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Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: INSPIRATION FOR THE ORIGINAL SERIES THE LINCOLN LAWYER â?? THE #1 TV SHOW ON NETFLIX The bestselling legal thriller has charismatic defense attorney Mickey Haller taking on a slam-dunk court case involving a Beverly Hills playboyâ??but as it spirals into a nightmare, he finds himself in a fight for his life. Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealersâ??they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence, it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice. A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney's dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career. Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenalâ??this time to save his ow… (more)
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Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk
Mickey Haller is a defense attorney nicknamed âThe Lincoln Lawyerâ because he prefers to do all his work aboard a Lincoln Town Car, while his driver shuttles him all over Los Angeles between the courtrooms and the prisons - yes because Mickeyâs clientele mostly comes from the lower strata of society: biker gangs, small-time offenders, prostitutes and so on. Heâs well-known in those circles for being the kind of lawyer who often manages to acquit his clients, or when that doesnât work, to get them a reduced sentence. He works with quantity rather than quality, and is always looking for the âcoupâ that might present him with some financial stability, which he sorely needs given that he has two ex-wives - one of them a prosecutor he often meets while touring courtrooms and the other presently working as his case manager - and a hillside house with a great view, which heâs still paying for.
So, when one of his many contacts presents him with the potential for a âfranchise clientâ, the kind of client who promises steady income over the years, he does not look too closely into this proverbial gift horseâs mouth, hardly wondering why affluent Louis Roulet wanted someone like Haller to defend him against the accusation of having savagely beaten a prostitute. Roulet looks and sounds innocent - something of a change given Hallerâs usual clientele - but some inconsistencies in the course of the investigation compel the lawyer to look closely at the evidence and bring him to a devastating discovery, one that forces him to navigate the extremely narrow margin between his commitment as an attorney and his conscience.
By now I know that Michael Connellyâs writing never fails to engage me, but with this novel I was even more intrigued than usual, to the point that I did something I rarely - if ever - do: I read the first three books in the series back to back, and I not only avoided any kind of âstory fatigueâ, but I ended up feeling eager to continue with the series. Hook, line and sinker, indeed⌠What I found fascinating, besides the story itself, is the dichotomy between Hallerâs outwardly sleazy persona and his own ethics, a divide that creates a multi-faceted, quite humanly believable character. He is a man very focused on his work and somehow haunted by the ghost of his father, a famous lawyer whose professional shadow he keenly feels, even though the man died when Mickey was still a child.
Iâm indulging in a little spoiler here, because itâs not a major one: Haller and Bosch are half brothers from that fatherâs side (something that I already knew thanks to my searches about Connellyâs works, and that is revealed in the second novel), and itâs interesting here to look for the two menâs points of contact and differences - despite the opposing sides of the law in which they work, they are both quite committed to their profession, to the point that both of them have sacrificed emotional entanglements to pursue that drive, but where Bosch is his very own man, forced from early childhood to depend only on himself, Haller often feels the weight of that larger-than-life father and the unconscious need to be âworthyâ of his legacy. In the end, both men are striving for justice, each in his own different way and through totally different means, and Iâm certain that the juxtaposition of these two characters will offer many intriguing considerations down the road.
In this first Lincoln Lawyer novel, Michael Connelly fuses very successfully characterization and plot, creating an engrossing story that quite deserves the title of âpage turnerâ: once again I came to the written word after experiencing the plot through the cinematic medium, and yet I was never bored or distracted by that knowledge because this is the kind of writer who knows how to capture his audienceâs attention and keep it riveted from start to finish. Here the mix of courtroom debate, police investigation and unexpected twists and turns takes the readers through a story that is more than a simple legal thriller because it also explores, very compellingly, the nooks and crannies of the human soul while it showcases the intricacies of the legal system in a way that is everything but pedantic.
