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Bosch: Author Michael Connelly on The Evolving Enigma of Renée Ballard

During a recent book club livestream, bestselling author Michael Connelly discussed Renée Ballard and how she differs from Harry Bosch as a lead character.

Bosch creator Michael Connelly had a bookclub with his longtime editor Asya Muchnick to talk about his latest Bosch-Ballard novel, The Waiting, possibly the most intricately-plotted book of his career as it features only LAPD detective Renée Ballard, to be played by Maggie Q. in the upcoming TV series, a retired Harry Bosch and his daughter Maddie Bosch, played by Madeleine Lintz in Bosch: Legacy, now a rookie cop getting her feet wet as an investigator. Connelly talked about his creative process, the thinking behind the book, and the research he used from real-life detective Mitzi Hartert-Roberts, the inspiration for Ballard who only recently retired from the LAPD. Hartert-Roberts has also been a consultant for the Bosch TV series and upcoming Ballard series to ensure the portrayal of the cops and the LAPD were authentic and also in the books. He also talked about how Ballard functions as a new main character.

The Mystery of Renée Ballard

Ballard shares the same obsessive drive to solve cases as Bosch always did, but she's different than he is in many ways. She's still a bit of an enigma to both Connelly and the readers, which keeps her compelling. "Ballard's a little bit different – to me," Connelly said. "She's more mysterious because she's driven, she's fierce, she's undaunted, all those things that are fantastic characteristics. But where does it come from? It's hard to figure out. I'm five books into it, and I'm not really sure where it comes from. I know she had some tough times when she was growing up in Hawaii, but what keeps Ballard going now? It's a mystery that I'm still working on."

In The Waiting, Ballard goes to therapy, and she keeps it a secret because it's still a stigma to other cops. Bosch would never go to therapy unless absolutely forced to. Ballard reveals the loss of her parents in Hawaii when she was a teenager, and that wound seems to be one of the factors driving her.

"I'd written four, five books that Ballard was in, usually with Harry. I really felt I had to address her issues with her parents in this book. One of the purposes with this book was to spread out the case to make it more realistic, a lot of spinning of plates, and also to fill in some background on Ballard. I've four, five years into writing Ballard and I wanted to move her story forwards and backwards at the same time, and backwards into how she got the way she is," Connelly shared.

He continued, "Writers take from all around them. I have a daughter who's getting a Master's in Psychology, and I'd been reading the papers she has to submit, and she did one on Vicarious Trauma, which I've never heard of. A lot of first responders get this. They see tragedies firsthand, and they tell people their loved ones are dead. That has got to take a toll on you. That feeds into everything I've been doing for thirty-some years, the dangers of a job that's more dangerous than getting hit by a bullet. More like getting hit by Darkness. She asked me to copyedit her pages, and I got a story idea out of it. Therefore the therapy sessions are vetted by my daughter. The real cold case person vetting the investigation, my daughter vetting the psychology, so I'm taking from everyone everywhere, once again emphasising I'm not a creative genius, I'm a reporter. I know what to take and how to use it in stories."

The Waiting is now out in bookshops. Connelly mentioned that the first season of the Ballard series will finish shooting this week. The final season of Bosch: Legacy will premiere in 2025. Ballard will be introduced in the series before her own premieres. Stay tuned for more revelations from Connelly's book club.

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