Dark Sacred Night Reviews
One of the 10 Best Thrillers And Mysteries Of 2018 – Washington Post
Amazon Best 100 Books of 2018
Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2018
Sun-Sentinel’s Best of 2018 List
AudioFile Magazine Best Audiobooks of 2018
“Readers know that when they pick up a Michael Connelly novel they will get a compelling and well-written dive into the world of crime and law enforcement. The cases that Ballard and Bosch tackle would be enough to recommend this story, but what makes Connelly so much better than most crime fiction writers is that his police detectives are human and real. The combination is quality.”
– Jeff Ayers, Associated Press
“Brilliantly written in Connelly’s inimitable descriptive style and compulsively readable, we keep company with his characters in the traffic jams of LA and the endless cheap diners where the cops catch their breakfast after an all-nighter. The intertwining of character is as fascinating as the cases they confront, and we are along breathlessly for the whole ride. We can only hope that the team of Ballard and Bosch will run for some years to come.”
– Marina Vaizey, The Arts Desk
“Connelly does a masterful job of threading the needle with Ballard and Bosch’s “hobby case” as well as Ballard’s day to day caseload, allowing the fledging partnership and the cold case to build slowly while keeping the action constant. Nobody greases a plot with procedural details better than Connelly, but here, he also uses the mundane personal details of a cop’s life to good effect. When the cold case plot finally comes to a head, Ballard and Bosch, opposites in almost every regard, work together to “take a killer off the board.” Los Angeles has a new speaker for the dead and that is good news indeed for Connelly fans. ”
– Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editorial Review
“Renée Ballard, a young cop attached to the Hollywood Division of the L.A.P.D., makes a terrific partner for the old lion.”
– Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
“Two loner detectives find each other in Michael Connelly’s darkly brilliant new novel. …“Dark Sacred Night” is billed as the first “Ballard and Bosch novel” and it is ingenious, frantically suspenseful, and very, very bleak.”
– Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
“Harry Bosch has had plenty of partners, but he might have met his match. …none of them has clicked with Bosch in the way that Ballard does—like a master with a student who could become his equal. …Through it all, they challenge each other. Ballard brings a fresh perspective, and Bosch brings all the things so many readers love about him.”
– Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times
“Harry Bosch is back seeking delayed justice in “Dark Sacred Night,” the latest entry—and one of the best and most affecting—in Michael Connelly’s long-running series about the old-style detective.”
– Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
“pairing these two outsiders leads to one of his best recent novels. …Ballard shares Harry’s singular devotion to setting things right. She also revitalizes Bosch”
– Paul Saltzman, Chicago Sun Times
“a new masterpiece. It’s suspenseful and surprisingly moving.”
– Alex Gordon, Peterborough Telegraph
“The buzz that has been building this year over Michael Connelly’s 32nd novel has little to do with the superb plot, the authentic police procedural or even the sprawling view of the Los Angeles area. What readers first want to know about “Dark Sacred Night”: Does the pairing of police detective Harry Bosch and LAPD detective Renée Ballard work? A resounding yes, with no hesitation.”
– Oline Cogdill, SouthFlorida.com
“Connelly keeps all the plates – including the porn industry, corrupt cops and a religious zealot – spinning beautifully as the pair battle to find the truth.”
– The Guardian
“a non-stop wonder of plotting… What all of this offers readers is double the pleasure in one of the really smart police procedurals of 2018.”
– Toronto Star
“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, Booktopia
“LAPD Det. Renée Ballard, first seen in 2017’s The Late Show, makes a welcome return in this outstanding, complex police procedural. …Bosch and Ballard, both outsiders with complicated pasts, form a perfect partnership in this high spot of Edgar-winner Connelly’s long and distinguished career.”
– Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“Connelly does what he has always done over 31 previous novels, from taking extreme care with procedural detail, showing cops digging for facts wherever they can be found, through getting inside his characters’ heads and revealing a nest of ambiguity as well as dark sides ever eager to express themselves. So it happens here, as Bosch, attempting to follow his personal creed—“Everybody counts or nobody counts”—wanders into some very deep water. …A guaranteed chart-topper again for Connelly”
– Bill Ott, Booklist Starred Review
“Michael Connelly does it again. Just when you think you know where the story’s going, Connelly shakes things up in a big way, ramping up the suspense before delivering one of his most shocking endings yet. . . Dark Sacred Night is another must-read thriller from one of the greatest crime writers of our time.”
– The Real Book Spy
“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
“I like when writers stretch their imaginations with new characters, but I also like when they take me back to the characters I’ve grown to love over time–this book has both.”
– Chris Schluep, Amazon Books Editor
“Fans who don’t think the supporting cases run away with the story will marvel at Connelly’s remarkable ability to keep them all not only suitably mystifying, but deeply humane, as if he were the Ross Macdonald of the police procedural.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Taut in style and sombre in tone, Dark Sacred Night finds the formerly morally incorruptible Bosch journeying into darkness even as he rages against the dying of the light.”
– Declan Burke, Irish Times
“this is a must-read detective novel, for this or any year.”
– Michael Carlson, Irresistble Targets
“There have been some fine crime fighting duos – Batman and Robin, Starsky and Hutch, Rizzoli and Isles, to name but a few. Time to add Bosch and Ballard to the list”
– CrimeFictionLover
“What a team! What a hit! 10 Stars”
– Alex Gordon, Peterborough Telegraph
“Ballard and Bosch could not be more different and yet they are hewn from the same rock”
-Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard
