Mickey Haller is The Lincoln Lawyer, a Los Angeles defense attorney who does most of his work out of the back of his chauffeured Lincoln Town Car. Mickey approaches his job knowing that the law has nothing to do with truth and justice or guilt and innocence. Instead it’s a system to be worked to find a way to get his clients off and make a nice payday in the process.
It didn’t matter…whether the defendant ‘did it’ or not. What mattered was the evidence against him–the proof–and if and how it could be neutralized. My job was to bury the proof, to color the proof a shade of gray. Gray was the color of reasonable doubt.
When he’s hired to defend a spoiled playboy against a charge of attempted murder of an escort, Mickey takes it knowing the rich kid will pay handsomely. As he investigates the case, it appears that his rich client could be one of those rare cases – that of an innocent man, or he could be evil personified. Which one is he? Mickey Haller is always afraid of defending the innocent man. He is afraid that he can no longer recognize the signs of innocence, and that he always assumes that his clients are all guilty.
What appears to be a simple straight-forward case suddenly gets complicated by murder, and now Mickey Haller finds himself fighting for justice, and safety for himself and his family.
My Review
People who read my blog know I am a huge, huge fan of Michael Connelly’s books. I literally need to stop myself from reading all his books continuously. What if I finished them all off, and he retired or something?? :D. Seriously speaking, as far as I’m concerned Connelly is the tops when it comes to modern-day mystery/thriller writing.
In this book, he has created an amazing character in Mickey Haller. Mickey Haller is an LA lawyer, but that does not mean he is a glitzy, Hollywood kind of player. No, he is a pretty much low-level lawyer always concerned with making his house payments on time. His clients are mostly from the wrong side of the tracks. To identify with them, Mickey listens to tough LA rapsters like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, and Ludacris. In fact, if you wanted to associate a book with music like Alita so often does, then To Live and Die in LA by Tupac Shakur would be the most apt song.
The pace and plotting of the novel is near-perfect. There is not much mystery as such though. By the middle of the book, we know who the killer is; the real thrills in the book are the courtroom hi-jinks, and the arguments between the prosecution and the defense. So, this book is much more of a legal thriller on the lines of John Grisham’s books.
I confess that I enjoyed this more than The Firm, which is high praise indeed 😀.
I do really miss a good thriller. I havent read any recently. This sounds like a good pick.
Ah! This review makes me feel like picking this one up immediately 🙂
You have sold me on this book. These days I find myself looking for crime/thriller fiction and this one seems perfect 🙂 I have never
read Michael Connelly but your review makes me want to change that as
soon as possible! Thanks for the great review 🙂