Renee Ballard is an LAPD detective who works the night shift, colloquially called the late show. She had been on a good career track in RHD on the Special Homicide Unit until she lodged a harassment complaint against her superior. He kept his position, while she was transferred. She and Kurt Jenkins, her partner, are the only 2 detectives on the night shift and mostly just take notes before handing investigations to the day crew. On this particular night, a mass shooting occurred at a local club, resulting in several deaths. The day shift was summoned, but she and her partner arrive to assist. Leading the investigation is none other than her former supervisor and unpunished harasser.
Though she had come to like working the late show, Ballard longs to work cases from start to finish. As such, she offers to pursue an assault case on a transwoman. Kurt is against the idea; he is on the late show because it allows him to spend days with his cancer-stricken wife. She is also keen on running her own investigation of the mass shooting, a potentially career-ending move.
Ballard is single and in her mid-thirties. Her father was a surfer from Southern California who moved to Hawaii and married a native Hawaiian. She has some casual relationships and a dog name Lola. Her job is her life. She is similar to Harry Bosch, but more reckless.
Though a good yarn, I found Ballard off-putting. She was only too happy to repay a parole officer's favor with sex. He's got a good body, after all. Um, okay. She also reveals that she has a sexual relationship with a lifeguard at the beach she frequents. In fact, she usually sleeps in a tent on the beach. She drives a van with a surfboard on top and changes of clothes inside. The closest thing she has to a home is her grandmother's house up the coast from LA where she does her laundry on the weekends. She sometimes treats herself to a hotel with room service. Maybe this should have been called The Homeless Detective. This lifestyle seems more like a man than a woman.
With simultaneous cases running and a constant chip on her shoulder about the sexual harassment incident, the story is scattered. With a new character, maybe limit the number of threads to follow. While her private investigation of the mass shooting is well-handled, her clashes with the rapist are inexplicable. So much of the mystery here is left unsolved. A lot is made of her confronting men who are much bigger and yet she wasn't able to handle a drunken supervisor.
Not a bad read, but certainly not on the level of Harry Bosch or the Lincoln Lawyer. Maybe about like Jack McAvoy's first outing.
