Michael Connelly is the most elegant writer in the mystery genre. His stories flow like melted butter, his characters are well-defined and interesting, and his plots, though complex, are developed in a way the reader never gets lost and does not have to take notes. This is quite true of his 2024 mystery novel The Waiting featuring Renee Ballard. An example of how elegant Michael Connelly’s writing is is he calls the cold case files section the “library of lost souls”. Click here to buy The Waiting on Amazon.
Michael Connelly’s The Waiting opens with Renee Ballard having her badge and gun stolen from her car while she is out surfing. This becomes connected to the plans of a right wing group out to no good (of course). The missing badge section of this thriller also allows Connelly to give retired detective Harry Bosch a chance to make a cameo appearance. This plot line also allows the author to have a bit of fun when he calls very minor characters Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. For kicks, he has Harry Bosch mention he was watching The Lincoln Lawyer on TV.
The heart of this Renee Ballard mystery novel is a DNA hit off a small-time crook connects genetically to the Pillowcase Rapist who hit in the early 00’s. Ballard and her team must thread lightly as the DNA hit brings up the name of a bigwig in the L.A. judicial system. Ballard’s team must make sure they have the right suspect before they acte.
Michael Connelly also involves Maddie Bosch in The Waiting. She joins Ballard’s cold case squad on a volunteer basis thinking any success that comes out of that will make her path to detective easier. Maddie Bosch also has another agenda: she has information on Los Angeles most famous cold case and she intends to break this very old cold case wide open as well as the cold cases connected it
A background story involves Renee Ballard trying to find out what happened to her mother during the great Lahaina fire in Hawaii.
Michael Connelly’s Renee Ballard mystery novel The Waiting is an excellent read. Then again, that can be said about all of Connelly’s work. In this case, it is a notch above.
The Waiting
A Renee Ballard mystery
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company 2024
403 pages
Related posts
- The usual solid and captivating mystery by a master.
- Yet another great Harry Bosch mystery
- This third Harry Bosch mystery is solid.
- The best Michael Connelly mystery to date and that is saying a lot.
- Desert Star by Michael Connelly is the twenty-third Harry Bosch mystery. Like all the other books in the series it is excellent. The cold case section that was closed in a previous Michael Connelly mystery has been reopened and Renee Ballard is in charge. The nominal reason is a councilman…