Another terrific Ballard and double Bosch adventure.
Renee is on the hunt for her badge, gun and wallet which were stolen while she was surfing at
at a local spot. Not wanting anyone from her Unsolved Crimes Unit, and especially not her Captain, to know they're missing, she enlists Harry's help in setting up a sting to recover them.
At the same time, her squad is looking into an unsolved serial rapist case and Bosch's daughter, also a cop, comes to volunteer on her squad.
Just a great dual story, complementing each other with the usual terrific Connelly characters and ever intriguing and thrilling plot.
One can never have too many Boschs.

Fans of Michael Connelly’s Renee Ballard series won’t be disappointed with this one. Its title THE WAITING, also the title of a Tom Petty tune, grounds the book. The chorus lyric, the waiting is the hardest part, underscores the book’s promo: In cold cases, it’s not the hope that kills you. It’s the waiting. There is a seemingly endless wait is for evidence to be found, processed and decisions held up through the chain of command. To offset this, Connelly moves the story along with three investigations.

The main protagonist, Detective Renee Ballard, now heads up the LA Police Department’s Open Unsolved Unit. This unit is comprised mainly of volunteers who use evolving technology to solve cold cases.As a way of relaxing, Ballard often surfs before she gets to work. The book opens at the beach when her ID, police shield and gun are stolen from her locked car. I’m not quite sure why she believes this loss will derail her career but she does and decides not to report it. In the process of trying to track the thieves down, she discovers a complicated and potentially dangerous conspiracy. She calls on former partner and longtime Connelly character Harry Bosch, now retired and recovering from cancer, to help her. This is the only investigation where Harry plays an active role, although he is present throughout the novel, providing advice and backup where needed.

A major unsolved crime has the attention of her team. They are using DNA familial data to potentially connect a young man recently arrested to the Pillowcase Rapist—a man who had raped and terrorized women in the early 2000s. It is believed his last attack ended in murder. The DNA familial search produces a strong lead to his possible identity and all of the team pursue this.

One of the members of the team, Colleen, a recent divorcee who has recently become an empty nester, is portrayed through the book as someone who wants to do more than she is allowed to. You know there will be trouble. The undercurrent is there and the reader is pulled along not knowing what she’s about or to trust her.

A third and perhaps most interesting case appears when Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter, asks Renee if she can join the unit on her days off as a police officer. She wants to become a detective and thinks this will enhance her investigative experience. Ballard’s volunteers are limited in what they can do and she thinks Maddie would be an asset. And she does not disappoint. Maddie comes in with a strong lead. Material she discovered in an abandoned storage unit may be a connection to the horrific Black Dahlia case, unsolved since 1947. Of course, the police bureaucracy has a problem with her involvement.

The cases in themselves are all interesting ones, particularly as they are solved with new technology. Also of interest is the vivid description of the various LA neighborhoods. Annoying, but probably true are the constant impediments by bureaucracy and political interests that contribute to the waiting of the book’s title.

It was a good read and I recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown for the privilege of reading an advanced copy.

Michael Connelly consistently writes fast paced, entertaining police procedurals. I am a huge fan of all three of the main characters in this book - Harry Bosch, Renee Ballard and Maddie Bosch. I’m pleased that Connelly is incorporating Maddie into his books as she’s a breath of fresh air - the young cop determined to be a detective and learning the ropes.
The story starts with Renee’s badge and gun being stolen from her car at a surfing beach. She’s afraid to report it, knowing the higher ups are looking for an excuse to get rid of her. Meanwhile her OU department gets a hot shot of an old serial rapist case. But the suspect is someone who isn’t the typical criminal. And in the final subplot, Maddie asks to volunteer on the cold case unit because she thinks she has solved a famous cold case and wants to investigate further.
As another reviewer commented, Connelly doesn’t feel the need to link the various cases being worked on, which lends a much more realistic air to the story.
Connelly writes in an intoxicating fashion - fast paced, easy to envision, well defined characters. I inevitably get hooked and fly through his books. This is no exception. I also appreciate that Connelly didn’t see the need to provide an OTT ending. Instead, he relies on smart detective work, even if sometimes a little outside the rules.
My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this book.

