The Fifth Witness

Starred review from February 7, 2011
Connelly's compelling fourth legal thriller featuring Mickey Haller (after Reversal) finds the maverick L.A. lawyer who uses his Lincoln town car as an office specializing in "foreclosure defense." Haller's first foreclosure client, Lisa Trammel, is fighting hard to keep her home, maybe too hard. The bank has gotten a restraining order to stop Trammel's protests, and she becomes the prime suspect when Mitchell Bondurant, a mortgage banker, is killed with a hammer in his office parking lot. A ton of evidence points to Trammel, but Haller crafts an impressive defense that includes "the fifth witness" of the title. Connelly has a sure command of the legal and procedural details of criminal court, and even manages to make the arcane, shady world of foreclosure interesting. While the prose may lack some of the poetic nuance of his early novels, the plot is worthy of a master storyteller. The film of The Lincoln Lawyer, the first Mickey Haller novel, releases in March.

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is back, along with his cadre of associates: his streetwise driver, a tough investigator, a young colleague, and a pair of ex-wives. Haller's on-the-go legal career keeps him busy with foreclosure cases--until one of his clients is accused of murder. Connelly is notable in his crafting of character backgrounds, and Peter Giles closely observes these details in his skillful narration. However, as important as the protagonist is in Connelly's book, it's the minor characters whom Giles particularly enlivens. Haller's investigator sounds, well, tough. A Hollywood producer comes off as sleazy. A financial company executive, an information technology worker, and others all have appropriate accents or intonation. Connelly ties up all loose ends in a solid ending, and Giles never misses a beat. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine