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Michael's new book, The Lincoln Lawyer, is about a cynical1 defense2 attorney and is Michael's first legal thriller3.Best-selling author Michael Connelly, whose character-driven literary mysteries have earned him a wide following, breaks from the gate in the over-crowded field of legal thrillers4 and leaves every other contender from Grisham to Turow in the dust with this tightly plotted, brilliantly paced, impossible-to-put-down novel.
Criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller's father was a legendary5 lawyer whose clients included gangster6 Mickey Cohen (in a nice twist, Cohen's gun, given to Dad then bequeathed to his son, plays a key role in the plot). But Dad also passed on an important piece of advice that's especially relevant when Mickey takes the case of a wealthy Los Angeles realtor accused of attempted murder: "The scariest client a lawyer will ever have is an innocent client. Because if you [screw] up and he goes to prison, it'll scar you for life."
Louis Roulet, Mickey's "franchise7 client" (so-called becaue he's able and willing to pay whatever his defense costs) seems to be the one his father warned him against, as well as being a few rungs higher on the socio-economic ladder than the drug dealers8, homeboys, and motorcycle thugs who comprise Mickey's regular case load. But as the holes in Roulet's story tear Mickey's theory of the case to shreds9, his thoughts turn more to Jesus Menendez, a former client convicted of a similar crime who's now languishing10 in San Quentin. Connelly tellingly delineates the code of legal ethics11 Mickey lives by: "It didn't matter...whether the defendant12 'did it' or not. What mattered was the evidence against him--the proof--and if and how it could be neutralized13. My job was to bury the proof, to color the proof a shade of gray. Gray was the color of reasonable doubt." But by the time his client goes to trial, Mickey's feeling a few very reasonable doubts of his own.
While Mickey's courtroom pyrotechnics dazzle, his behind-the-scenes machinations and manipulations are even more incendiary in this taut14, gripping novel, which showcases all of Connelly's literary gifts. There's not an excess sentence or padded paragraph in it--what there is, happily, is a character who, like Harry15 Bosch, deserves a franchise series of his own.
Book review
Abraham Lincoln is revered16 by lawyers everywhere for his courtroom skills and practical wisdom. The Lincoln Michael Connelly refers is not Abraham, but rather the automobile17.
Mickey Haller, son of an original Los Angeles superstar lawyers, owns several. At times the limousine18 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 broker19 is charged in the attempted murder of a hooker. His insistence20 in his innocence21 causes Haller to realize he may have what he has always dreaded22, the actually innocent client. But he finds his defense efforts in disarray23 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 dilemmas24 trial lawyers face.
I will say this, however, in real life no matter how secret the client confidence, lawyers are ethically26 able to access the expertise27 necessary to know how to respond to any dilemma25 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 demons28 but he is not as dark a protagonist29 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.
Author introduction
Michael Connelly decided30 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 journalism31 and a minor32 in creative writing - a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
A In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors33 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 15th book, the recent The Closers, was released in May 2005, and was Michael's first # 1 New York Times bestseller. In The Closers, Harry returns to the LAPD and Michael returns to writing in third person.
Michael's new book, The Lincoln Lawyer, was released in October 2005. It is about a cynical defense attorney and is Michael's first legal thriller.
Michael Connelly's books have been translated in 31 languages and have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, Nero, Barry, Audie, Ridley, Maltese Falcon34 (Japan), .38 Caliber35 (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael was one of the creators, writers, and consulting producers of Level 9, a TV show about a task force fighting cyber crime, that ran on UPN in the Fall of 2000.
Michael lives with his family in Florida.
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