I first want to thank NetGalley for allowing me too read and review an ARC of Michael Connelly's upcoming latest book featuring Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch. I approached this book with high expectations having read every one of the books featuring Harry Bosch. However, I have to say I was mildly disappointed with his latest book, The Waiting. As with the latest books, The Waiting features Bosch in a supporting role as his healthy deteriorates from cancer. The Waiting features Renee Ballard as the main character with Harry's daughter, Maddie, taking an increasingly important role in the story after she joins the Open Unsolved group that Ballard leads featuring a group of volunteers. There are two themes in the book - the first revolving around Ballard's desperate search to recover her badge and gun after they're stolen while she's surfing while the second theme features the efforts of the Open Unsolved volunteers to solve the infamous Black Dahlia case after Maddie Bosch becomes a member of the group. The story featuring efforts to solve the Black Dahlia murder is definitely the most compelling section of the book.

While long-time fans of Michael Connelly's Bosch/Bosch and Ballard books will definitely enjoy this book, readers just coming to appreciate these series would advised to catch up with earlier entries, especially those featuring Harry Bosch.

The quandary in which many of us devoted readers find ourselves is that we want a great book to last forever, but the better the book, the faster it goes by. I'm not the world's fastest reader, Even so, this roughly 400 page book was done in a day.

Without giving too much away, Renee Ballard finds herself both a crime victim and avenger of victims, including a notorious crime from LA history, a planned crime that she and Harry Bosch work to prevent, and a series of crimes that brings the danger very close to home. Meanwhile, the newest Bosch in the LAPD, Maddie, is continuing to grow as an officer with an eye towards following in her father's footsteps.

Michael Connelly has put together another story to pull you in, with characters who are flawed but noble people the reader cares about. Another great, five-star story!

This is a Renee Ballard book, she’s in charge of the old, unsolved case files. Several of the people from past books are also included in this new book. Harry Bosch and his daughter appear in this story. It talks about Renee’s mom who is a new character, as well as exploring different areas of LA. It is interesting to read about how they try to solve cases to give people closure. Highly recommend!

Thanks for the ARC! This is another great addition to the Ballard / Bosch series of books, and it was hard to put down from the first page. Seeing Maddie start to come into her own as a police officer, as her Dad is fading away from that life is a poignant juxtaposition, and I love the parallels between the case she takes on, and Bosch's first case. Ballard continues to be a driving force, and I look forward to many more of her adventures, either with our without help from the Bosch family members.

5 stars out of 5

Wow, this book had me hooked from the start and I was on the edge of my seat. I could not flip the pages fast enough. There are a lot of moving pieces in the book but they all tied together by the ending. The characters were well developed and likable. I think this book can be read as a standalone since we get a lot of background information on the characters and whats going on. Overall, such a great book and I highly recommend for anyone looking for a fast paced thriller!

In The Waiting, we met Renee Ballard, who works at the LAPD in the unsolved crimes unit. While Renee was out surfing her car was broken into and her gun, badge, and ID were stolen. She needs to track down who did this and in doing so, she uncovers something sinister going on. She is also working on finding the Pillowcase Rapist after new DNA comes in that shows a familial match. Renee also welcomes Bosch's daughter Maddie to her unit to help crack some of the cold cases piling up. Maddie picks one of the most notorious cases to lay her eyes on, but will she solve it?

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve been reading Bosch since the early 90’s. Since the books have all been written in present time, life has moved on; and Bosch, like the rest of us, has gotten older. Much older. This book has served to push a new sheriff into town, in the form of Harry’s patrol officer daughter Maddie. The story itself is solid, with an interesting cold case to solve. I do, however, question the case that will fast track Maddie into making detective; it’s the most famous unsolved murder in LAPD history, and stretches credulity pretty thin. Still, I’m looking for more from Ballard and Bosch, Maddie Bosch.

I get that everyone wants Harry, so do I. But I have to face the fact that like me, he’s getting pretty doggone old to be carrying the story,

Another great installment from author Michael Connelly. I have read all the Harry Bosch books and only a few with Renee Ballard. I was a little disappointed that Harry didn’t have a larger part in this story. However, he is retired, aging and sick so I guess his decrease in work on murder cases can be explained. His daughter Maddie is a large part of the cold case investigations this book covers. And am looking forward to more books including her as a supporting character. The epilogue set up a new book and I am anxious to see where it goes. Keep up the good work Mr. Connolly.

