The Dark Hours
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The Dark Hours
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Narrated by:
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Titus Welliver
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Christine Lakin
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Written by:
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Michael Connelly
About this listen
A Wall Street Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Book of the Year
“A masterpiece” - LAPD detective Renée Ballard must join forces with Harry Bosch to find justice in a city scarred by fear and social unrest after a methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve (Publishers Weekly).
There’s chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party.
Ballard quickly determines that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and that it is linked to another unsolved murder - a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch. At the same time, Ballard hunts a fiendish pair of serial rapists, the Midnight Men, who have been terrorizing women and leaving no trace.
Determined to solve both cases, Ballard feels like she is constantly running uphill in a police department indelibly changed by the pandemic and recent social unrest. It is a department so hampered by inertia and low morale that Ballard must go outside to the one detective she can count on: Harry Bosch. But as the two inexorable detectives work together to find out where old and new cases intersect, they must constantly look over their shoulders. The brutal predators they are tracking are ready to kill to keep their secrets hidden.
Unfolding with unstoppable drive and nail-biting intrigue, The Dark Hours shows that “relentless on their own, Ballard’s and Bosch’s combined skills … could be combustible” (Los Angeles Times).
©2021 Michael Connelly (P)2021 Hachette AudioYou may also enjoy...
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 255
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-
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 367
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 327
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Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting.
Written by: Michael Connelly
What listeners say about The Dark Hours
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Azamon Customer
- 2021-11-25
Decent story but
I've been an avid Bosch fan for years. And I've read the earlier Ballard novels as well. It weaves together two cases - one, the tracking of a pair of serial rapists, and the other a murder investigation whose investigation leads to surprising places including a bad cop. And it's clearly a phasing out of Harry and a phasing-in of Renee, maybe to enable a plausble continuation of the virtual world the author has created over the past decades as his characters age and retire. I felt some nosalgia for the old Harry, and some trepidation for the introduction of the fledgling new detective, as the story unfolded. While overall, I enjoyed this and thought the storyline was pretty good, there were a couple of things that bugged me about the book.
Firstly, in the audio version, I found the use of music slowly fading in at the end of chapters was very disruptive. Maybe it's just from years of being conditioned by people's phones, but it always made me jump, like there was someone beside me whose phone started ringing when I was by mself listening.
The description of some of Ballard's character traits seemed a little caricatured. The way she is constantly making what are clearly impulsive, and rash, completely emotional decisions, is a little jarring. They're not portrayed like the impulses of an experienced detective, they're more the impulse of a caricature of a "silly emotional woman". And of course the repeated way in which Ballard overcomes her stronger male attackers in physical combat is somewhat unrealistic, although not unexpected given the social programming of the modern era.
Several other reviewers mentioned that this book is set squarely in the mids of the COVID-19 pandemic and adopts a bit of a political tone towards the vax. Given the polarization of the world over this issue, roughly half the audience are going to find this preachy. On the flip side, it was interesting (in a good way) to see how the effects of the "defund the police" mob were protayed as far as their impact on the LAPD.
The last nitpick is regarding one of the two subplots - the serial rapist case. The denoument, in which the identity and reasons for the attacks are revealed, seems again almost a caricature of the so-called "incels" or "misogynists" which are yet again another political boogeyman of this era. There's no real depth or backstory, just a strong sense of flat-out "my god, men really are this disgusting and creepy and evil." It sounded more intended to simply shock the reader than to bring the reader into an intricately woven story. There's more than enough of that black and white blanket characterization in the media today, I was hoping for a little more richness and nuance in the novel.
Despite these items, overall, I still enjoyed the book. I also enjoyed hearing Bosch narrated by Titus Welliver from the TV series, I found it brought a sense of familiarity and continuation to the experience.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christina Crawford
- 2021-11-11
One of the best in Ballard/Bosch series
Truly one of the best writers of crime fiction going. He makes his stories seem so real you are viewing it as action happens, and his social comments, while not popular among some elements of society, are right on the mark. I enjoyed the interchanges between Bosch and Ballard, and whatever new direction they are headed for. Those 11 hours of listening went too quickly, gulped down story in a day and a half! Way to write, Mr. Connelly!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David A. Hoff
- 2021-11-30
Connelly keeps getting better
The Dark Hours is set during Covid after civic unrest following the murder of George Floyd and related protests about use of force and racial injustice. Ballard brings the lens of a female detective working on the night shift. Through Ballard, Connelly brings a nuanced perspective as a master of the detective fiction genre.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jp
- 2023-03-14
Perhaps the best yet!
Excellent story and performance. it's interesting to see Renee mature from a stick by the rules detective in her easier stories to a seasoned, jaded and cynical enforcer. loved it!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Terry Govier
- 2021-11-11
Another Blockbuster
Wow. Michael has done it again. The book is one of his best and hearing Titus reading the part of Harry Bosch makes it sound like Season 8 of Harry. The twists and turns of the story are as good as Michael has ever done. An excellent book I will listen to many more times. Waiting for your next one Michael.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Derk
- 2021-12-03
great read er listen
Loved the story, Connelly does it again! Love Renes and Harry's relationship can't wait for more.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-06
As always a great listen
Another great story by Michael Connelly. I love the experience with both Renee and Bosch reading their parts mixed with a little mood music.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Karen Hach
- 2024-03-19
Love these characters!
I love all Bosch books, this one was no exception! Definitely worth a read, you won’t regret it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Susan G
- 2021-11-28
Great narrators
The storyline was very good and I enjoyed how Connelly worked in current events ie. COVID and problems within police departments and public reactions to both.
Both narrators were excellent but I could listen to Titus Welliver read a phone book all day long!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr Sabah Towaij
- 2021-11-19
Excellent, great story, outstanding performance
This the kind of reading that is needed in such tough times. A time for change in a society that is full of injustice and inequality. The book is quite entertaining, and very capturing. The moral and good values expressed in this book is very enlightening.
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