Book #167 of 2025: The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller #8) A timely, enjoyable, and yet ultimately anticlimactic legal thriller. The case is almost ripped-from-the-headlines: a high school student murders his ex-girlfriend at the apparent behest of his A.I. chat companion, leading her mother to sue the tech company behind the product. Attorney …
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Book #85 of 2025: Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Detective Stilwell #1) This 2025 release is the start of a new series for author Michael Connelly, although there are a few subtle indications throughout that it’s set in the same continuity as his long-running Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer titles. I’d be shocked if there aren’t crossover …
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Book #152 of 2024: The Waiting by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #5) As usual for author Michael Connelly’s stories about now-retired LAPD cop Harry Bosch and his extended network of supporting characters, this latest title juggles several subplots, mostly in the form of active police investigations. Since the protagonist here is Renée Ballard, that …
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Book #121 of 2023: Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller #7) Author Michael Connelly’s latest novel delivers another solid installment of courtroom drama that never quite twists in an unexpected direction or otherwise kicks into any higher gear. The plot: attorney Mickey Haller is contacted by a woman serving time in prison for killing …
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Book #194 of 2022: Desert Star by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #4) Author Michael Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch story — his 38th book in this broad continuity of LA cops, lawyers, and reporters, if my math is right — finds the detective once again ensconced in the department where he spent most of his …
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Book #183 of 2022: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #3) Much like author Michael Connelly’s previous novel The Law of Innocence incorporated the real-life COVID-19 pandemic, this 2021 title reflects the strained state of policing in the aftermath of protests over the murder of George Floyd and the systemic racism it …
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Book #172 of 2022: The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller #6) One thing I appreciate about author Michael Connelly’s ongoing Harry Bosch franchise (1992 – present) is that it has always played fairly with the passage of time. With the exception of a few short stories that revisit prior points in the …
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Book #160 of 2022: Fair Warning by Michael Connelly (Jack McEvoy #3) This 2020 novel is the third title to center on reporter Jack McEvoy, an otherwise peripheral figure in author Michael Connelly’s broad Harry Bosch / Mickey Haller franchise. He’s always an interesting change of pace from those more frequent protagonists, and I pictured …
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Book #149 of 2022: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #2) Another solid but unspectacular detective thriller, as so many volumes in this franchise have turned out to be. (At this point, I am almost reading less for the actual mysteries and more for the minor updates on Harry Bosch’s personal life, …
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Book #137 of 2022: Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #1) Detective Renée Ballard has only appeared in one Michael Connelly book before this, but there’s still a frisson of crossover thrill when she encounters the author’s more established hero Harry Bosch early in this volume. After cautiously feeling one another out …
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