"I Had to Think Quickly" Pretty Much Says It All !

Contrary to my expectations (you know, reads only mysteries written by women with female main characters), I really liked this book.

I didn’t realize that this is a new series and a new genre (Mickey Haller vs. Harry Bosch and something-something vs. thriller) until I trolled around on Amazon.com and read some editorial reviews once I’d finished the book. That being the case, I’m pretty confident I would gladly read another entry in the new Mickey Haller franchise. I’m not sure about the Harry Bosch books, but given how much of a page-turner The Lincoln Lawyer was, I’m reasonably confident I’d probably like anything Michael Connelly cranked out.

I’m aiming to be less wordy these days, so here are my slightly more succinct thoughts:

“I had to think quickly” is the mantra for this guy and he proves it time after time. He’s an on-the-right-side hustler with extremely strong street and legal/tactical skills. I found him immensely appealing.

I like the slight spin on the hard-boiled, ambulance-chaser genre. Mickey is relatively successful at what he does (scoring the occasional “franchise” cases and getting around in the titular Lincoln Continental using one of his more dead-beat ex-clients as his driver). It was also a switch from the usual pattern of ethical-if-rule-bending PI locking heads with a slimeball attorney.

I especially liked the insider info on how the defense system really works—the deals made, the loose and often acrimonious interactions between criminal attorneys (balanced with some unexpected acts of camaraderie), the prosecutors, and the judiciary. It reads as true, although only our Bethie, JD, can really comment on that with any real knowledge.

I also liked the twist of having Haller represent a client who he knew was guilty of not one but a number of murders, including the murder of his close associate and friend, Raul Levin. It is unusual in this genre for a protagonist to be shown doing an effective job representing a client he actively hates and sees as profoundly evil.

I’m not sure exactly what constitutes a “thriller” as opposed to a mystery, but I did find that I had trouble putting this book down—I really wanted to know how it turned out and, unlike the more pragmatic Chairman Ann, I rarely let myself read the end until I actually get there, so I found it difficult to put the book down because I was so strongly engaged in the story line.

I also saw this book as being easily translatable to the cinema. Maybe I’m watching too many Netflix these days—suddenly, EVERYTHING seems like a potential movie to me!