The Dark Hours

... extraordinary ... This is the fourth novel Connelly has written about Ballard, the third in which Bosch plays a significant role, and they just keep getting better. He’s one of the best in the business at writing about investigations and creating intense suspense, but the relationship between Ballard and Bosch—a professional friendship that grows out of two brilliant minds dedicated to the same difficult but important work—is the cherry on top.

... outstanding ... Connelly’s affinity for creating strong, realistic women characters shines in Renée. She believes in Harry, respects him and considers him her mentor, but she also is her own person, willing to go out on a limb for an investigation, sometimes putting herself in harm. She learns with each case, and, like Harry, can make mistakes. Both are loners, but both also willing to open up to another person. Connelly wisely doesn’t make their platonic partnership always smooth, but quite realistic. As much as The Dark Hours is about Harry and Renée, the story also is about the changes in police work, how racial justice protests, the Jan. 6 insurrection and the pandemic have affected police officers, decimating morale and questioning their career choices ... Connelly has successfully delivered a generational shift since he first introduced Renée with The Late Show in 2017, illustrating a change while keeping Harry vital and important. We’ve said before that Connelly is the most consistently superior living crime fiction author. The Dark Hours just reinforces that.

... the duo takes on two cases that’ll keep readers reading well into the night ... Connelly weaves in a number of twists and turns to go with his signature nail-biting suspense ... Michael Connelly might be the only author on the planet who can touch on a number of timely, hot-button issues...without offending, angering, or losing a single reader, regardless of their personal political beliefs. His fact-based approach, rather than touching on his own opinions, will no doubt be a welcomed sight to readers who’ve been turned off by other writers who’ve taken to injecting their own views into their fictional stories. That, of course, is not to say that Connelly turns a blind eye to such topics ... Connelly stays clear of obvious clichés, focusing instead on creative new ways to continue fleshing out his co-protagonists while giving them tougher cases to crack. In the end, he’s managed to churn out yet another page-turning, suspense-filled story that, while rooted in reality, should entertain a diverse body of readers ... yet another reminder that we’re witnessing one of the all-time greats . . . who’s shown absolutely no signs of slowing down anytime soon.