Ratings42
Average rating4.1
I picked up The Brass Verdict after reading Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer (which, I must admit, I picked up after re-watching the movie on cable). I enjoyed Connelly's writing and the Mickey Haller character quite a bit in the first novel and I wanted to see where Connelly took the character.
The Brass Verdict tells the story of Haller, after taking some time off, picking up the cases of a slain lawyer friend, including a very high-profile murder case involving a Hollywood producer. On the whole, this novel was another victory for Connelly and the Haller character, though I must admit that I felt it got a little wayward between the 1/3 and halfway point. Once this story picked up, though, it raced to the finish in compelling (though not overly surprising) ways.
Connelly picks up the theme of family from The Lincoln Lawyer, only this time, the focus is on Haller as a child (rather than his relationship with his daughter). The interplay between Haller and Bosch is amusing, but only becomes truly interesting at the end of the novel upon the reveal of the book's only real surprising twist - Haller and Bosch are half-brothers. Upon this realization, recasting the characters as foils to one another - two sides of the same coin - adds a level of depth to the novel that I wish I would have known early on. (I will admit, though, that uncovering this truth early on would have been a detriment to the narrative.)
I continue to enjoy Connelly's writing. After starting The Brass Verdict, I found an interview with Connelly in Esquire magazine where he talked about his inspiration and how he came to be so familiar with the legal process and legal systems (where he simply “observed” the process as an outsider and, I believe, a journalist). Connelly must have been quite the observer, because I find his presentation of the court system and due process to be authentic and accessible.
Though I did not find The Brass Verdict to be as “good” as The Lincoln Lawyer, I'll most definitely pick up the next in the Mickey Haller series.