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Michael Connelly, the author of The Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch books, returns with The Waiting (Little, Brown & Company, 2024), a Harry Bosch-Renée Ballard mystery. Ballard is moving into Bosch’s place as Connelly’s main police character. In fact, Renée Ballard has a new streaming series on the way, as Bosch Legacy ends with its upcoming third season.

In The Waiting, LAPD detective Ballard runs a cold case squad and accepts Maddie Bosch as a volunteer, in addition to her regular work as a police officer. Ballard is working three cases: the first involves the theft of her gun and badge, which turns into a much larger case. The second, is brought by Maddie and invokes a number of cold case murders that might be tied to the unsolved Black Dahlia case. The third is the Pillowcase Rapist, which is actually based on a real case Connelly knew about from Florida.

I have mixed reactions about The Waiting. While I have the upmost respect for Michael Connelly, his success speaks for itself, and I’ve read all of his Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books, but this one left me cold – not as in cold case.

This is only a token Harry Bosch novel, his appearance is brief, as the phasing out of his character moves forward. Connelly moves Ballard to center stage, and although her character can drive a police mystery series, I feel as if her character is not as razor-sharp as Harry Bosch or Mickey Haller. The fault is in the writing.

Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter, is an LAPD uniformed officer, who approached Ballard as a volunteer chasing cold cases, hoping it was because shortcut to a detective’s shield. Her father spend his career closing cold cases, so she is following in his footsteps, sort of. She steps forward as the Harry Bosch character steps back.

Connelly said in an online meeting with fan that he has one more Harry Bosch centered book planned, to be his final book. I look forward to this book, but I hope Connelly has many more books ahead. He also said online that his next book will introduce a brand new character. Yeah!

Ballard is a star; the character has grown and evolved over the course of five books. She was mentored by Harry Bosch and is now mentoring Maddie Bosch. Ballard runs up against many of the same LAPD challenges that Bosch did, but Ballard is also a female in a world that is slow to change. She’s determined, quick to challenge, and extremely resourceful.

The Waiting has a focus that is a bit wobbly as it jumps from case to case, suspect to suspect, the past to the present. Connelly normally juggles his stories with ease, but less so here. Don’t get me wrong, this is an enjoyable read, but Connelly has set the bar exceedingly high, and this book doesn’t quite get there.

I don’t know what to think of the Black Dahlia storyline, that was a bit of a reach. Incorporating a real-life case, the most prolific unsolved murder case in L.A. history, into a fictional story is risky, especially having junior officer Maddie Bosch stumbling on the key evidence. Sorry, it just feels contrived.

My other issue is the ending of The Waiting. I found it anticlimactic and underwhelming, lacking suspense and pacing. Connelly is normally a master of the ending, but not here. There is no one better writing police procedural crime mysteries than Connelly. It pains me to be critical, but I found The Waiting to not meet the lofty expectations for a Connelly best seller. It will be a best seller, just not the one it should be. I liked the book very much; I just didn’t love it.

3/5