In brief: Mickey Haller is a criminal defence attorney. Working out of his car, ducking and diving almost as much as the drug dealers, con men and prostitutes he defends, Haller has little time for justice, it seems. Yet still one case haunts him: Jesus Menendez, jailed for the murder of Martha Renteria after following Haller’s advice to accept a plea bargain. When Haller finds himself defending Louis Roulet, a wealthy realtor accused of brutal assault and attempted rape, his delight at the fat fee involved fades as the case leads him inexorably back to Menendez.

In detail: In something of a departure from his previous novels, Michael Connelly has written a taut legal thriller introducing Mickey Haller, a character every bit as psychologically complex as Harry Bosch, the troubled main protagonist of Connelly’s hard-boiled crime detective series. Connelly explores a criminal justice system riddled with petty institutionalised corruption through the voice of Haller, a criminal defence lawyer always with an eye to the main chance, yet always prepared to defend the underdog.

When Haller finds himself called in to defend Louis Roulet, accused of a particularly brutal assault and attempted rape, he can’t help seeing it as a meal ticket for life. Very definitely from the right side of the tracks, Roulet is wealthy and well connected, a world away from Haller’s usual clients, who are more likely to be found dealing crack cocaine or selling themselves on the street. When Haller’s ex-wife Maggie has to step down as prosecutor for the case, a rookie attorney takes her place and Haller is convinced the outcome is a sure thing. But as he gathers his evidence for Roulet’s defence doubts slip in, and Haller begins to ask himself uncomfortable questions about his client’s innocence. Is this clean-cut young professional quite what he seems, or is he someone whose propensity for evil far outstrips that of the tough streetwise thugs whose destiny is all too often encapsulated in the rap lyrics Haller listens to hoping to understand their lives? When his investigator and long-term friend Raul Levin is murdered after unearthing a crucial piece of evidence, Haller finds himself in the frame, convinced he knows the identity of the real murderer. Ultimately Haller is faced with a moral dilemma: stick by the rules and mount his defence regardless of guilt or innocence, or see justice done, no matter how complicated and dangerous the game that must be played to achieve it.

A note for fans of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series: There is a Harry Bosch connection to Mickey Haller. In Connelly's second novel, The Black Ice, Bosch reminisces about his return from the Vietnam War and his attempts to find his father. He discovered that his father was the famous criminal defence attorney, J. Michael Haller. Unfortunately, Haller died before Bosch could get to know him. At his funeral, Harry found that he had half-brothers and half-sisters, one of whom was Mickey Haller.

About the author

Michael Connelly was born in Pennsylvania in 1957 and moved with his family to Florida when he was twelve years old. On discovering the work of Raymond Chandler while studying at Florida University, Connelly decided on a career as a writer. He majored in journalism while also taking courses in creative writing, and graduated in 1980. After working as reporter in Florida specialising in crime reporting, Connelly became a police reporter for the Los Angeles Times. After three years he started work on his first novel, The Black Echo, which saw the debut of Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The Black Echo was published in 1992 and was voted Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Michael Connelly now lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and daughter.

For discussion

• The novel is prefaced with a quote from Michael Haller’s father: ‘There is no client as scary as an innocent man.’ What does he mean by this statement? Why is the innocent man in The Lincoln Lawyer scary for Haller? How important is Haller’s father to him?
• ‘I had to be careful with this. I had to assume that Dobbs was the kind of lawyer who would go to the California bar in a heartbeat if he came across a criminal defence attorney paying off bondsmen for client referrals’ (page 6). What kind of lawyer is Haller? Does your view of his character and his ethics change over the course of the novel, and if so why?
• ‘I headed back to the door, my steps quick. I hate being inside a jail. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s because sometimes the line seems so thin. The line between a criminal attorney and a criminal’ (page 15). Why does Haller feel this way? What do you think of the American legal system based on your reading of The Lincoln Lawyer? What does Haller think of it? How do his views compare with those of his ex-wife Maggie?
• ‘I know McGinley dealt death and destruction in the form of rock cocaine and probably committed untold violence and other offences he was never charged with, but I still felt bad for him’ (page 95). Why does Haller feel bad for McGinley? Why does he so often take on the defence of ‘the underdog’? What do Haller’s thumbnail portraits of his clients tell us about modern America? How is American social justice portrayed in The Lincoln Lawyer?
• ‘I felt uneasy about Roulet’s story. It seemed so far-fetched it might actually be true. And that bothered me’ (page 75). Why does Roulet’s story bother Haller? Did you believe Roulet’s story initially, and if so at what point did you begin to doubt it? Why did Roulet choose Haller as his lawyer?
• Haller blames himself for Jesus Menendez’s conviction. Who or what is at fault in the unjust sentencing of Menendez – Haller, the legal system or both – and why? What dilemma does Haller’s realisation of the connection between Menendez and the Roulet case present him with? How does he resolve it? What do you think of the way in which he brings about that resolution? To what extent do the ends justify the means?
• ‘This office is founded on the belief in the sanctity of our justice system. I personally safeguard that in the Van Nuys Division and take it very, very seriously. And so it is better for us to dismiss a case that sees justice possibly compromised in any way.’ (page 373.) How has justice been compromised in this case and throughout the novel? To what extent is justice finally done?
• ‘On an intellectual level she could deal with being married to a man who worked across the other side of the aisle. But when it came down to the reality of what we did, we were lucky to have lasted the eight years we had managed’ (page 50). What kind of strains did working on opposite sides of the court aisle put on Maggie and Haller’s marriage?
• When Haller asks Maggie why she stands by him she says: ‘I don’t know. I guess because I see a good man and a good father in there waiting to break out one day’ (page 230). Do you think she’s right? Does the ‘good man and good father’ ever break out?
• The Lincoln Lawyer is Connelly’s first legal thriller. If you have read his previous crime novels, how would you compare them?
• How does Michael Connelly build suspense throughout the novel?
• ‘ I’d say it was a straight assassination, with a bit of malicious cruelty thrown in’ (page 30). Does this prove to be the case with Allan Mitchison’s murder? What was the motive behind the killing?

Suggested further reading

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman
The Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge
Rough Justice by Lisa Scottoline