Bringing Darkness into the Light
I’m a little behind my audiobook goal for the year, so I decided it was time to grab another one from the library. And next up in the rotation was The Dark Hours, which features Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch. While it wasn’t perfect, I did enjoy it.
This book came out in 2021, and at this point in the series, Bosch is retired from the LAPD, still working occasional cases that interest him. Renee Ballard, on the other hand, is still working the overnight hours in the Hollywood police station, fighting to retain some of her cases to solve even though she should turn all of them over to the detective who work days.
As the story starts, it is New Year’s Eve 2020, and Renee is spending the holiday on duty. Most of the department is so they can keep ahead of any situations that pop up as people ring in the new year. But Renee is part of a task force trying to identify the attackers of two women who were assaulted in their own homes. Sure enough, there is another attack that night.
But Renee also picks up a murder case, one of the first ones of 2021. Someone is killed by a bullet just after midnight. While people were shooting guns into the air to ring in the new year, she quickly determines that this was a murder. When a key piece of evidence links to a cold case of Bosch’s that remains unsolved, she visits him to ask what he remembers about the case. Will Bosch’s insight help solve the case?
Based on the last couple of books featuring these two characters, I was expecting to have both of them are the view point character at various points in the book. Instead, it just featured Ballard. Don’t get me wrong, Bosch still gets plenty of page time. I get it. The pandemic is still going on, and so Bosch is staying isolated for much of the book. He does get out later on, but it makes sense for Ballard to take the lead completely here.
I hadn’t thought through what the pandemic would mean for Ballard’s personal life, but I appreciated that the author did. It was a nice bit of character development for her, which I appreciated.
On the other hand, my issue with Ballard is the same issue I have had with Bosch at times. Both characters will go against the rules and do things they think are right even if they shouldn’t do them and then be upset when they face consequences. I get it, it makes for great drama, but come on. There will be consequences for breaking rules. Either accept those consequences or follow the rules. To me, both characters come across as arrogant when they have this attitude.
As for the mysteries themselves, I enjoyed them. Yes, they are parallel cases, but that’s often the case in this series. I thought I had one figured out early, but it turned out I was wrong. Yet both made sense when we reached the end.
I’ve mentioned the pandemic a couple of times. Yes, it is here, but it is more background than anything else. Another event from January of 2021 is mentioned in a couple of scenes as well, but it doesn’t take a lot of page time.
Christine Lakin does the majority of the narration of the book. Since I listen to a podcast she does, it felt a little weird at first, but that’s on me, and I soon got lost in the story. What I never quite got used to was Titus Welliver delivering Bosch’s lines. I get it when the two are more fully sharing narrating duties, but in this case, it felt a little weird to me. That’s nothing to do with his performance.
Overall, I did enjoy The Dark Hours. As always, I’m curious to see what is next for these characters.
Enjoy more of the books featuring Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard.
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