Many years ago I made a few predictions on where I thought this series was going to go. While the journey has been a surprise I was pretty close on the destination.

On a side note I can’t help but think Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly planned this together. We should probably keep them separated. They are dangerous. ( )

Renee Ballard, now heading a cold case unit, enlists Harry Bosch as one of her department people. Working as a volunteer, Bosch still has his own methods, and his investigating skills, while quite effective, sometimes crosses the line. Ballard has her own ideas of what she wants Bosch to do, and he sometimes has other ideas. As usual, he puts his life on the line, but he generally gets what he wants. They are looking to solve the murder of a teenage girl by tying it to other cold cases. Meanwhile, Bosch still wants to solve the cold-blooded murder of an entire family. He gets what he wants but at a cost. The book leaves readers wondering what is next for Bosch in the future. As with the other novels in the series, this well-written tale is packed with action, suspense, and surprises. The audio version was very well performed by narrators Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, and Peter Giles, and their rendition adds much enjoyment to the story. ( )

Well written and performed. Plenty action, mystery, twists, and suspense. Recommended.

FROM AMAZON: LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come volunteer as an investigator in her new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

First priority for Ballard is to clear the unsolved rape and murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. The decades-old case is essential to the councilman who supported re-forming the unit, and who could shutter it again—the victim was his sister. When Ballard gets a “cold hit” connecting the killing to a similar crime, proving that a serial predator has been at work in the city for years, the political pressure has never been higher. To keep momentum going, she has to pull Bosch off his own investigation, the case that is the consummation of his lifelong mission.

The two must put aside old resentments and new tensions to run to ground not one but two dangerous killers who have operated with brash impunity. In what may be his most gripping and profoundly moving book yet, Michael Connelly shows once again why he has been dubbed “one of the greatest crime writers of all time” (Ryan Steck, Crimereads). ( )

I wrote a great review of this but then the shitty app crashed and I lost it.
I bought this the day it came out but held on to it because I knew it would be excellent and wanted to read it when I needed an excellent book. It did not disappoint.
Like every one of Michael Connelly’s books and especially any featuring Harry Bosch, this is a 5 star read.
But if you are new to the series start at the beginning you won’t regret it! ( )

Bosch is persuaded to join Rene Ballard's newly reconstituted Open Unsolved Unit and quickly identifies a potential lead in a high profile political cold murder case. He also takes the opportunity of re-working one of his own cold cases which has haunted him. As usual Connelly expertly describes the bureaucratic and political challenges, creating believable characters operating iin authentic locations. ( )