The Book Frog

Apparently, way back in The Black Ice Michael Connelly gave Detective Harry Bosch a half brother. Guess who that brother is--Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer. The Brass Verdict is Mickey's second outing as a Connelly lead, and in this book he works closely with--and, in the manner of defense lawyers in crime fiction everywhere, subtly against, Detective Bosch. Mickey Haller has been out of circulation since the events of The Lincoln Lawyer. Having hit rock bottom after developing a dependency on prescription heroin Oxycontin, pulled himself up and gone through rehab, he's taken an extended sabbatical from practicing law. He's not even sure he's ready to resume his practice when he gets a call informing him that he's inherited the practice--31 active cases--of murdered friend and colleague Jerry Vincent. The highest profile of these cases is a doozy, a double murder charge against movie producer Walter Elliott, accused of killing his wife and her lover. It becomes obvious to all, as it has been to Harry Bosch from the start, that not only is there a connection between the murder of Jerry Vincent, but that there's something rotten at the core. He enlists the reluctant assistance of Haller, using him as bait to flush out Jerry Vincent's killer. Along the way more lives are lost, some are ruined, and Haller's and Bosch's are both changed forever. Michael Connelly rarely disappoints, and once again he's done a great job of getting the job done. Mickey Haller is a terrific first person narrator: a good lawyer, mostly ethical but not above working the system to achieve the results he wants. And Harry Bosch, well, who doesn't love Harry Bosch? He's deep and intense, hard to know, dry almost to the point of aridity, but with fascinating flashes of humor.