The Brass Verdict

From the dust jacket:

Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of of wrong turns, he is back in the courtroom. When his famed former colleague Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits the biggest case he's ever had: defending Walter Elliot, a prominent Hollywood producer accused of murdering his wife and her lover. Haller has his hands full with Elliot, who seems more concerned about his movies than about a possible life sentence. With a key part of the defense's strategy missing, Mickey scrambles to prepare for trial, and the pressure only intensifies when he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.

Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's murderer, Bosch will do whatever it takes to crack the case, even if that means using Haller as bait. Flip sides of the same coin, Haller and Bosch rarely see eye to eye on the law. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work as a team.

Bringing together two of Michael Connelly's best-loved characters, The Brass Verdict is the most explosive novel yet by the author the Los Angeles Times has called "our laureate, proving again that popular fiction at its best... is also literature."

"Everybody lies. Cops lie. Lawyers lie. Witness lie. The victims lie. A trial is a contest of lies. And everybody in the courtroom know this. The judge knows this. Even the jury knows this. They come into the building knowing they will be lied to. They take their seats in the box and agree to be lied to." (p.3)

The Brass Verdict is a fast-paced murder mystery that is full of twists and turns. After a two-year break from practicing law, Mickey Haller goes from having 0 cases to 31 cases overnight. He quickly learns that some things are just too good to be true. He immediately tries to keep all his inherited clients, especially Walter Elliot. Not wanting to jeopardize Elliot's decision to keep him as his lawyer, Mickey reluctantly agrees to keep the trial date as scheduled despite not having much time to prepare. Mickey's decision will set a chain of events that will eventually lead to what really happened the night Elliot's wife and her lover were murdered.

The Lincoln Lawyer was the first book I read by Mr. Connelly. I did attend one of his book signings last year, mainly out of curiosity. I really enjoyed listening to him and wondered why I never picked up one of his books prior to The Lincoln Lawyer. Now I think I will have to add the Harry Bosch series to my TBR list. Having said that, I liked the "convenient" relationship between Mickey and Harry Bosch. Although Bosch was more of a supporting character, I was interested in learning more of his history. He appeared to be somewhat distant and often times withholding when interacting with Mickey. Overall, I really liked this book and could not figure out the motives behind the murders. Highly recommended. (4.5/5)