The Lincoln Lawyer (Lincoln Lawyer, #1) (Mickey Haller, #1)

by Michael Connelly

Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defence attorney who operates out of the back of his car, a Lincoln, taking whatever cases the system throws in his path. He's been in the business a long time, and he knows just how to work it. When a Beverly Hills rich boy is arrested for brutally beating a woman, Haller has his first high-paying client in years. The evidence mounts on the defence's side, and Haller might even be in the rare position of defending a client who is actually innocent.

But then the case starts to fall apart, neither the suspect nor the victim are quite who they seem - and Haller quickly discovers that when you swim with the sharks, it's easy to wind up as prey.

Read by Michael Brandon

• ISBN13: 9780316154741
• Publish Date: 3 October 2005 (first published 1 January 2005)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Co
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 656
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

This wasn’t my first taste of Mickey Haller. I read the second book, The Brass Verdict, about three years ago, so I was already familiar with him and his unconventional ways. This book is a great introduction to Haller, who is a stark contrast to Connelly’s other leading man, Harry Bosch.

Haller believes in doing what he has do to get the job done, whether it’s negotiate with drug dealing bikers or arrange for a client to drive him around to work off his bill. When a big money client comes his way in this book, he soon finds out that some things are too good to be true. Even the best lawyer can be out-manipulated from time to time.

I really like Haller as a character. He’s entertaining and loyal and charmingly still hung up on his ex-wife. The audiobook was very well-done, and I’ll probably continue digesting the series that way.

[kimbacaffeinate]

loved it! Lots of twist and turns. I wanted to read this before the movie and I am glad i did.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

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.

[mitabird]

4.5 stars

This was a really good book. Even though Michael Haller was a bit sleazy as a defense lawyer, he was honest in his dishonesty, if that makes sense. I thought the story was very suspenseful and took a turn I was not expecting. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 50 pages waiting to see how it would all play out.