This is the first book by Connely that I have read, and it took me a few days. Not that the book was uninteresting, jut that time was scarce. The book actually is a top notch legal thriller, interesting enough to want one to finish the book even if you break the reading for a few days (and not many books can do that).

I’d compare this to “The Street Lawyer” only it is very different (I enjoyed that one too). The Lincoln Lawyer, defense lawyer Michael Haller (so called because he conducts his business from the backseat of his Lincoln Towncar) is a streetsmart lawyer defending all types of criminals. Whether they are guilty or not doesn’t matter to him. So, yeah, he is cynical and has no illusions about the “justice” of the law or about the world in general. He has 2 ex-wives, both of whom still love/have affection for him, because ofcourse underneath it all, the guy has a heart of gold. He also has a daughter, whom he’d like to give more time, living with his second wife.

Michael Haller in defending the run-of-the-mill client is starting to be over-powered by his conscience, and is worried that he may not recognise innocence when he sees it. And it looks like that is what has happened, when Michael is approached by a “franchise” (rich – the franchise that’ll pay) client Louis Roulet to defend Roulet in an assault/attempt-to-murder charge . . .

The book moves fast, the characters are sketched well, well enough to elicit sympathy, especially for Haller. Lots of court scenes, private investigating etc. Nice, highly recommended.

Categories : _books