Bosch Makes Way for Ballard - "The Waiting"

 

Michael Connelly has been writing books featuring Harry Bosch for more than three decades now, so it's not surprising that the old detective would be getting a little long in the tooth.  Fortunately, Connelly has been preparing for a post-Bosch world for a while now - in 2017's "The Late Show," he introduced the character of Renee Ballard, and since then she's played an equal (if not greater) role in the Bosch series than Bosch himself.

"The Waiting" is billed, like several books in the Bosch series before it, as a "Ballard and Bosch novel."  But there's no question that Ballard is the star of this particular show, with Bosch playing an important - but definitely supporting - role.  Like Bosch before her, Ballard is now a part of the Open-Unsolved Unit, but times have changed and now most of the unit's members are volunteers without a badge.  Which is where Bosch's daughter Maddie, now a uniformed LAPD officer, comes into the story.  Ballard has been looking for another badge to join the unit, and Maddie Bosch has been following a "like father, like daughter" arc through her interest in the cases from long ago, those where justice was never served.  It's a natural fit, and it works seamlessly.

The main story takes a while to kick in, but when it does it is completely satisfying.  Throwing caution to the wind, Connelly has decided to go after the White Whale of all unsolved Los Angeles crimes, that of the Black Dahlia.  To his credit, he allows this to be Maddie and Renee's story, with no involvement from the old man whatsoever.  What the two find in their search through the past is suitably horrifying, and believable.

By comparison, the story arc featuring Bosch - helping Renee retrieve her badge and gun, which were stolen from her car while she was surfing - feels a little tacked on.  It's not bad per se, but it doesn't feel essential to the story that Connelly wants to tell.  In the end, any Harry Bosch appearance is worth celebrating.  But "The Waiting" is Renee and Maddie's story.