past is required to read the story.

Connelly is usually a byword for fast-paced police procedurals with great characters and intricate plotting. Whilst this title certainly holds up in the plotting department, there is a surprising lack of characterisation here. Anyone who knows Bosch from previous titles will be aware of his family and job history, while Ballard has been slowly introduced over the past three novels in which she features. There is a major change to her living situation in this latest instalment, which comes as a surprise.

A few recent novels have paid lip service to Covid-19, but Connelly manages to successfully integrate the pandemic into the story, setting the novel firmly in the present day. The issues faced by US police are also dealt with sympathetically. However, Ballard's over-arching plot line does seem to be following a very similar trajectory to Bosch's in the earlier novels.

Whilst the writing is competent, the whole book is really little more than exposition and reads more like a newspaper report or perhaps a treatment for a film. Has Connelly been influenced by his involvement in the (admittedly excellent) Bosch series on Amazon Prime, perhaps?

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Orion Publishing Group for the electronic copy.

I've read a few of this author's books before but haven't come across Ballard and Bosch teaming up together. I really enjoyed it. It's well-written, fast-paced, and has really believable dialogue that fits so well with the characters.

This is all set against the background of the pandemic, BLM protests and police de-funding and protests on Capitol Hill. The police are demoralised and prefer to be reactive (if they must) rather than proactive. However, Ballard is the exception; she's conscientious and determined. Now the night detective, she enjoys her solitude but she's been teamed with Lisa from the sexual crimes unit on this New Year's Eve because they are expecting the Midnight Men to make an appearance - on two holiday nights the two men had raped and terrorised women in the area. Lisa is resentful she has to be there and Ballard has no time for her. After midnight when gunshots and firework explosions mingled over Los Angeles Ballard is called to attend a street party shooting - was it just an accident or was he murdered? With just a bullet casing her only clue she's able to tie the murder to an old case of Harry Bosch - except someone had removed the murder book from storage and she wants to know why. Ballard and Harry begin investigating together - she is determined to hold onto the case for as long as possible before Homicide get their hands on it but their investigations lead them to other unsolved murders where those murder books have also been removed. Now she has two cases running as Lisa lets her down and she suspects a department cover-up. Can she continue in this atmosphere?

I really became engrossed in the storylines and the little side stories slipped in to make Ballard and Bosch "human".

Yes, a good read.

When I read Michael Connelly's first Harry Bosch book,The Dark Echo , in 1992 I had no idea I'd still be enjoying reading about him nearly 30 years later.
While The Dark hours is largely a Renee Ballard book a now elderly Bosch still plays a large part as he mentors, helps and advises her.

Ballard has the same knack as Bosch for getting involved where she's not welcome and putting everyone's nose out of joint and this book she's juggling a murder investigation and hunting a pair of particularly evil men preying on vulnerable women despite being told to leave both cases to the relevant specialist units.

As always with Connelly's books contemporary social issues play a part and the frustrations and demotivation of a demoralised LAPD hinder Ballard's investigations , he also shines a spotlight on America's guilty secret,the shanty towns springing up in the big cities ,and the darker side of the internet gets a namecheck as well.

I wasn't too sure about Renee Ballard when Michael Connelly first introduced her but she's gone from strength to strength and this is a very strong book. There's plenty of action, a couple of great storylines running side by side and and ending that will intrigue fans of Ballard and Bosch and leave them with plenty to ponder,think about and discuss amongst themselves.

Another surefire winner for Michael Connelly and well up to his trademark high standards.

Did I like the book?

Yes

Did I enjoy reading it?

Yes. No gory details, a strong and fast pace. It actually made me feel I was watching a cop tv show, and I love those!

Was it an easy read?

Yes, you don’t need to have read the previous books in the Ballard or Bosch series to get immersed. Connelly knows exactly how much information to feed his readers so they feel at ease with the protagonists and root for or against them!

What about the characters?