I imagine this is going to piss off a lot of people, but I'm really not a fan of this movement among mystery/thriller writers who have developed male characters we've followed for decades suddenly replacing those characters with their young and inevitably spunky daughters. Is it just a coincidence that several prominent novelists have done exactly the same thing at exactly the same time? That's doubtful. It's more likely that their publishers have pushed the view on them that aging white men are out of style and have insisted they switch to writing about women, preferably young women.

Frankly, I miss Harry Bosch, and I want to read about Harry Bosch. This book is billed as 'A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel,' but that's misleading, no doubt intentionally so. Harry Bosch is hardly present at all. This is 'A Renée Ballard and Maddie Bosch Novel.' Poor Harry barely rates a walk on. Worse, it seems to me that both Ballard and Maddie Bosch are unattractive characters, each pandering in a different way to the currently hot cultural stereotypes of women that publishers think are in style.

Look, I have no problem with Connelly writing Maddie Bosch novels if he wants to, but I do have a problem with them being flogged as Harry Bosch novels. The way this is going, I fully expect Jack Reacher to discover he has a daughter and ask her to take over his rambling through America while he retires to the suburbs of Dallas. Don't tell me that's impossible. White men of a certain age are just so passe, don't you know?

The Waiting is a solid addition to Michael Connelly’s ongoing Detective Renee Ballard series. Add in a bit of Harry Bosch and now his daughter, Maddie, for a good mystery set mostly in LA. Renee’s unorthodox methods are appreciated by some and despised by many, often getting her results but with unwanted attention. A quick, interesting read, the book leaves an open ending hopefully to be another story in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read this ARC.

It was great to see Renee and Harry back again, though this book mainly concentrates on Renee, and was also fantastic to see Harry's daughter Maddie join the canon in an expanded role now that she's a full-fledged LAPD officer. The Waiting meshes together a few threads of stories as Renee deals with her badge and gun being stolen while surfing, which leads to a bigger crime that needs to be unraveled, all while Maddie and the cold case squad work to solve the biggest cold-case in LA history. Quite the ride and I look forward to recommending this book throughout the fall. Thank you to Little Brown and Co and NetGalley for the early access in exchange for my honest opinion.

Anticipation satisfied! Phew!

Love the story told as Ballard builds her career in the LAPD. Surprise new partner that you will love reading about! The cases explored were so well written and interesting you just might read it twice!

MC please don’t wait a year to continue the story of Ballard and Bosch.

Thank you, thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the ARC of The Waiting by Michael Connelly.

For the story itself, The Waiting has three large cases being managed over two weeks by Ballard solo and by Ballard and her team of volunteers in the Open Unsolved Unit. The book opens with Ballard's badge, gun and ID being stolen from her car while she is surfing. She does not want to report the loss, fearing retribution from higher ups in the LAPD, so she works to hunt down the thieves herself. Realizing quickly there are larger forces at play than just car break-ins, Ballard calls in Bosch to take down these dangerous criminals in their signature style of law bending for the safety of others. This plot was so unexpectedly huge that I thought it was going to be the full story - but it was actually just the first salvo into a wild two weeks. Renee and the Open Unsolved Unit receive DNA evidence of a direct familial match to the Pillowcase Rapist, and the DNA leads them to an unexpected link, which quickly turns into danger. The third and final case comes with the addition of Maddie Bosch to the Open Unsolved Unit, and Maddie believes, as does Ballard after evidence review, that they have solved an infamous California murder from the 1940s.