Itâs true that my TBR hardly needed another book series to weigh it down, but this new addition promises to offer many hours of absorbing reading, so I will not complainâŚ. ;-)
So, Mickey Haller isnât your typical
So, even though Mickey doesnât come off as the type of guy youâd typically root for â I dare you not to fall under his spell just the same (and this isnât just a Matthew McConaughey movie flashback either). He does have his own special set of ethical guidelines â and even when he is skating legal and moral corners you canât help but be impressed by him. This man is wily. He is also a sucker for his daughter and ex-wife (sorry â make that ex-wives). He wants to be a family man but that role didnât work out for him since his woman of choice is a prosecutor that ultimately couldnât handle him fighting on the âwrongâ side.
As for the plot â Michael Connelly certainly delivers on that front, yâall. Not only do his books keep you in a constant state of anticipation, but the mysteries are engaging. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, it would be pretty much impossible to foresee all of them. Impressive stuff.
So anyway, I read through the entire four book Mickey Haller series in a row â couldnât get enough! Canât wait to see where it goes next. I highly recommend both the movie and the book. I actually watched the movie first â which might have even made me appreciate the bookâs intricacies (and different ending) more. Definitely worth checking out, even if it isnât your normal genre!
Filled with tension and some interesting moments musing about the role of the defence in legal trials.
I don't consider myself a "girlie" reader in the least. I think my list, if anything, skews male. I like tough, I
BUT women readers (and, ahem, I would think, any thinking reader) require their heroes and heroines to be either 1)good or 2)more interesting - on their way to good, but with excellent motivation for all the reasons why they have been bad in the past.
We love flawed heroes! Give us a Greg Iles character, whose vices never let him rest. Or Elvis Cole, whose brooding solitude makes us want to comfort and fix him. Even Dexter (as in Darkly Dreaming): can't get much screwier than a killer hero, but we get *why* he does what he does, and move on.
BUT - in the Lincoln Lawyer, the hero has a 9year old daughter who he treats like a mildly-interesting pet, tossing a bit of kibble her way when the urge strikes him. And his ex, a woman with a demanding career of her own, is not only sort of okay with this but lets him into her bed and - incredibly - allows the child to crawl in and discover her daddy's sleeping over. HELLLLLLOOOO! I'm bellowing here! No mom I know is going to pick this book up and get past this scene with a shred of affection for the character.
Well, enough of my temper tantrum. That aside, I'm still trying to figure out the big draw. I find the dialog a little stilted (let me introduce you to my friend, Mr. Contraction) and the cast of characters oddly unlikeable all the way around.
MC seems determined never to write a cliffhanging chapter ending. They're not compulsory, of course, but that doesn't mean they need to end in a crashing halt; lines like "I opened the car door and got out to go inside once again" just don't make me want to turn the page.
Fans of courtroom drama will be pleased - the court scenes are very nicely done, credible, and don't drag. However, the "shocking ending" seems anything but; rather it sort of putters out in a predictable denoument.
The theme seems to be roughly: good man worn down to mediocrity and moral ambivalence by events beyond his control, confronted with innocence and spurred to act. Well, no complaints there, it's juicy, and MC does a convincing job with his cast. I guess. Though it's hard to reconcile his occasional bursts of self-righteousness (shame in putting Jesus away; his "handshake rule"; the lunch-time lofty argument with the cop) with his determined indifference.
Also the "Dad I never knew" invisible guidepost seemed sort of silly. But now I'm looking for nits to pick, so I'll stop.
Then he lucks into a "franchise" case, defending the son of a
Great action, thoroughly enjoyed it.
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.
But there are some minor deficiencies which bothered me, especially at the end of the story. Why does Mickey have two ex-wives of which only one has a meaning for the plot? Why does he choose the most complicated way to get rid of his client? But there was one thing I absolutely donât like. When the narrator (not the author) gives me the impression he knows the solution of the mystery but deliberately doesnât want to tell me before the end of his story I feel cheated and like an object of a private game. Why doesnât he tell me now? It would have been better to tell this story in the third person to avoid this standard problems of a crime novel.
A modern mystery about a defense lawyer confronted with the innocence of a client---a new situation for him---and how he deals with it. Not quite a coming-of-age story, but the lawyer does
Haller is a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln.