Harry Bosch's former mentor John Jack Thompson, is dead, but after his funeral his widow gives Bosch a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD—the unsolved killing of a troubled young man. Bosch brings the murder book to Renée Ballard and asks her to help him solve the case The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigative team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?
The introduction of Renee Ballard has certainly freshened up Bosch’s world, but while lots of things have changed, one thing remains the same: Connelly continues to deliver winner after winner, year in and year out. Harry is still the star, but Ballard continues to hold her own, and perhaps the best compliment of all is that her chapters...are just as riveting as when the camera stays tight on Bosch. There’s never a feeling or desire to rush through Renee’s pages to get back to Bosch, and as a team, Ballard is definitely in the running for Harry’s best partner ... Connelly continues to cement his legacy as one of the greatest crime writers of all time, and reading one of his books is an experience unlike anything else the genre has to offer. Look for The Night Fire to make everyone’s 'Best of' lists at the end of the year . . . right where it belongs.
Master storyteller Connelly manages to top himself with his latest intensely gripping thriller ... He tells a superb tale with an economy of words using a no-nonsense, fly-on-the-wall style of writing. Keeping the chapters short and the Bosch and Ballard sections separate brilliantly aids in the thought process continuity that readers will find necessary for this mystery containing many irons in the fire, a few holy cows, and edge-of-your-seat chills ... Fans of this prolific author of crime dramas and either series will find this best-seller-list-bound novel hard to put down. Though it reads well as a stand-alone, this series is best read in order.
Several of Connelly’s recent books have opened up Bosch’s and Ballard’s personal lives and backstories to some degree. The Night Fire focuses more on their investigations and is closer to pure procedural, with those multiple cases structured and linked in a virtuoso performance of plotting ... mostly The Night Fire glows with the instincts and intelligence Bosch and Ballard bring to their pursuit of the truth. From bleak sidewalks where the homeless live and die to law offices in glittering Bunker Hill high-rises, they follow the case.
