The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
I’ve read many of the Harry Bosch novels, enjoying some more than others, enjoying a few a great deal. I avoided The Poet, not out of any aversion to the author, but to avoid disappointment. Writers like Connelly are painted into a corner over the years by the success of their franchise characters. No Bosch? No way.
The discussion of series characters has been done to death, but I’m fearless and will add this thought before moving on: all readers need a little reassurance when wrangling a book. Picture a rodeo rider. he knows horses, he knows steers, don’t ask the guy to ride an alpaca. Odds are the alpaca would stand perfectly still long enough that the rider would fall to the ground just for something to do. So when Michael Connelly goes outside his series, we don’t have Harry, his mangled house, his crime scene acumen, his humanity to coax us through the Opening Pages.
Connelly delivers with The Lincoln Lawyer, with Mickey Haller as his first person lead character. First person is not my favorite, but Connelly resists the urge to overwrite and allows access to his story while the reader is still in complaint mode, still seated on the alpaca waiting for it to buck or throw its head back, expose its yellow teeth. Before you know it, you’re reading page one hundred, and you’re not missing Harry, you’re learning about Mickey.
Connelly tells his story in straightforward, readable prose. Mickey is a solid character, avoiding radical alterations in personality for theatrical effect, staying straight and true as the story unfolds. The foregoing is not faint praise; it is damned hard to write prose that doesn’t distract from a story, prose that fits the mood and underscores the theme. This is a novel that draws strength from the author’s direct approach, an honest story that carries the reader through Mickey’s days and nights until the end.