Desert Star, a review by Joanna

Bosch is contemplating the end of his life, when he gets a call from Ballard asking – practically demanding – that he join her reformed Open Unsolved Unit at LAPD. Given her choice of posts as a condition for her returning after her resignation a year earlier, Ballard has assembled a team of volunteer specialists including a former prosecutor and a DNA genealogist, as well as former cops. She knows that he won’t be able to resist reopening the investigation into a case which haunts him – the murder of a family of four whose bodies were left in the desert ten years earlier, while Ballard must focus on the priority case, the 1992 rape and murder of the younger sister of a rising politician whose support is crucial to the unit. Harry’s experience and lateral thinking, and Rene’s evolving people management skills, are the keys to breaking open cases and getting justice for victims forgotten by all but their families.

I didn’t like Rene Ballard in the first couple of books about her, but she has now matured into an effective leader and curbed her recklessness – I liked that she’s now the one trying to keep Bosch in line! Their earlier collaborations had too many cases for my taste, but this one focuses on two main investigations – discovering links to other unsolved crimes on the way. I was particularly interested in the forensic use of public genealogy sites by new and intriguing character Colleen Hatteras, and hope this will explored further in future books. These recent books have tended to feature much more police procedure than action, so they’re not exactly thrillers, but as ever, there’s politics, intrigue, twists and shocks. It remains to be seen whether this is the end for Harry, but I’ll now be happy to keep reading about Ballard’s adventures.