Meeting Ballard was a nice surprise. She’s a dog lover, a nice touch from the author, even though Ballard doesn’t need it. She doesn’t appear as a strong and hard woman with giant walls around her. Is she a one-dimension character? No, she lives a normal life and is swimming in the deep struggle our world is in. Bosch… I did like him. See, I tried watching the show and it was a total fail for me, so I was apprehensive about him being in this book but he did bring a little something to the story and his presence around Ballard was brought in an efficient way.

What about the plot?

I found Connelly perfectly managed to insert the pandemic, current police issues, and topical crime in a tight and well-achieved plot. Mostly. Ballard ends up working two cases, a homicide and multiple rape cases. Only one of those really caught my interest and attention while the second felt a little sloppy to me. It was okay, but I would not have been satisfied had it been the only bone to gnaw.

How would I describe it?

Fast. TV-show like (in a good way).

Another awesome read by the master that is Michael Connelly!
I love the authentic feel of his books and you can see the detailed research that went into writing his books. He is definitely one of the top crime writers out there.
Renée Ballard is also one of my favourite detectives and it was very interesting to listen to an interview with Michael where he mentioned that all the books with her in it has "dark" or "night" in the title referring to her working the night shift. She is one tough cookie that you don't want to meet after midnight. Together with Harry Bosch, they make one dynamic duo.

In this story, Renée's got to deal with two different cases. The one case is that of an ex-gangster who gets shot and killed on New Year's Eve and the other case is the case of the Midnight Gang. Two men breaking into homes and raping women. With little or no help from her colleagues and department head, she's left to her own devices. When 1 of the cases is linked to a case Bosch worked on she approaches him for help and together they try to figure it all out.
A highly recommended read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

He said, she said, he said, I'm out of town a while, I'm meeting Maddie, get the LAWT, I like working the night shift, got to go surfing with my dog, the guys in uniform are hopeless, the chiefs are hopeless..

I'm a massive Michael Connelly fan and have read every book, felt really cheated when buying The Night Fire on hardback pre-order and would have felt equally cheated had I paid for The Dark Hours (Thank you NetGalley for the pre-release viewing).

Not a shade on previous Michael Connelly books, is the TV series more important to him now and taking up his writing time?

I dare say I will still keep buying and reading all his books but!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of The Dark Hours, the fourth novel to feature Detective Renée Ballard of LAPD and retired detective Harry Bosch.

On New Year’s Eve Ballard is hunting the midnight men, a pair of serial rapists who strike on holidays leaving no clues, when she gets the call to go to a death scene. Javier Raffa has been struck by a stray bullet, fired during the “rain of lead”, a Los Angeles new year tradition, but when the bullet is linked to one of Bosch’s old cases premeditated murder seems a more likely scenario.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Hours, which is an absorbing police procedural, mostly in what not to do as Ballard has never seen an instruction she can’t work around or ignore. The novel is a great mixture of the two cases and Ballard’s travails within the department, with Bosch supporting her every step of the way.

I did guess some of the minute men plot, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the twists and turns of the investigation, especially as the solution is so twenty first century. I like the way Ballard attacks the investigation and the inventive way she moves it forward. I was hanging on her every action as it’s all or nothing for her. The murder plot is not so prominent in the novel. It takes centre stage early on, with Bosch doing the background work and supplying a motive, but is quickly resolved although not without drama. The answer is shocking but sadly not unbelievable.

I think the novel touches the zeitgeist with the motives in the two cases, but it is the general air of malaise that really nails it. The novel is set in January 2021, so the insurrection gets a mention, but it is the picture of the LAPD that colours the narrative. The personnel are jaded and worn out after the pandemic and the BLM protests. Most are unwilling to put in more than the bare minimum and are frightened to put a foot wrong or speak out of turn for fear of dismissal. Reactive rather than proactive is the author’s verdict on the organisation. It will come as no surprise that a motivated self starter like Ballard gets no support and faces disciplinary action. Her answer made me smile.

The Dark Hours is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly will be released November 9th with Orion Publishing and is described as ‘the brand new blockbuster Ballard & Bosch Thriller’. Michael Connelly is the creator of the phenomenally successful Harry Bosch series of crime novels, as well as being the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original based on Harry Bosch. The Black Echo was published in 1992 introducing the world to LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch, with Michael Connelly writing more than 30 novels since.

