The Late Show

Publisher's Summary

From New York Times best-selling author Michael Connelly, a new thriller introducing a driven young detective trying to prove herself in the LAPD.

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. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine, they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job, no matter what the department throws at her.

©2017 Michael Connelly (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Oh, the narration!

Katherine Moennig is a terrific actress. She does a great turn on Ray Donovan. Maybe my favorite character on that show. But this narration isn't good. It's disappointing. She just reads it and reads it fast. I wish she had listened to a few audiobooks ahead of time to see how its done. Such a good voice, such a good actress, this should be better.

As far as the story goes, it's hard to tell. Couldn't get past the narration.

356 of 376 people found this review helpful

Audible and Amazon need to screen narrators better

I am a huge Michael Connelly fan and ordered this book pre order without knowing who the narrator would be. I won't ever make that mistake again. This woman is a horrid narrator and miss reads or miss pronounces so many words that it grates on the nerves. Two examples I can think of right off are video-ographer (that's how she pronounces it) and even worse tactile when trying to say tactical channel.
It is a shame that these kind of poor narrators are ruining perfectly good novels and I am sure the writers are cringing when they hear these narrations.

427 of 452 people found this review helpful

Uggg the narration

It's an audiobook so before the story, the narrator is the most important thing. Here we have been waiting for (1) a new book from my favorite author (2) a new series/character...why than oh why would it narrated soooo very flat!!!

Disappointed.

233 of 248 people found this review helpful

who is who??

The reading voice and the speed are the same to all the characters in the book.
The same voice for male/female/old/young.
One size does not fit at all. It is very confusing if you are not reading the book together.

170 of 182 people found this review helpful

Noooooooooooooooooo!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I love Connelly- read every last one of his books. So, imagine my excitement when there's a new series with a female protagonist...woot! Then i started to listen and now I have a rage headache. Who thought it was a good idea to cast Katherine M. as the narrator? WHO??? I want names. And why did no one apparently listen to her performance and edit it?? There are words that are mispronounced. Ugh. So angry. I can't tell if I liked the story or not because the character came across as insufferable.

If you’ve listened to books by Michael Connelly before, how does this one compare?

I have no idea since I hated the narration so much...

What didn’t you like about Katherine Moennig’s performance?

Everything. She's a competent actress but she ruined this book. Wooden, one note, can't pronounce words the correct way...

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I'd listen to it again if they got a new narrator and production staff, that doesn't mess it up.

130 of 139 people found this review helpful

HAD TO RETURN

Tried to get through a few chapters but the flat, monotone narration became too cumbersome to follow the story. Look forward to finishing the book but will opt for a download to my reader.

131 of 141 people found this review helpful

Another Michael Connelly win!!

once again, Michael Connelly gives us another great story and character. It kept me listening for three days straight. if I had the book in print, I would have read it in one day. Unfortunately, the narrator was so doll that it was hard to listen to. At one point, there is a conversation between three of the characters. I couldn't tell which one was which. I listened and realest and four more times to try to figure out who was saying what. The narrator has a lower voice but did nothing to decipher whether it was a man, woman, or child talking.

that's sad, the narration did not ruin the integrity of the book. there is a great twist in the book, which even added more thrilled to it. I will be looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

80 of 86 people found this review helpful

Flattest narration ever. Ever.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A narrator who could make audible distinctions between characters. They all sound exactly the same, so it wasn't easy to figure out who was talking. Really really really really poorly done.

Would you recommend The Late Show to your friends? Why or why not?

No. At least not the audio book. I suspect that reading it might have been okay.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not only was there no distinction in voice/tenor/etc between characters, the reading overall was really really flat.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Read it from paper. Don't listen to it.

65 of 70 people found this review helpful

Not Another Rave Review

This book is getting rave reviews. I can't go along with the gusher. As a long time fan of the Bosch series, perhaps my expectations were too high, or there was too much comparison with that series.

Renee Ballard doesn't enthrall me. Sleeping on the beach with her rescue dog as a guardian just doesn't engage my emotions in a positive way. Speaking of Lola, Ballard is somewhat neglectful of the dog. I hate that she leaves the dog alone on the public beach while she's paddling. and that the dog sits outside her tent all night, again on a public beach, again without protection. She leaves Lola with daycare too long too, and the pet minder tells her off about it. So that's strike one for Renee Ballard,

Her strength of character is written by a man from a man's perspective, and maybe that's why I'm having a hard time warming up to her. She's too hard, too eager/willing to bypass the police department she works for in a blatant manner, and without concern for herself or others. She doesn't even give a nod to it, as Bosch did. Her pursuit of a suspect is reckless; failure to pay attention to details, and to anticipate criminal behavior, results in her capture by a sociopath, who may or may not have raped her. I don't like the possible rape angle either. It's too stereotyped, obviously written by a man. Totally unnecessary to the story too.

Her failure to take basic precautions also results in a shootout, and one of the other cops who was involved complained about it. Justifiably so, because she put him and his partner in harm's way without much thought.

Her independence and strength of character sometimes comes across as merely abrasive. She hangs up on people regularly, butts in on conversations and interrogations when she shouldn't. Again, it's a strong woman written from a man's perspective, perhaps one who finds strong women abrasive.

The story is OK, a good plot twist at the end. Easy enough to follow. However, I didn't find it to be as absorbing as the reviewers obviously did.

Connelly's reliance on three-letter acronyms for various aspect of the LAPD was a bit much too. At times, I didn't know what they meant and so a portion of the storyline was lost to confusion.

Finally, the narrator doesn't do voices, so it's often hard to tell who is speaking.

Will I read the next book in the series? Probably. Some of the reviews say Connelly hasn't written good women characters in the past. I'm not sure he's succeeded with Renee Ballard. Time will tell this story.

86 of 93 people found this review helpful

I hope The Late Show is the first in a series

If you like the Bosch books, chances are you'll like The Late Show!! The lead female character is flawed, like Bosch. The narrator was just ok! The story grabbed my attention right away. I would have given it 5 stars, but the ending was choppy and a little abrupt. I had to replay a section to "transition" to the end. Michael Connelly, if you're reading this please start writing Book 2!

30 of 33 people found this review helpful