*Have You Heard? * Audiobooks For Your Listening Pleasure* The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Posted June 22, 2016 by RobbieLea in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

*Have You Heard? * Audiobooks For Your Listening Pleasure* The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael ConnellyThe Lincoln Lawyer (Mickey Haller, #1) by Michael Connelly
Also by this author: The Crossing (Harry Bosch, #20)
Published by Hachette Audio on January 1st 1970
Genres: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Pages: 708
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0739458922
ASIN: B000BND03U
Goodreads
five-stars

Best-selling author Michael Connelly, whose character-driven literary mysteries have earned him a wide following, breaks from the gate in the over-crowded field of legal thrillers and leaves every other contender from Grisham to Turow in the dust with this tightly plotted, brilliantly paced, impossible-to-put-down novel.
Criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller's father was a legendary lawyer whose clients included gangster Mickey Cohen (in a nice twist, Cohen's gun, given to Dad then bequeathed to his son, plays a key role in the plot). But Dad also passed on an important piece of advice that's especially relevant when Mickey takes the case of a wealthy Los Angeles realtor accused of attempted murder: "The scariest client a lawyer will ever have is an innocent client. Because if you [screw] up and he goes to prison, it'll scar you for life."
Louis Roulet, Mickey's "franchise client" (so-called becaue he's able and willing to pay whatever his defense costs) seems to be the one his father warned him against, as well as being a few rungs higher on the socio-economic ladder than the drug dealers, homeboys, and motorcycle thugs who comprise Mickey's regular case load. But as the holes in Roulet's story tear Mickey's theory of the case to shreds, his thoughts turn more to Jesus Menendez, a former client convicted of a similar crime who's now languishing in San Quentin. Connelly tellingly delineates the code of legal ethics Mickey lives by: "It didn't matter...whether the defendant 'did it' or not. What mattered was the evidence against him--the proof--and if and how it could be neutralized. My job was to bury the proof, to color the proof a shade of gray. Gray was the color of reasonable doubt." But by the time his client goes to trial, Mickey's feeling a few very reasonable doubts of his own.
While Mickey's courtroom pyrotechnics dazzle, his behind-the-scenes machinations and manipulations are even more incendiary in this taut, gripping novel, which showcases all of Connelly's literary gifts. There's not an excess sentence or padded paragraph in it--what there is, happily, is a character who, like Harry Bosch, deserves a franchise series of his own. --Jane Adams

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#MickeyHallerSeries #MichaelConnelly #LincolnLawyer #SerialKiller @Connellybooks @adamgrupper @HachetteAudio

listeningladyI have been having the most amazing run of exceptionally good audiobooks lately. I hope I’m not jinxing myself by acknowledging this! The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly is one of those books that made it hard for me to lay down my earphones. It’s not a new series, but it is new to me. I initially met Mickey Haller, the Lincoln lawyer, through his half-brother Harry Bosch whose series I’ve been following.

Just think for a moment about a criminal lawyer who doesn’t have an office, who conducts his business from his Lincoln Town Car, and who stores his client files in a storage building he scored through a former client. He obtains his client references through The Yellow Pages and select bail bondsmen and actually prefers guilty clients over innocent ones. You love him already, I can tell! That characterization reflects the personality of a man who has two ex-wives who still love him, a daughter who is crazy about him, and a colorful array of miscreants who need his services regularly and are fiercely loyal to him. He’s not perfect and is definitely not afraid to cut corners and play the legal system for his clients, but I saw a man who is going to find a way to do the right thing even if he has to take a circuitous route, and take it he does in some of the most captivating court scenes I’ve ever read. The story line features Louis Roulet, a reprehensible character listeners will hate from his opening protestation of innocence.  The problem is Roulet is very convincing in his protestations to the point that Haller begins to believe he may have that rare client who is actually innocent.

I can’t say enough about the narrator Adam Grupper. This is my first experience with him and his performance is flawless. I love when narrators actually perform the books as if they were plays and The Lincoln Lawyer is one of those. Mickey Haller is played beautifully as a likable but hard-nosed defense lawyer whose goal for his clients is getting them acquitted, guilty or innocent. His portrayal of the irascible nicotine addict Judge Fulbright was one of my favorites, and I knew Louis Roulet was a slime ball with the first sentence Mr. Grupper spoke in his voice.

Haller’s relationship to Harry Bosch isn’t mentioned in this book, so I wouldn’t know it exists if I hadn’t read the Bosch books. They share a father, although Mickey is a legitimate son and Harry is not. This is the first book in Mickey’s series, so I’ll be interested to see if these are going to be standalone books or if the books will build on each other. I highly recommend The Lincoln Lawyer to listeners who enjoy legal thrillers . . . especially those with evil characters! I actually liked it better than the Bosch books I’ve read!

five-stars

About Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorneyMickey Haller. His books, which have been translated into 39 languages, have garnered him many awards. Connelly was the President of the Mystery Writers of America from 2003 to 2004.

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