Case Of The
Night Shift
Michael
Connelly has already created characters like LA cop Harry Bosch and his smart,
brash half brother, Mickey Haller, better known as the Lincoln Lawyer (who had a movie made on him, starring Matthew McConaughey). In spite of all
these books being bestsellers, the writer felt impelled to introduce a new
character, a female one at that.
Detective
Renée Ballard is young, smart, tough, and all kinds of terrific. The first book
starring her is The Late Show, the
police department’s name for the night shift, which nobody really wants to do.
She was dumped there when she complained of sexual harassment by a superior and
her partner, Ken Chastain, failed to back her up. She carries this resentment to her new post,
with her dull but loyal new partner John Jenkins, who would rather sit in his
office and do paperwork than chase after criminals. But Ballard is straining at
the leash, because officers on the graveyard shift have to jut write up reports
and hand over cases to day cops on the beat. And she is too dedicated to the
force to want to be a gloried clerk.
The book is
set in Southern California, where homeless Ballard lives on the beach in a tent,
paddling when she has the time and hanging out with her dog, Lola. Ballard grew up in Hawaii, her father
drowned, her mother disowned her, so the only living relative is her
grandmother, Tutu.
Even though
she is not meant to follow up on crimes, Ballard does not let go, whether it is
a credit card theft that leads to a bigger scam, or the case of a cross-dresser
who has been savagely beaten and left for dead. The same eventful night, there are
five people killed in a nightclub shootout. So Ballard puts a lot on her plate in
the breathtakingly fast paced book; she is also kidnapped and tortured, but she
solves everything.
Connelly
won’t let go of a heroine like that after just one book, so readers will
definitely get more of Renee Ballard and hopefully she will head a movie
franchise too. Such a kickass female,
who can fight as well as she can tongue lash, is made for showbiz.
Interestingly,
Mumbai features in the book in credit card call centre sequences, with a man
called Irfan Khan, and the coroner is an Indian woman called Jayalaithaa
Panneerselvam—now where did Connelly find
names like that!
The Late Show
By Michael
Connelly
Publisher:
Little, Brown
Pages: 400
********************
Old
Detective, New Tricks
Hieronymus
'Harry' Bosch, the jazz-loving hero of twenty Michael Connelly books, does
not retire when he officially retires from the LA police force. He is asked to
help with cold cases, and he merrily sets up office in a disused jail cell in
the San Fernando Police Department.
His
thirty-year career is rocked when he is accused by death row prisoner, Preston
Borders, rapist and
murderer of three of having framed him back in 1988. Now, new evidence using
advanced DNA techniques prove his innocence. If Borders’s lawyer, Lance
Cronyn, can prove that, Bosch will be in deep trouble. He finds that even his
former partner Lucia Soto is suspicious, though she is willing to do what she
can to help him.
While he worries about this, he is also called on to help
solve the double murder of a pharmacist José Esquivel Sr. and his son. These murders are linked to a huge drugs
racket, run by an East European syndicate, in which homeless old people are
used as mules. For the first time in his
life, Bosch goes undercover to investigate and risks his life.
Bur importantly, he must clear his name and win again the
respect of his daughter Maddie. And who
should come charging to help but Mickey Haller, whose investigative skills and courtroom
theatrics make for an exciting climax.
This one is easily one of Connelly’s best.
Two Kinds Of Truth
By Michael
Connelly
Publisher:
Little, Brown
Pages: 400
********************
No comments:
Post a Comment