Better Reading Preview: The Waiting by Michael Connelly

LAPD Detective Renée Ballard finds herself tracking a terrifying serial rapist while also defending her career, with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.

Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit arrest a man in his early twenties and find themselves with a DNA link to a serial rapist and murderer known as the Pillowcase Rapist. Twenty years earlier, after a five-year reign of terror, he had suddenly gone quiet. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

At the same time, Ballard’s badge, gun and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career. Working the burglary leads to unexpected danger and, with no choice but to go outside the department, Ballard knocks on Harry Bosch’s door.

Meanwhile, Ballard has taken on Patrol Officer Maddie, Harry’s daughter, as a new volunteer to the cold case unit. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.

Ballard is determined to bring justice—but opening this cold case also opens a Pandora’s box…

We have 40 copies of this book to give away. For your chance to Preview this book, click on the link and fill in the registration form.

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Better Reading Preview: An exclusive chance to read and review free books before anyone else

We invite our trusted community to engage directly with the nation-wide conversation about books by registering for Preview, our new crowd-sourced book review platform. Due to the insight and perceptiveness of our readers, we are launching a platform that allows your voice to be heard.

How do I express interest in reviewing a book?

Like us on Facebook AND subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven’t already!) to hear about the next Preview campaign. You must subscribe to our newsletter to hear about the latest Preview campaigns.

When a campaign is launched, readers will have 24 hours in which to send through their expression of interest, by filling in the registration form above. After 24 hours, Preview readers will be randomly selected from the pool of those who expressed interest in receiving and reviewing a free advance copy of the specified book. Usually these advance copies are printed three to four months before they hit bookshops, making Preview a great way to find out about upcoming titles before anyone else.

But be warned – there are only limited copies of each Preview book available for review.

You will only be contacted if you were successful in being selected.

When you register you are expressing interest for the following:

A free advance copy of the specified book sent to your postal address, in exchange for a brief review of the book that may be used for promotional purposes by Better Reading and the relevant publisher.

Important details:

– We need all your details, including your email address and postal address, for your expression of interest to be successful.

– Preview is currently only open to Australia-based readers.

– A successful registration to review a Preview book is for that single title, only. With every new Preview book announced, you will need to express interest again.

– When announced, Preview expressions of interest are open for 24 hours.

– Better Reading and the relevant publisher will never share the details provided by Preview reviewers for any purposes beyond the relevant Preview campaign.

– Preview demand is very high, and there are only limited spots available for each title. To keep things fair, if you fail to provide a review for a Preview title on two occasions, you will unfortunately not be selected for future Preview titles.

What happens after I express interest?

If you have been successful, you will receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards from Better Reading. This will contain a review deadline and a link through which to submit your review. It will also contain other details on the reviewing process.

About your Preview review:

– Preview reviews may feature on the Better Reading website and the Better Reading Facebook page. The relevant publisher may also use the reviews for promotion. When reviews are used for promotional purposes, each reviewer will only be identified by their first name and Australian state. Reviews may be edited slightly, just for the purposes of brevity and clarity.

– Social media posts about Preview may be shared by Better Reading on its social media channels and/ or website.

– All Preview reviews must be no longer than 200 words and must be received by the deadline specified in your confirmation email. You will generally have four weeks to submit your review, from the time you receive your book.

– We want you to have fun with Preview – post photos of your book on Instagram or Facebook when you receive it, and when you’ve read it, share your thoughts using the hashtag #BRPreview. Be sure to tag Better Reading in your posts – we love to hear from our readers! And if you have a Goodreads account, we encourage you to share your reviews there too.

Synopsis

Renée Ballard and the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit arrest a man in his early twenties and find themselves with a DNA link to a serial rapist and murderer known as the Pillowcase Rapist. Twenty years earlier, after a five-year reign of terror, he had suddenly gone quiet. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

At the same time, Ballard's badge, gun and ID are stolen—a theft she can't report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career. Working the burglary leads to unexpected danger and, with no choice but to go outside the department, Ballard knocks on Harry Bosch's door.

Meanwhile, Ballard has taken on Patrol Officer Maddie, Harry's daughter, as a new volunteer to the cold case unit. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city's library of lost souls.

Ballard is determined to bring justice—but opening this cold case also opens a Pandora's box…

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing - a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars.In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America.Connelly's books have been translated in 31 languages and have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, Nero, Barry, Audie, Ridley, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.Michael lives with his family in Florida.Michael also makes regular appearances on the TV show Castle .

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