I have been reading Connelly's work and watching Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer shows for years (there is a hilarious brief comment from Bosch in The Waiting about how he's enjoying The Lincoln Lawyer show). Maybe because they are newer series here Connelly has been long established as an expert in his field, but I actually think Ballard and Jack McEvoy are some of his strongest works (fingers crossed for a new Jack McEvoy book soon). I do love how Connelly has slowly recognized Harry is aging and retired, and using his relationship with Ballard to continue his arc in a different stage of his life. I also thought it was brilliant how both Bosch's featured with Ballard this time around, and the stepping stones it seems to be placing for Maddie to take that leading role. I also appreciate that Connelly does fairly bluntly try to stress that line between some-cops-behave-badly and some-cops-break-rules-with-good-intent, while also addressing the January 6 insurrection and the rise of white nationalism. Connelly also brings his skill with navigating politics and laws with sneaky loopholes to multiple parts of this story, showing how Ballard is learning to thread the needle just as Bosch did, and maybe doing it a bit better than him. Connelly also spent time on Ballard's personal growth - weekly therapy, as well as a search for her mother, who may have perished in the Lahaina fire. We also see Ballard try to better support and connect with her team and with the Bosch's. Work is still her life, but it seems like she's trying to find some type of balance.

Overall, this is a classic Connelly crime thriller. Anyone who has already begun the Ballard/Bosch series will find themselves in the familiar LA territory Connelly so expertly has made his mark in.

When I saw this was a Ballard and Bosch mystery, I was expecting a Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch novel. Harry does have a small roll but Maddie Bosch is much more prevalent. I must say I did miss Harry but Maddie added a refreshing new twist.

The story opens with the unsolved cold case unit working on the Pillowcase Rapist case. When Maddie joins the unit, she has her sites set on a well known unsolved case that she has stubbled into. Meanwhile, as Renee attempts to get to the bottom of the theft of her badge, gun and ID from her car while she was surfing, she uncovers a plan for a mass shooting during a crowded holiday weekend.

With all three cases progressing at the same time, there is never a dull moment. This fast paced Ballard and (Harry & Maddie) Bosch novel will keep you engaged and entertained to the last page.

My review of the last Renee Ballard novel, “Desert Star” mentioned that two things that disappointed me were: (1) Ballard appeared to be turning into a bureaucrat, leaving the investigative work to others in her team; and (2) I learned no more about her background, the experiences that formed her strong personality. Both deficiencies have been remedied in THE WAITING. In this, the sixth Renee Ballard novel, Ballard is definitely the main investigator, with Harry Borsch adding support only when needed. And finally, we start to learn about the traumatic events she experienced as a child, the mental wounds that shaped her approach to dealing with the world.

THE WAITING contains three separate investigative threads. The first begins when Ballard has her ID, police shield, and gun stolen from her locked car while she is surfing early in the morning. Because she fears that reporting this theft will derail her career, she decides to handle it herself. However, while undertaking this investigation, she discovers disturbing information and needs Harry’s assistance. This is the only investigation where Harry plays an active role, although he is present throughout the novel, providing mentoring advice where needed.

After the surfing burglary, Ballard goes to work as the leader of LAPDs Open-Unsolved Unit. Her team is composed of volunteers, and here we are introduced to them. I don’t remember if any appeared in “Desert Star”, a novel wherein Harry Borsch dominated as the primary volunteer. Getting to know this team and their current cases slows the action down, just a little, but soon an investigation gets started on a DNA familial search tying a young man who had recently been arrested to the Pillowcase Rapist—a man who had terrorized the city for five years in the early 2000s until one of his assaults ended in murder. After that, there were no more Pillowcase Rapist cases. The perpetrator stopped or changed his modus operandi. The DNA familial search produces a strong lead to his possible identity and the team goes into full operation mode.

However, while the Pillowcase Rapist case is progressing, Ballard is surreptitiously trying to track down the thieves who stole her badge and gun, and in the process of this search, stumbles onto something more serious. Subsequently, she calls on Harry to assist her in an undercover operation.

Just before Ballard and Borsch join forces, Harry’s daughter, Maddie, asks to join the Open-Unsolved Unit as a volunteer, on her days off as a police officer working at the Hollywood Division. She feels that this experience will give her investigative experience to help her reach her goal as a detective. Ballard responds positively to this request, but there are administrative hurdles to overcome before Maddie is added to the unit. Then, Maddie brings Ballard the third major case—materials discovered in an abandoned locker storage that connect to an 1947 case—the famous “Black Dahlia” case.

Consequently, before the 40% point, the novel is regularly shifting between three independent cases (plus a fourth, in the background, that a volunteer was working on before the story began), as well as inserting short tidbits about Renee Ballard’s childhood experiences. I had no difficulty following the different story threads. I don’t know if someone “completely” new to the series would find it as easy to shift among the scenarios. (But few thriller readers are going to be “completely” new to the Harry Bosch series.)

