The Waiting Audiobook By Michael Connelly cover art

The Waiting

Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch, Book 6

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The Waiting

By: Michael Connelly
Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver, Madison Lintz
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About this listen

LAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a serial rapist whose trail has gone cold, and enlists a new volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.

Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-four, so the genetic link must be familial: His father was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department ammunition to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her mission draws her into unexpected danger. With no choice but to go outside the department for help, she knocks on the door of Harry Bosch.

At the same time, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit: Bosch’s daughter Maddie, now a patrol officer. But Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls—a case that may be the most iconic in the city’s history. Complex, satisfying, and full of dexterous twists, The Waiting demonstrates once more that “you can’t do better than Michael Connelly” (Forbes).

©2024 Michael Connelly (P)2024 Little, Brown & Company
City Life Crime Thrillers Detective Police Procedurals Urban Exciting City

Critic reviews

“A Hawaiian coda provides the best news of all: This distinguished series has plenty of miles to go. Aloha, and hooray.”—Kirkus Reviews

What listeners say about The Waiting

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Intriguing Plotlines Compelling Storylines Excellent Narration Masterful Storytelling Engaging Mysteries
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good but too much Ballard, not enough Bosch.

I loved all of the Bosch books but have cooled since introducing Renee Ballard, who, to me, is a pretty flat character. Bosch has more nuance, more backstory, more dimension.

The plot line for The Waiting is intriguing and I appreciated the revisiting of the Black Dahlia but in a new way - more about her death than about her life, which has been the subject of countless (read Too Many) TV shows, books and movies.

The reader could follow the trail picked up on the outside edge of a spiral and watch as that thread marched slowly inward, closing on suspects, eliminating some and highlighting others. The character of Colleen was annoying - so annoying, in fact, you just knew she would play a significant role in the case’s outcome.

The hand-off from Harry to Maddie isn’t successful for me. Harry’s world-weary determination simply can’t be replaced by Maddie’s junior detective work. She’s fine in a minor role but has not got anywhere near enough gravitas to hold interest as a cop or investigator.

Connelly always sets the scene in a way you can smell, hear, see and even taste the characters and the ambience. Those details bring a richness which I love to his stories.

I liked the book quite well but I kept wishing Harry Bosch was front and center throughout and that didn’t happen. Having Titus Welliver do the narration is great. To me, he is the gravelly, wounded but ever-brilliant voice of Harry Bosch.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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The Waiting

For the first third to half of the book, I thought I had heard it, even though it’s newly released. Connelly is seemingly reaching back to his last novel for a lot of this. Readers were good, and ultimately there was an in tree wresting premise and follow through.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent work

Once again the McConnell team are the toppermost of the poppermost. An awesome book.
With a great story!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Harry Bosch not having a starring role

Still classic Connelly and the stories never end. Guess the next one may even be in Hawaii.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story line

Connelly always writes a great story and this one didn’t disappoint. I Thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Everything

Wow! Michael Connolly has done it again. Fantastic story and pacing in this new book. i was sorry when it ended and will listen to it many more times.
Seamstress narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Another great one

Growth of the Bosh universe is all good. The narrators are fantastic and it really recreates the feeling of the tv show. Loved this one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Well Done!

Another great edition to the Bosch Leagscy. Solving crimes today and across the decades brilliantly executed!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good blend of Ballard and the Bosches

The story seems less “fleshed out” than most of Connelly’s works. I guess it just seemed too short, really, and I would have enjoyed more of it, even though Colleen is as annoying as usual. Maybe there could have been some back story in what makes her so annoying, snoopy, and gossipy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Story line

Michael Connelly has delivered an intriguing book once again. May the Bosch family live FOREVER! They keep us so entertained and curious.

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