The Reversal

February 7, 2011
Connelly's new thriller features two of his series heroes—the wily defense attorney Mickey Haller and his half-brother, LAPD detective Harry Bosch. This time Haller is working the other side of the courtroom, as a special independent prosecutor trying to keep a very nasty child molester and killer behind bars, with Bosch doing his legwork. As we've seen in The Brass Verdict, the author has Haller narrating his chapters, while the Bosch-centered sections are told in the third person. For the former, Peter Giles has developed a breezy, fast-paced vocal approach, while the detective's process is presented in a tougher, no frills manner. Additional characters are provided their own unique voices, including the smooth-talking district attorney, the arrogant villain, Haller's icy-but-melting former wife, and a brave but wavering witness to the crime. Not only is the production highly entertaining, the package is particularly generous, offering an additional two CDs containing unabridged MP3-format versions of The Reversal and the previous Haller-Bosch match, The Brass Verdict, also read by Giles. A Little, Brown hardcover.

Michael Connelly's latest legal thriller brings together his major characters on the same team: Defense attorney Mickey Haller shifts sides and takes on a 24-year-old murder case as a prosecutor. His main assistant is his first ex-wife, Maggie McPherson (known as Maggie "McFierce"), and the investigator is Harry Bosch. Peter Giles's narration is decent for the women and better for the men. His best character portrayals are Bosch, whose almost-tired Clint Eastwood-like voice is consistent throughout, and "Clever" Clive Royce, the defense attorney, whose British accent never wavers. Connelly's procedural has enough details for listeners to understand the legal process and enough action to keep the plot moving. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2010

Defense attorney Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) teams up with Harry Bosch (Nine Dragons) to tackle an almost 25-year-old case in Connelly's latest page-turner. A convicted killer has been exonerated thanks to DNA evidence, and Haller is asked to be the prosecuting attorney in the case and retry him for the murder. Bosch takes the investigator role and has to start from scratch to find enough evidence to make the conviction stick this time. And most of the original witnesses are no longer alive. VERDICT Alternating between Haller's first-person narration and the third-person narrative following Bosch, Connelly weaves a tale that solidifies his reputation as the master of the modern crime thriller. His latest constantly surprises and has keen character insight. With a movie in the works based on The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey, demand for this will be higher than usual, so be prepared. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/10.]--Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2010
Connelly may be our most versatile crime writer. His Harry Bosch series has taken the hard-boiled cop novel to a new level of complexity, both in its portrayal of the heros inner life and in Connellys ability to intertwine landscape and meaning. His Mickey Haller novels, on the other hand, starring the maverick lawyer who uses his Lincoln Town Car as an office, are testaments to the sublime architecture of plot. With the crime novel now commonly rubbing elbows with literary fiction, it sometimes seems that pure story has become a forgotten stepchild. In his Haller novels, Connelly reminds us how satisfying it can be to follow the path of a well-constructed plot. So it is here, in the third Haller novel, which finds the antiestablishment attorney accepting an unlikely offer: a one-time gig as a prosecutor, retrying a case in which a killers 24-year-old conviction has been overturned on the basis of DNA. Taking second chair will be Hallers ex-wife, the formidable Maggie, with Harry Bosch (identified in The Brass Verdict, 2008, as Hallers half brother) serving as special investigator. The table is set for a straightforward legal thriller, albeit one starring three superbly multidimensional characters. And, yet, Connelly bobs and weaves around all our expectations. There is suspense, of course, and there are plenty of surprises, both in the courtroom and outside of it, but this is a plot that wont be pigeonholed. Reading this book is like watching a master craftsman, slowly and carefully, brick by brick, build something that holds together exquisitely, form and function in perfect alignment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)