The Lincoln Lawyer

Connelly did great with the start of this series. I plan to continue reading them.

Really liked this book, had some unexpected turns I didn't see coming and an easy read.

This novel is definitely on a par with the best of the fifteen stories in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series; any initial disappointment that might be experienced by Bosch's fans when they discover that Connelly has at least temporarily abandoned Harry in favor of Mickey Haller, a criminal defense attorney whose seemingly guilty clients often benefit from police errors, will almost immediately be replaced by the recognition that Connelly has created another character at least as complex and interesting as Harry. Mickey's persona is almost the opposite of Harry's, for him the law is about the art of the possible, his clients are often individuals who are down on their luck and on the wrong side of the law. Harry concentrates on identifying the guilty in order to provide justice for the victims and their families; Mickey is afraid that some day he will be hired to defend a client whose innocence he will be incapable of recognizing and thus he will simply pursue the "best deal" as opposed to throwing all his effort into gaining a "not guilty" verdict. The story opens with Mickey receiving a telephone call from Fernando Valenzuela (no, not the pitcher, but the bail bondsman) in his office while on his way to a court hearing for Harold Casey, a member of the Road Saints motorcycle gang who is awaiting trial on multiple drug and weapons charges. (The Lincoln Town Car which is his office is an integral element both in his life and also eventually becomes an important detail in the particular case which is at the center of this story.) Valenzuela alerts Mickey to the possibilty of a potential "franchise case", a big money case involving a high profile client who has been booked for aggravated assualt, gross bodily injury, and attempted rape and who is interested in having Mickey represent him. As Mickey investigates the case, he quickly decides that his defense of Louis Roulet, a Beverly Hills real estate salesman, will be one of the easiest cases of his career and in fact it may never even get to trial and thus deprive him of both the big payday and the publicity which he had hoped to receive. Several unexpected twists quickly occur, and when one of Mickey's good friends is murdered he realizes that instead of worrying about failing to recognize innocence when it confronts him, for the first time in his career he may instead be in mortal danger from the pure evil which is apparently behind the attack for which his client is on trial. All this is foreshadowed wonderfully very early in the book by the following brief injection of Mickey's mental commentary (the story is written entirely in the first person); "Much of society thought of me as the devil but they were wrong. I was a greasy angel. I was the true road saint. I was needed and wanted. By both sides. I was the oil in the machine. I allowed the gears to crank and turn. I helped keep the engine of the system running. But all of that would change with the Roulet case. For me. For him. And c

Michael Connelly has written the perfect courtroom drama, this book is every bit as good as anything John Grisham wrote, back when he was on top of his game. Fans of Connelly's acclaimed Harry Bosch series will not be disappointed with this deviation away from Mr. Bosch. Connelly is demonstrating once again his fertile imagination and gifted story telling ability. The Lincoln Lawyer is the story of a defining case in the life of a defense attorney surfeited by the excess of lowlifes around which his entire practice as been maintained. Twice divorced and cynical attorney Mickey Haller is that lawyer, and his biggest self-described fear is that he won't recognize an innocent client when hired by one. Somewhat of a contradiction, Mickey is in fact a principled lawyer who plays by the rules. The fact that his clients are all guilty doesn't seem to trouble him as much as mistakes made by the legal authorities, who arrest, investigate, and prosecute. Haller likens the prosecution's case to a set of spinning plates precariously balanced atop a thin dowel. In his mind, all Haller needs to do is knock one of those spinning plates down and the whole prosecution case crumbles with it. In Lincoln Lawyer, Haller believes he may have finally found an innocent client, not only that, but a wealthy client actually able to pay for a first class defense. Once committed to the defense Haller slowly discovers that unlike the bumbling rogues, scallywags, and ne'er-do-wells of his past, his new client may well be the very essence of evil, a man to truly fear. Not only is Haller's life in danger, so too are the lives of those closest to him. Expertly crafted plot with characters that are well defined. This book flows seamlessly from one scene to the next and keeps you in the story with short intense chapters that make it impossible to put aside. And if just one measure of a good a book is how satisfied it leaves the reader, then this book is certainly one of the year's best. It is a book of suspense and drama that literally personifies the genre.

Abraham Lincoln is revered by lawyers everywhere for his courtroom skills and practical wisdom. The Lincoln Michael Connelly refers is not Abraham, but rather the automobile. Mickey Haller, son of an original Los Angeles superstar lawyer, owns several. At times the limousine business seems preferable to his own. But finally he gets, to his eternal regret the "franchise case", the kind of case that not only pays the bills but causes other clients to want his services. A young rich real estate broker is charged in the attempted murder of a hooker. His insistence in his innocence causes Haller to realize he may have what he has always dreaded, the actually innocent client. But he finds his defense efforts in disarray as the case sours, and he himself becomes a murder suspect. Non-lawyers usually do not write good legal thrillers. Michael Connelly, a former reporter and America's best mystery writer, is the exception that proves the rule. He has a great ear for the courtroom and a sense of the professional and economic dilemmas trial lawyers face. I will say this, however, in real life no matter how secret the client confidence, lawyers are ethically able to access the expertise necessary to know how to respond to any dilemma in an ethically sound way. The real Mickey Haller would have picked up the phone to the Bar's hotline for an ethics opinion. That simple act would have destroyed a helluva tale. I hope we will see more of Haller. He has his demons but he is not as dark a protagonist as Harry Bosch. The reality is, in his first legal thriller, Connelly has produced a book every bit as good as John Grisham's A Time To Kill. That is saying a lot.

I have long been a fan of Michael Connelly. As far as I'm concerned Connelly is in the top five of modern-day mystery writers. With each book I say to myself that "he just can't top this one." And I continue to be wrong. And The Lincoln Lawyer is no exception. It just has to be the absolute best Michael Connelly novel ever! Criminal defense attorney, Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer; meaning he works out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car. He's never sure if he would be able to recognize innocence if it stood in front of him. And he's not necessarily concerned whether his clients are innocent or not. A wealthy Beverly Hills realtor is arrested for attacking a woman in her home. This type of client is what Mick Haller calls a 'franchise case.' It's a big payday and the case appears to be an easy one. But after someone close to Mick is murdered, things become murky before they clear up. Mick is facing down pure evil and he'd better be at the top of his game if he wishes to get out of this case alive. Armchair Interviews says: The Lincoln Lawyer has everything; great characters, scintillating plot, action, evil, gritty issues, ex-wives and a hero who is unlikely. It is a 15 on a score of one to ten!

When I learned that Michael Connelly had determined to pen a legal thriller, I was more than a little worried. Here was the author who had delivered superlative Harry Bosch novels like The Closers, now stepping onto ground trodden nearly lifeless by the likes of Grisham and Martini. To my delight, The Lincoln Lawyer turned out to be an excellent, gritty and powerful novel. Twice divorced and haunted by ghosts of lost cases past, cynical and ethically indistinct criminal lawyer Mickey Haller is a fine invention, at once fascinating, witty and sympathetic. I rather hope this unique character becomes Connelly's next Harry Bosch. (Promisingly, Haller is Bosch's half brother.) The writing here is equal to or perhaps even better than Connelly's previous works, at times lyrical and nearly poetic, yet never encumbering superb storytelling. Mickey Haller's behind-the-scenes manipulations add sparkle to the courtroom drama, and a highly inventive twist is The Lincoln Lawyer's piece de resistance. If you enjoy the richly researched detail and beautiful prose spun around the fabulous pageturner that is The Lincoln Lawyer, I also highly recommend Connelly's The Closers and The Poet as well as Mute by newcomer Brad Steel.