The Lincoln Lawyer

a novel

by Michael Connelly

Paperback, 404 pages

English language

Published Sept. 5, 2005 by Little, Brown, and Company.

ISBN:: 978-0-7394-6551-6
OCLC Number:: 60311867

(42 reviews)

Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.

Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers — they’re all on Mickey Haller’s client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence — it’s about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it’s even about justice.

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney’s dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence …

Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.

Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal — this time to save his own life.

14 editions

Cheri reviewed The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Review of 'The Lincoln Lawyer' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I didn't know what to expect. I had never read a Connelly book before but struggled through the first episode of Bosch on Amazon Prime and came away from it only wanting to punch the main character in the throat. But I got into The Lincoln Lawyer immediately and struggled to stop listening when other things came up. I even subjected my son to it while driving to and from piano lessons because I wanted to take advantage of every moment I could.

I enjoyed pretty much every aspect of the book: writing style, characters, and even the narrator. I did read some of it with my eyes but the narrator added a lot to the experience.

I've already gotten the sequel loaded up on the kindle.

Still not sure about Bosch but Mickey Haller is alright with me.

kholerik reviewed The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

None

3 stars

I only read this after I had read all the Bosch novels out at the time, because Bosch is by far my favorite character from Connelly (judging by the number of books he got I am evidently not alone). I like Haller, but I like Bosch much better. I particularly like the endings Bosch gets better. The Lincoln Lawyer was made into a movie, a fact that features in some of the following books. It's something I like, the little nods to our reality.

ghostchaser reviewed The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Review of 'The Lincoln Lawyer' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

solid 4 if not a 4.5. Well written, Fast past mystery, with likable characters.

barbara fister reviewed The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Review of 'The Lincoln Lawyer' on 'LibraryThing'

No rating

A defense lawyer suffers from the uncomfortable realization that he's defending a truly evil man. Good plotting, plodding prose.

Michael @ Knowledge Lost reviewed The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Review of 'The Lincoln Lawyer' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I’m not too sure if this book should be rated 2 stars or 3; maybe if there was an option for 2 and a half I would be happy. Let’s start with the story; which was very predictable (well up into about 2/3 of the way through anyway). The characters and the story was just an annoying cliché which made it very difficult to enjoy. There is a line in the novel said by one of his ex wives said that proves just how much of a cliché this book is; "You're a sleazy defence lawyer with two ex-wives and an eight-year-old daughter and we all love you."

Getting away from the bad points; let me look at what I did like about this book. Michael Connelly is a decent writer, and he really knows how to control the pace of the story. The characters (even if typical character types) are well written and drive the story along, very well. I am grateful that I did stick with this story to the end; after the first 2/3 of the book I was ready to quit; because it was just too predictable. But I was surprised with some unexpected twists and fast paced writing the finish off the book.

The book would work well as a movie (coming soon), and I don’t mind wasting an hour and half on a predictable story full of cliché characters, but when it comes to a book, I want something fresh and different.