Praise for Michael Connelly

'Dark Sacred Night is Connelly in fine form. It’s very rare when the thirty-second book by an author leaves you desperate for the next one, but Connelly delivers every time. The first Ballard & Bosch novel is a multilayered and multifaceted mystery, chock-full of moments of heart-pounding suspense, and a conclusion that rocks Bosch’s world to its core. Hours after I’ve put the book down, I’m still recovering from its reverberations. Michael Connelly — the proven master of the genre — continues to astound.' Simon McDonald, Potts Point Bookshop

'A superb natural storyteller' Lee Child

'A master of the genre' Stephen King

'Superb crime writing from a master...a triumph, underpinned by an incandescent sense of justice in a world all too often dominated by the indifference of injustice.' The Australian

'Harry Bosch is a one-of-a-kind hero who started out pretty wild when he returned from Vietnam to become a cop, but over the years he's developed into someone you want to ride with.' New York Times Book Review

'Crime thriller writing of the highest order' The Guardian

'Novels of exceptional quality' The Times
 
'Connelly's immaculate plotting and gift for bringing procedural intricacies to life now seem as strong as ever...he writes the best detective novels around.' USA Today

'It's become an annual refrain - but Connelly truly is one of the finest mystery writers. And that's the truth.' Sun-Sentinel

'America's greatest living crime writer' Express

'A crime writing genius' Independent on Sunday

'One of the world's greatest crime writers' Daily Mail

Booktopia review of Dark Sacred Night

There’s nothing like a new book from Michael Connelly for a full-body immersion in the grimey, lawless underbelly of Los Angeles – that insomniac city that thrives on money, sex, lies and murder. Dark Sacred Night delivers it in spades.

Here for the first time, Connelly teams up the cool-headed and endlessly perceptive Detective Renee Ballard with the living legend of the LAPD, Harry Bosch.

Ballard is trying to keep low profile, working the graveyard shift in a city full of the world’s most damaged and debauched. It seems her every action can make her a target and it’s the men in her own department who pose the biggest threat.

Bosch has been pushed to the edge. Ballard finds him breaking into archive files and digging through decades old handwritten field notes. A cold case has consumed him and Ballard wants in. Together the unlikely duo come up against blood-hungry gangs, religious lunatics, corrupt cops and more.

Connelly is masterful in his ability to balance the two heroes’ development through this book. He jumps from one perspective to the next with each cop coming up against their own set of demons. His meticulously researched world of LA cops and underground crime is rendered fully believable throughout the action. He also leads you to ask questions about the nature of justice in a time of profound inequality and the ongoing misogyny and racism in the police force.

Dark Sacred Night is tight, gritty and mean – even by Bosch standards. In a year that’s packed with brilliant crime this book is going to be an absolute stand out. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s read an early copy has been giddy from the thrills this book delivers. Michael Connelly is a relentless force.

Ben Hunter