The Brass Verdict: A Novel
Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.
Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.
Bringing together Michael Connelly's two most popular characters, The Brass Verdictis sure to be his biggest book yet. (2008)
The Brass Verdict: A Novel Accessories
 The Gate House
Divine Justice
Extreme Measures: A Thriller
Heat Lightning (Virgil Flowers)
Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)
Cross Country (Alex Cross Novels)
Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta)
The Given Day: A Novel
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Chasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel
The Brass Verdict: A Novel Reviews
Here, Bosch is presented as almost an antagonist to Heller making the point that the police and the lawyers can often be on opposite sides in the way they work for the same end. Elliot has been accused of murdering his wife and her lover. I never saw where it was going, right to the very end and there wasn't a single miss-step. Most interesting is the way Connelly includes Harry Bosch, the detective from Connolly's primary series. The sense of place is very well done, as is the dialogue. With each new book, I am reminded of just how good an author is Connelly. A former colleague is murdered and had designated Heller as the attorney to take over all his cases should something happen to him.
Heller is a very interesting character and refreshing to see things from the lawyer's prospective. He doesn't, however, leave the other characters as simple shadows, but brings them all to life. I was caught up from the very beginning, and loved each twist along the way.
Elliot insists on going to trial as soon as possible and seems very unconcerned about the trial. First Sentence: Everybody lies. One of those cases is defending producer Walter Elliot. He has also made Heller very realistically human, particularly his response to attack.
Connelly presents the case of the defense lawyer well with wonderful detail of putting together the case and of courtroom procedure. Although Heller is the protagonist, it was interesting to see how Connelly used Bosch as almost the antagonist here. Michael Heller had decided to return to practice but not at this level. His greatest strength, in this book, is the plot. In the meantime, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is giving Heller a hard time about Vincent's murder and information Heller may have to help Bosch solve the case.
Throw in Harry Bosch who was taking advantage of no one stopping him at the crime scene to go through Vincent's client files in order to find his killer and we've got a duel between Connelly's two biggest characters to lift the book to whole another level. I loved the Lincoln Lawyer and although you don't need to have read that one first to follow this storyline, I would still recommend doing so, just so you get a better appreciation of this book's man character Mickey Haller. Not wanting to be in contempt he goes before her and is told his friend and former colleague Jerry Vincent was murdered and named him as beneficiary for his law practice. Still he'll make a lot of money off of the Elliot gravy train, and the publicity will get him even more clients, assuming he doesn't walk his contract to another lawyer. Haller knows this is true as he has the quid pro quo agreement for his practice to go to Vincent and both lawyers names appear somewhere in each clients documents.
This along with his numerous other clientele, mean Haller will be coming back in the deep end. In this book Haller is summoned by the chief judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court which is weird as he hasn't been practicing law for some time now.
So Haller decides to get back in the game and as the pages turn we get to read him in action at the same great pace he was at in the Lincoln Lawyer. I say that because there are a fair few people out there who are only interested in Harry Bosch novels and won't touch Connelly's great standalone storylines (hence the Lincoln Lawyer) so if you are one of those people, you may be a bit disappointed as 90% of this novel is through the eyes of Mickey Haller, Bosch isn't a just a cameo appearance by any means, but he's definitely a side character in this one.
But you will learn something major about him in the final pages. Haller is a great character though and you're missing out if you're not getting into him as well.
Haller had planned on getting back into the game but Vincent had the client of the year, Walter Elliot, a rich movie studio owner on trial for murdering his wife and her lover. .
This is the second Haller novel.
I wish you would help to solve this problem as I do want this book very much. I have written two e-mails to Duffleback Book Company, and I have received no reply. I am very unhappy that I have not received this book. I have been a customer of yours for quite some time now and have never had this problem. This gives you a "black eye" in my opinion.
Here Haller and Bosch meet due to a murder and the story just gets better from there. As always, excellent writing, well developed characters and a few surprises along the way makes another Michael Connelly mystery one of the best things I've read in the past year. As a big fan of Michael Connelly, there's nothing better than 2 of his characters meeting. I hope we see more of Bosch and Haller together soon.
The growing complication that Haller might be in jeopardy from Vincent's killer is well handled along with the engrossing description of the central trial. I find no fault in the plotting, but some could feel overwhelmed by the number of twists in the final two parts of the book, but everything is so expertly woven together, I still was hypnotized by the sequence of events and surpriss. Connelly's insight into the working of a major trial and the thinking of the lawyer who's not necessarily convinced of his client's innocence is the focal point here.
Some will be anticipated, but I doubt anyone will be prepared for all of them. In the meantime, I'm glad I've met his first leading lawyer protagonist, Mickey Haller, and the bonus of Hieronymous Bosch makes this an even more delightful find.I'm sure anyone reading this review is already aware of the basic plot, the fact that Haller's colleague Jerry Vincent is murdered and Haller inherits his caseload including a major murder case in which he's defending a movie producer. And I'm looking forward to his return. I have no excuse for ot keeing up with connelly's books.
For some reason, I haven't read any cince CITY OF BONES and I obviously have some catching up to do.I do wish I'd read THE LINCOLN LAWYER first, but will catch that one soon. Connelly does leave one wondering it Haller will be back, but considrring one important revelation at the end, I'm sure he will be.
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