The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Mickey Haller) by Michael Connelly
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.47 You Save: $26.52 (98%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Brass Verdict: A Novel (Mickey Haller)
Book Review: I Loved this Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first Mickey Haller novel by Michael Connelly, and I loved it. I was continually blown away by Connelly's acumen about the inner workings of the Los Angeles legal system. It reads as intelligently about justice as anything by Scott Turow and John Grisham, but it comes with Connelly's noir edge.
In The Brass Verdict, Mickey Haller has come back into practicing law after a nervous breakdown and year-long leave. He is divorced from his wife and has visitation rights with his daughter, who he fears he does not see enough.
But it's no slow start back into his law practice as a lawyer buddy of his is murdered early on, and Mickey is appointed replacement counsel. His murdered friend, Jerry Vincent, was handling a high-profile murder trial with a Hollywood producer who seems less than enthusiastic about helping Mickey help him.
I particularly liked this storyline and seeing the inner workings of this Hollywood studio exec's life. It rang true.
Ultimately, Mickey's appointment brings him into contact with Harry Bosch lead detective in the murder investigation of Jerry Vincent (and, of course, Michael Connelly's other series protagonist). From the start, these two men dance a delicate samba as their investigations compete from different sides of the legal system.
And that's one of the coolest things about The Brass Verdict... this interplay between Haller and Bosch and watching Connelly's sure hand pulling the strings.
This is an impressive novel that could easily appeal to mainstream readers as well as die-hard fans of the mystery/crime fiction community. I highly recommend it.
Stacey Cochran
Author of CLAWS available for 80 Cents
Book Review: Haller and Bosch team up, sort of
Summary: 5 Stars
Connelly's two series' protagonists - long-running Homicide detective Harry Bosch and the newcomer, defense attorney Mickey Haller - form an intriguing team in Connelly's latest thriller.
Haller, who first appeared in 2005's "The Lincoln Lawyer," takes center stage. After a year getting sober he's thinking about going back to work when he suddenly inherits a murdered colleague's entire case load - including the high-profile homicide of a celebrity producer's wife and her lover. The producer, Walter Elliot, has been charged with the killings.
Bosch is the lead detective in the shooting death of Elliot's original defense attorney, Michael Vincent, and Haller finds him going through Vincent's files when he arrives at the dead man's office to take over. There's the usual cops and lawyers hostility, spiced up by the fact (known to Bosch, not to Haller) that the two are half-brothers.
Although Haller puts a stop to the file rifling, there is give-and-take between them once Bosch points out that, absent an obvious motive for Vincent's murder, Haller could be next.
Meanwhile Haller is scurrying to get up to speed on the Elliot case. Trial date is less than a week away, Vincent's laptop and case notes were stolen when he was shot and Elliot, insisting on his innocence, has refused a continuance.
From the ins and outs of jury selection, witness lists, cross-examination, "magic bullets" and "everyone lies" philosophies, Connelly keeps the legal dance hopping. His prose is very clear and direct, making the legal complications all the more dazzling. The plot itself is fairly simple, even predictable, but Connelly fleshes out a classic framework with personal depth and unexpected detail. Readers will look forward to the next stage in the development of Haller and Bosch.
Book Review: Brass Brawls and Bosch to Boot!
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Connelly must have had a fun time with this one as he brings his Harry Bosch and Jack McEvoy characters into Mickey Haller's world and takes the rest of us along for the proverbial towncar ride.
As a reader I look for books that entertain and sometimes enlighten. His characters always entertain and his police, lawyer, or reporter professionals always offer up some good procedural or insider's information that occasionally enlightens, amuses, angers or have you shaking your head over. Outside of our own professions most of us have only vague notions about other people's jobs so Connelly does a good job adding some luster or say scratching the paint jobs on a few.
As your everyday reader I'm not looking a GREAT novel from a writer everytime out of the block. More often than not I'm just looking for a work of fiction to have a GOOD and convincing storyline. I want characters that help sell the premise and I want the writing style to flow.
Connelly delivers on all counts. He doesn't give us super hero cartoonish characters but flesh and blood flawed folks like the rest of us which makes his storylines all the more convincing.
With THE BRASS VERDICT there's the main case that carries the plot, a murder to figure out, some side cases that give us all a better view of the justice system in play or out of play, and enough real life problems with our resident hero to make him human.
No easy feat with fiction.
Work THE BRASS VERDICT into your reading rotation and if you haven't done so yet, then go out and pick up the Harry Bosch series and Jack McEvoy books.
Good books and talent here.
Book Review: Connelly continues to be the best! A must read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Connelly is back and, as usual, never fails to impress this reader. This time, Mickey Haller is back (from the Lincoln Lawyer) and after a sabbatical (read the Lincoln Lawyer to know why he was away) he finds himself with a huge caseload and a big time client (Walter Elliott) who is accused of murdering his wife and her lover.
Haller has taken over the cases after a fellow attorney is killed. The case finds a very over confident client who is convinced he will be found guilty. Haller digs into the case to try to understand how, when all the evidence points to his client, that his client is confident in an acquittal? His client is rich, but there is much more to this case and Haller must dig deep to find out why the "magic bullet" exists.
Harry Bosch? He's back and he plays a role in the book as he and Haller argue and bicker about the case and Bosch's involvement in the double homicide. He plays a strong role in the book and if you have read the early Michael Connelly books you will know the connection between Haller and Bosch.
The plot twists and turns and the characters, the settings, the dialogue and the ending is just outstanding. I never want to give too much away in my reviews, but fans of Michael Connelly can be assured that he has written yet another incredible book. It's a must read. I read it in a day and a half and my only regret is that I don't have another Connelly book to now pick up and read. Unless, of course, I want to start at the beginning of the Connelly books and start over.....Hmmm.....
Book Review: A Great Read
Summary: 5 Stars
A Brass Verdict is apparently one where the verdict with respect to a "defendant" is rendered by gunshot rather twelve and true. Such a verdict in Michael Connelly's novel of the same name is rendered after some 400 pages of great story telling by a masterful writer of crime fiction; and for what it is worth my verdict on his book is that it's a great read written by a man who has obviously walked the walk and talked the talk of the courtroom and you should buy it and give it to your Dad or Grandfather or favorite uncle to read by the fire over the Holidays.
His words on how to pick a jury should be read by every lawyer who wants to be a "trial lawyer". They are just as true today as they were when I picked my first jury in 1941 (no that's not a typo); and the courtroom, the competition, the way the lawyer deals with the jury (carefully) and the judge (how far can I go?) are exactly the same now as Connelly tells it when he has Mickey Haller try his case - what looks like the up and down case of a double murder carried out by the angered husband who finds his wife and her lover in the bedroom of his home - and deal with Detective Bosch.
Both Haller and Bosch are back between the covers of this book; and, while having met them in previous books by Connolly, they are welcome back as old friends of those of us who like a good story once in a while. And this is just what the book is - a good story. Doesn't increase your knowledge of world affairs, doesn't have any literary pretense. Just a good story well told.