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The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Yes, this is the second new Michael Connelly novel this year.  The Closers, a Harry Bosch novel, came out in May.  In The Lincoln Lawyer, just out today, Connelly introduces a new character:  Mickey Haller, a criminal defense lawyer who works out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town car.  It’s rare that any of the drug dealers, drug- addicted prostitutes, drunk drivers, or bikers are  innocent.  Payment for Mickey’s defense services is not always in cash; but instead, certain “services” like a full-time driver, enough garage storage for three spare Lincolns, and all the biker protection he may need. Most of this he doesn't even want. 

Along comes Louis Roulet, a Beverly Hills real estate agent with deep pockets. Charged with attempted rape and aggravated assault with great bodily injury, Louis is convincing in claiming his innocence.  Mickey believes.  This could be a turning point:  

“The law was not about the truth.  It was about negotiation, amelioration, manipulation.  I didn’t deal in guilt and innocence because everybody was guilty.  Of something.  But it didn’t matter because every case I took on was a house built on a foundation poured by overworked and underpaid laborers.  They cut corners.  They made mistakes.  And then they painted over the mistakes with lies.  My job was to peel away the paint and find the cracks.  To work my fingers and tools into those cracks and widen them.  To make them so big that either the house fell down, or failing that, my client slipped through.  

Much of society thought of me as the devil but they were wrong.  I was a greasy angel.  I was a true road saint.  I was needed and wanted.  By both sides.  I was the oil in the machine.  I allowed the gears to crank and turn.  I helped keep the engine of the system running. 

But all that would change with the Roulet Case.  For me.  For him.”  

An innocent client is anathema to defense attorneys: there is only one possible verdict, no compromises, no ameliorating, no plea bargaining, no mistakes.    

Soon, our greasy angel realizes his extreme good luck in nailing a paying innocent client is not as it seems.  Innocence is not what it seems.  What appears dead on one day, is very much alive and evolving the next. Concurrently, Mickey learns that evil is revealed slowly and surely, the dire and deadly consequences of which become crystal clear only too late.  

Michael Connelly makes the transition to legal thriller skillfully, and surely we can all get used to reading two great crime novels a year!    

Review by Sarah Bagby, October 3, 2005

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