The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Mickey Haller)
by Michael Connelly
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Book Reviews of The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Mickey Haller)
Book Review: Riveting...
Summary: 5 Stars
There is not a day that goes by that I don't find some time to read. But once in a great while, I find a book that is so riveting that I plant myself in a comfortable spot and abdicate all other responsibilities until I'm finished. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly is just such a book. In fact, it might be one of the best mysteries I have read--ever.
The Brass Verdict has been touted as a combination of Connelly's Harry Bosch series with Michael (Mickey) Haller, a lawyer who has appeared in other books and who made the big time in the best-seller, The Lincoln Lawyer. Instead of being strictly a police drama, The Brass Verdict is written in the first person (Haller) and is more of a legal thriller. In fact, Bosch is a rather shadowy figure in The Brass Verdict.
Haller has had a year-long sabatical as he recovers from being gut-shot, as well as an addiction to pain killers and alcohol. But instead of starting off slowly, Haller has 31 cases dumped in his lap when fellow lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered. One of those cases is the trial of the decade. Hollywood movie mogul Walter Elliott is accused of killing is wife and her lover. This is one of those high-stakes, high-paying cases that defense attorneys only dream of. LAPD detective Harry Bosch is on the case of Vincent's murder, and he believes that one of those 31 cases could hold the secret to the lawyer's death. But Haller and Bosch are reluctant to share information as they're sitting on opposite sides of the law.
When Vincent was murdered, the killer took Vincent's laptop and calendar. So Haller must try to reconstruct his cases before proceeding. But as he accomplishes this, he discovers that Vincent was involved in some very shady dealings. But the bad news is that if the killer thinks that Haller knows what Vincent was up to, that his life is also in danger. Haller and Bosch reluctantly find themselves on the same team as they try to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Connelly is one of the best writers today--mystery or otherwise. From the very first page, he has the reader hooked. "Everybody lies. Cops lie. Lawyers lie. Witnesses lie. The victims lie. A trial is a contest of lies." But the job of the defense team is to be patient, waiting for a lie, "the one you can grab on to and forge like hot iron into a sharpened blade. You then use that blade to rip the case open and spill its guts out on the floor." Connelly also continues his love-hate relationship with Los Angeles. This city "was the kind of place where everybody was from somewhere else and nobody really dropped anchor. It was a transient place. People drawn by the dream, people running from the nightmare." In terms of the writing, Connelly writes from experience. He has a genuine feel for both law enforcement and the courts. Also, the plot has enough twists and turns to make you dizzy.
The Brass Verdict is Connelly's 20th book, and it's great to know that this is one of his best. Unlike many authors, he not getting older, he's just getting better.
Book Review: Justice Served the Old-Fashioned Way
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just finished Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer a month ago, I was eager to read this next book featuring defense attorney, Mickey Haller. As if another Haller book wasn't enough of a gift to his readers, the author further rewards us by injecting Harry Bosch into the mix. Be still my heart!!! Haller and Bosch together!!! It's a dream come true for Connelly's avid fans. If you're not familiar with Connelly's previous books, Harry Bosch is the homicide detective who has appeared in more than ten of them and is greatly loved by all of Connelly's readers.
One might say that each of these characters is cut from the same cloth. But almost everything about them is the flip side of the other. One serves the prosecution while the other serves the defense; one lives on one side of the mountain while the other lives on the other side; one has one view of the city while the other has a different view. But this book will show how much they are truly alike and the words "cut from the same cloth" can perhaps be taken literally. I think the thing I enjoyed most was seeing Harry Bosch through someone else's eyes and being able to get a new take on an old and much beloved character. At one point, Harry is standing outside of police headquarters listening to an Ipod. Mickey Haller is as surprised by this as is the reader who has followed Harry for years. There's no way I can picture Bosch standing on the street listening to music through an Ipod. We actually find out it wasn't music he was listening to which puts Harry back where he should be in the reader's mind.
In The Brass Verdict, Connelly dishes out my kind of justice...the brass kind....as Mickey Haller is defending an arrogant Hollywood bigshot charged with some serious murders. Prior to this, Mickey had been on leave for a year after the conclusion of The Lincoln Lawyer forced him to take some time off. The death of a former colleague brings him back to the defense table when he inherits that attorney's cases. Haller is great at picking apart the prosecution's case but, as with all of Connelly's books, it's more about the journey and not the destination. The things the reader learns along the way, about the characters Connelly so obviously loves, makes each and every one of Connelly books something to be greatly appreciated.
When I read The Lincoln Lawyer, I loved it but had no idea that The Brass Verdict would be as good, if not better, than the first book in this series. It's obvious that Connelly has the desire to make all of his books connect in some way. Pairing Bosch and Haller was the greatest of all connections for this reader. When I read books that are part of a series, I keep notes on each main character so I can go back and reference them from time to time. There was a note I made in The Black Ice that told me this connection would come one day. I didn't know who the character would be but I knew it would happen. If this doesn't make you loyal Connelly fans read this book, I don't know what else will.
Book Review: An very well written novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Connelly is the author of twenty very interesting books, all but one of which is fiction. This book reintroduces Mickey Haller who was the hero in his 2005 Lincoln Lawyer. Connelly portrays Haller as a very likable man who prefers to operate his law office out of his several Lincoln automobiles that are equipped with fax machines, an individual who had made mistakes in the past, but who is now taking hold of an opportunity that is presented to him.
An acquaintance of his, another lawyer, is killed and leaves his practice to Harry. It is unclear why the lawyer was murdered and Harry fears that the murder is related to one of the cases that he inherited and the murderer may now come to kill him.
If the clients agree, Harry has first choice in representing them. All of the cases are rather small, except for one. This is a murder case in which a rich movie producer is charged with killing his wife and her lover. This is the kind of case most lawyers yearn for. The client is able and willing to pay an extremely large fee to his lawyer and, since the client is famous, the case will give the lawyer representing him a huge amount of publicity.
The detective Harry Bosch, who appears in most of Connelly's mysteries, also appears in this novel. Mickey and Harry work together to solve the death of the lawyer. However, Mickey is repeatedly faced with a problem. Although he would like to give Bosch information - as long as it helps his client and protects him - he is frequently restrained by legal ethics that mandate that he not reveal information given to him by his client.
Connelly's writing style is excellent. The literary critic Edmund Wilson disliked detective stories and mocked "Who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd?" Had Wilson read this book by Connelly, he would not have made this statement. The publisher of this very fine mystery placed on the books cover, "The best mystery writer in the world." While this is an exaggeration, it is not far wrong.
Connelly's novel moves in a straight line. Unlike Lee Child, for example, another excellent writer, whose protagonist first has one understanding of the facts and then after seeing something else, comes to a different conclusion, Mickey generally moves from fact to fact, in a straight line, without change in direction. Even the end of the book, where certain revelations are made, these facts follow logically from what was presented earlier. This should not be understood as a criticism or even a diminution of either book. This is simply a description of this volumes' writing style. Both the Child and the Connelly styles are interesting and the books should be read.
It is not until the end of the book that the reader is told why the novel is called The Brass Verdict. The surprising revelation at the book's end leaves the reader wandering whether the revelation will be explored in future novels. Be this as it may, this book stands alone as a very readable and entertaining mystery.
Book Review: "Sometimes, justice can't wait."
Summary: 5 Stars
In Michael Connelly's "The Brass Verdict," forty-two year old Mickey Haller has been to hell and back, both physically and emotionally. He is a recovering pain pill addict with two ex-wives and a moribund law practice. Mickey is shocked to learn from Mary Townes Holder, the chief judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, that Jerry Vincent, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, has been murdered. Ten years earlier, Jerry filed a motion providing for the transfer of his practice to Mickey in the event of his incapacitation or death. After questioning Haller, Judge Holder appoints him to be Vincent's replacement counsel.
Although he is not sure that he is ready to become a busy lawyer again, Haller scrambles to get up to speed. With the help of his excellent manager, Lorna Taylor, and his skilled investigator, Dennis (Cisco) Wojciechowski, Mickey prepares to take over Jerry's caseload. By far, his biggest concern is the impending high-profile trial of Walter Elliot, a movie mogul accused of killing his unfaithful wife and her lover. Mickey knows that his handling of Elliot's defense will garner a great deal of media attention and his performance could make or break his newly resuscitated career.
Connelly is an old pro who uses his considerable knowledge of the law and police procedure to fine effect in this absorbing novel. Haller, known as the "Lincoln Lawyer" since he works out of his Lincoln Town Car, is an engaging protagonist. He is smart, resourceful, and courageous; he also has a conscience, which can be inconvenient in his line of work. Although his personal life is pretty much defunct, Mickey wants to regain his daughter's trust and make amends for his many mistakes. One of the book's intriguing gimmicks is the appearance of Harry Bosch, the homicide detective par excellence who has appeared in most of Connelly's novels. Harry has an interest in Jerry Vincent's murder and he spars with Mickey, who refuses to turn over information from his predecessor's active files. Neither Bosch nor Haller is completely forthcoming about what he knows. For quite a while, the two men refuse to cooperate with one another, but eventually, Harry and Mickey find common ground. However, even the formidable Detective Bosch might be unable to save Mickey when he learns some unpleasant truths that could get him killed.
"The Brass Verdict" is a complex and intriguing story with lively characters, spirited courtroom battles, and a suspenseful plot filled with surprises. Haller categorically states: "Everybody lies. Cops lie. Witnesses lie. The victims lie. A trial is a contest of lies." Although he has represented many liars and used his considerable expertise to get them off the hook, Mickey eventually comes to the conclusion that he would much rather let the liars fend for themselves. What this will mean for his criminal defense practice remains to be seen.
Book Review: Different sides of the same mountain-Bosch and Haller
Summary: 5 Stars
In The Lincoln Lawyer : A Novel Michael Connelly introduces Mickey Haller, a criminal defense lawyer trying unsuccessfully to live up to the reputation of his father, one of L.A.'s first celebrity lawyers. Haller's ironic voice stands in stark contrast to Connelly's Harry Bosch, the brooding dark presence in the Robbery Homicide Divison at the Parker Center.
So what happens when circumstances drive these two protagonists together? Connelly has played with character encounters before. Terry McCaleb, the FBI profiler in Blood Work teams with Bosch in A Darkness More Than Night (Harry Bosch). But when McCaleb dies further cases with Bosch are precluded to the disappointment of many fans.
Here the story is told from the point of view of Haller, not Bosch. For all his faults, Haller is a fairly typical defense lawyer, and defense lawyers generally see themselves as being better than cops, even homicide cops. Bosch however is no ordinary cop and Haller begins to rely on the detective to keep himself alive even as he has had fortune fall into his lap. The Trial of the Decade, a Tinseltown murder, previously the property of a murdered friend is reassigned to Haller. This case represents both money and publicity, a rare occurrence at the criminal bar, where cases are usually about one or the other. Haller fresh out of rehab suddenly becomes the lawyer to watch, even as his own life is endangered.
Had Connelly chosen Bosch to tell this story the result would be interesting. Bosch outwardly disdains Haller even as his instincts, dark secrets, and consummate professionalism draw him closer to the flawed lawyer.
While intriguing, Bosch's point of view does not contain the sort of dramatic tension inherent in litigating The Trial of the Decade.
We need Haller's perspective and Haller delivers a narrative in a voice that every trial lawyer will recognize. Connelly, though not a lawyer himself, somehow finds within Mickey Haller that inner concentration that allows lawyers in the courtroom to do what we do. John Grisham is the author's only contemporary peer in writing about trials in this way.
But as in all of Connelly's work, there is more going on than readily meets the eye. Haller and Bosch literally live on different sides of the same mountain overlooking Los Angeles. Their convergence happens for reasons known only to Connelly until the end. That final revelation will delight fans of Bosch and leave them hungry for another book in his voice.