While reading, I was struck by just how much Michael Connelly loved the greater Los Angeles area, and how much city geography/history was embedded in this series. Reminiscing back to earlier novels, I realized that Connelly has often used Los Angeles geography/history as a backdrop, but usually concentrated on a narrower regional area in any one novel. Here the story traverses a large territorial space and it is more obvious. Descriptions of houses and neighbourhoods were easily visualized as the action proceeded.

Also, although he doesn’t preach, Connelly subtly conveys his dismay at how the LA area has deteriorated. For example, after confronting a thief who stole her gun and badge, and receiving the information she needs to follow up on this matter, Ballard doesn’t even report their names and method of operating to police authorities—which she could have done surreptitiously—because she knows that such minor crimes are no longer seriously investigated. They’re just another example of the recurring scams occurring in the LA area.

The title, THE WAITING, comes a Tom Petty song titled “The Waiting”, which describes “waiting” as being the hardest part. Ballard and her team are constantly waiting to receive information back from a lab or the DOJ before they can proceed with their cases.

To me, the Pillowcase Rapist case was by far the most interesting. All the information collected, even that not relevant to the final outcome, provided a good picture of secrets kept from high school years onward, and how different students ended up in different places 24 years later. My only critique of this part was that no information was forthcoming regarding what happened once the rapes stopped (after the murder). Did he stop completely or just change his modus operandi?

The case that included Harry was relatively straightforward and standard, with only Harry being a standout with regards to how he operated. Even though he is battling cancer and can no longer be physically active, his mind is still razor sharp.

The Maddie Borsch/Black Dahlia case was the least satisfying. I don’t know why Connelly chose to bring a “real” case, one that has never been solved, into the novel. Eons ago, when I first started reading the Harry Borsch novels, I thought that Connelly had based the story of Harry’s mother on the Black Dahlia case, although Harry’s mother was murdered in 1961, and the Black Dahlia murder took place in 1947. But I also vaguely remembered that eventually Harry had solved the mystery of his mother’s killing. (That occurred in “The Last Coyote”—no, my memory isn’t that good but my research skills still endure.) Maybe Connelly wanted to tie Maddie Borsch into the Borsch legacy by giving her this case. If so, he failed. Maddie still hasn’t a compelling backstory, other than being Harry’s daughter, and consequently doesn’t have energizing character traits. She’s nice. She’s competent. But she isn’t driven.

So, my conclusion is that THE WAITING is not as good as “The Dark Hours” but definitely as good as “Desert Star”. 4.5 stars upped to 5.

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My reviews for previous books in this series:
<a href = https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5003965074 > Desert Star (Renee Ballard #5, Harry Bosch #24)</a>
<a href = https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3972099302 > The Dark Hours (Renee Ballard #4, Harry Bosch #23</a>
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“The Waiting” Will be released in North America on October 15, 2024.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for providing an electronic copy of this book via NetGallry. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions.

There is no one better than Connelly, and I rejoice for a new Ballard/Bosch and this boom is no exception. Read it in one sitting, and loved the idea of not only having a terrorist plot, but to throw in The Black Dahlia too-totally enthralling and terrific as always. Hope the next one comes quickly!

I love the Harry Bosch series and having daughter, Maddie on board is even better as she brings a woman's perspective to the cases even though lead detective Renee Ballard is a kick-ass woman by herself! As it begins, Ballard is surfing when she discovers her wallet, gun, and badge are missing from her car. Determined to get it all back, she's focused on the "who" and "why" of it all. And then they work a "cold case" which is The Pillowcase Rapist of 20 years ago as well as The Black Dahlia case--both of which are grisly murders. Of course Harry Bosch is still involved and although he's older, he's still got the wisdom of a great detective!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Lots of fast- paced action! This is my type of mystery, -thriller! I love the detective Rener Ballard. She is good at her job but not perfect! It makes the book very real! There were twists and turns and a great ending that had me cheering! Michael Connelly knows how to write a fabulous police procedure novel. This is one for your TBR list!

Thank you to Net Galley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC to read and review!