1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces Renee Ballard, a driven young detective fighting to prove herself on the LAPD's toughest beat--the Late Show Renee Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns everything over to the day shift. 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 assignments 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 investigations 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.