Michael Connelly was inspired to write police procedurals/crime fiction after becoming captivated by Raymond Chandler from a young age. He now writes at a demanding pace at nearly a book a year but what is always very important to him is ensuring the authenticity of his stories and that they should reflect our society at any given time. Over the past year there have been many changes to the LAPD policing due the pandemic and the many social protests that have taken place in the US. Michael Connelly felt quite passionate about including these shifts in practice in his novel offering his readers a credible reading experience.

The Dark Hours starts off on New Year’s Eve with Detective Renée Ballard allocated the first case of the New Year. She receives a call to attend a scene where a man was shot dead during the annual celebratory gun-shooting-in-the-air-at-midnight party. (An insane New Year’s Eve activity in parts of LA apparently!) Initially the investigation points to accidental death but Ballard soon determines that this was no accident….this was cold-blooded murder. As she delves deeper into the investigation she makes a connection between this man’s death and a cold case from over ten years ago that had been under the remit of retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Ballard and Bosch have a previous history together and, right now, Ballard trusts Bosch as the one person who shares her relentless passion for the truth above everything else.

Ballard also has to contend with another even more sinister crime when a woman reports a very brutal assault in her own home. This isn’t the first of these assaults and Ballard has to act fast before there is another victim and before the media picks up on these attacks. The perpetrators are nicknamed The Midnight Men but who are they and what is their modus operandi?

The title The Dark Hours infers many meanings. Renée Ballard works the night shift, a time that suits her and her lifestyle, but it also refers to the dark hours of our time, the darkness that pervades society. There were some very dramatic changes in US policing over the last year or so and Michael Connelly made a decision to harness these changes by creating characters and environments that echo a nation’s sentiments. Ballard is frustrated by defunding, by enforced restrictions placed on her by colleagues. She plays outside the box, always outside the rules to achieve the desired results but she is being continuously knocked off kilter with moving obstacles and her exasperation is mounting daily.

Ballard and Bosch make a great team. Bosch, now in his seventies, is aging appropriately with each new book and there is plenty of life left in him yet. Ballard is tough, unafraid to raise the dust and see what’s hiding underneath. Together they are a skilled and formidable team, working in tandem and connecting the dots.

Michael Connelly writes contemporary fiction, very much capturing the zeitgeist of the time. The Dark Hours feels like a very personal book, one that Connelly felt he needed to write. The two investigations in The Dark Hours give a platform to the impact societal changes have had on policing and, I expect, there will be many who will agree with Ballard’s views on her workplace and the radical changes she sees around her.

The Dark Hours is a compelling police-procedural written by a master of his trade, while also incorporating some very thought-provoking themes. Current, atmospheric and absorbing The Dark Hours is another sure fire hit for Michael Connelly.

On New Year's Eve at the end of one of the hardest years in history, hundreds of revellers shoot their guns into the air in time-honoured LA tradition. But as the rain of lead comes down, a man is shot dead in the middle of a crowded street party.

Detective Renée Ballard soon connects the bullet to an unsolved cold case last worked by legendary ex-LAPD detective Harry Bosch. As they investigate where the old and new cases connect, a new crime shatters the night shift.

The Midnight Men are a pair of violent predators who stalk the city during the dark hours, and will kill to keep their identities secret.

In a police department shaken to the core by pandemic and protests, both cases have the power to save Ballard's belief in the job - or take everything from her...

This is the first book that I have read by this very brilliant author since “The Brass Verdict” published in 2009. I stopped reading titles by US authors as I was working on eurocrime.co.uk and was reading for review only British authors books. I’m so glad that I decided to read this one as the author has lost none of his remarkable writing skills and I thought the book was just so astonishingly good. I’m now determined to continue with Connelly’s books and I have bought Kindle copies of all those that I missed.

This very experienced writes a very exciting story which had me really gripped until the very dramatic conclusion. I enjoyed reading this very much and will certainly look out for more books by him in the future. Very strongly recommended.