The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly

ISBN: 9780316166294

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Release Date: October 2008

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: "Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.

Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together."

Review: Another amazing novel by Michael Connelly. The first page starts off talking about lies and how everybody lies. It’s cool to see that come up a couple more times in the novel as well, a great reference to the beginning of the novel. For the first three chapters you get a flashback of a young Haller in court, starting off the novel extremely well, as court scenes are always interesting especially when you have Haller.

Right off the bat you get some great new characterization for Mickey Haller. After the events of The Lincoln Lawyer, he fell into addiction of drugs, lost his chance with his wife, lost joint custody of his daughter, and hadn’t been to court in about a year. You really get a good look into Haller throughout this novel, who has proven to be an exceptionally interesting character.

In The Brass Verdict you also get Harry Bosch, Connelly’s main character who has ~16 novels to his name (and only ~4 to Haller). I haven’t read any of Connelly’s Bosch series yet, so it’s cool to see him here. Another interesting character, to be sure. A lot of great conflict between the two, but seeing them eventually working together was cool as well, and gave another great look into the character of Haller: he really does care about helping the “good guys.” It is also cool to see how Haller finds out Bosch is his half-brother. Quite an interesting development there. I am definitely going to read the Bosch series as well.

One thing about this novel that was interesting was that at one point it focused heavily on jury selection. I never knew that the jury was selected by the lawyers, and it was cool to see how everything worked, especially Haller’s strategy for it.

The Brass Verdict kept my interest from the beginning, with a very pleasing-to-read writing style, amazing characterization, an awesome plot, and some very well-placed twists. I especially liked how Connelly related the book to the title toward the end of the book, wrapping it up nicely. I enjoyed seeing that there was a glimmer of hope with him and his daughter’s mother, and the conclusion of the book as a whole was very satisfying.

Along with the rest of the Mickey Haller series: Highly recommended.