Publishers Weekly
09/11/2023
Bestseller Connelly’s paint-by-numbers seventh legal thriller featuring Mickey Haller (after 2020’s The Law of Innocence) again teams the L.A. defense attorney with his half-brother, ex-LAPD officer Harry Bosch, who holds down his own Connelly series. After freeing a man wrongly convicted of murder with Bosch’s help, Haller has launched a pro bono “in-house innocence project” to investigate questionable convictions, with Bosch vetting potential clients. Bosch recommends Haller look into the case of Lucinda Sanz, who pled no contest to manslaughter five years earlier for fatally shooting her ex-husband Roberto, an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy. Sanz now claims she was innocent and entered the plea to avoid the risk of a life sentence after a trial. As the case never went to a jury, the records are sparse, but the investigative partners find enough question marks—including a key witness who admits that his statements were coerced—to pursue a federal claim that Sanz has been unlawfully imprisoned. Meanwhile, the powers that be, including some shadowy figures in the LAPD, will do everything they can to keep the case closed. Connelly is on autopilot here: the courtroom theatrics are bog standard, and much of the dialogue lands with a thud. This disappoints. Agent: Heather Rizzo, Rizzo Literary. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"From the streets to the courtroom, Connelly’s 38th novel hits all the right notes for fans of the well-developed characters and intelligent plotlines in the Bosch universe."—Becky Meloan, Washington Post
"Michael Connelly keeps getting better with Resurrection Walk . . . it easily ranks among his best."—Curt Schleier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"A tightly coiled novel . . . Connelly’s superb plot maintains high suspense until the final page, a hallmark of this author’s reputation."—Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel
"An immensely satisfying book."—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
"The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"A stunning combination of police and legal procedural. . . As always, Connelly makes the tedious work of investigation fascinating as he shuttles between Mickey's and Harry’s hard-bitten points of view."—Booklist (starred)
"Another solid series installment from Connelly. This Lincoln Lawyer/Harry Bosch crossover is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats as Mickey absorbs each legal setback. A brief appearance by Renee Ballard, as well as a few other familiar faces from the Harry Bosch universe, will delight fans." —Library Journal
Library Journal
10/06/2023
Dynamo defense attorney Mickey Haller is back in Connelly's latest (following The Law of Innocence). He's still working out of his Lincon Town Car, but this time he's riding the high of having gotten an innocent man released from prison. Now he's on the hunt for another wrongful conviction to appeal, while his half-brother, retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch, serves as Mickey's driver and part-time investigator. Harry identifies a potential job for Mickey in the case of Lucinda Sanz, a woman sentenced to 11 years in prison for the murder of her police deputy ex-husband. While studying the autopsy photos in the Sanz case, Harry recognizes a tattoo on the deceased officer that marks him as a member of a sheriffs gang. Inconsistencies in the case, along with the incompetent counsel who advised Lucinda to plead no contest, are enough to convince Mickey to pursue a petition of habeas corpus. Then he learns that Lucinda's ex may have been an FBI informant. Suddenly, it looks more and more likely that Lucinda was set up. VERDICT Another solid series installment from Connelly. This Lincoln Lawyer/Harry Bosch crossover is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats as Mickey absorbs each legal setback. A brief appearance by Renee Ballard, as well as a few other familiar faces from the Harry Bosch universe, will delight fans.—Vicki Briner
NOVEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
Peter Giles masterfully portrays the Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller, a defense attorney whose office is his car. Giles is joined by Titus Welliver, as LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, and Christine Lakin, as Renée Ballard. Haller, having just experienced the exhilaration of overturning an innocent man's conviction, has launched his own innocence project. With Bosch's help, Haller is now pursuing incarcerated Lucinda Sanz's innocence in the murder of her husband, a sheriff's deputy. Various adversaries are determined to thwart their mission. Drama is skillfully played out through the investigation and tense courtroom scenes. Listeners once again experience Bosch's struggles working for the defense and gain insight into Haller's enlightenment. Michael Connelly's enthralling crime/legal thriller presented by three exceptional narrators provides a totally compelling listening experience. E.Q. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-09-21
Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer team up to exonerate a woman who’s already served five years for killing her ex-husband.
The evidence against Lucinda Sanz was so overwhelming that she followed the advice of Frank Silver, the B-grade attorney who’d elbowed his way onto her defense, and pleaded no contest to manslaughter to avoid a life sentence for shooting Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Roberto Sanz in the back as he stalked out of her yard after their latest argument. But now that her son, Eric, is 13, old enough to get recruited by local gangs, she wants to be out of stir and at his side. So she writes to Mickey Haller, who asks his half-brother for help. After all his years working for the LAPD, Bosch is adamant about not working for a criminal defendant, even though Haller’s already taken him on as an associate so that he can get access to private health insurance and a UCLA medical trial for an experimental cancer treatment. But the habeas corpus hearing Haller’s aiming for isn’t, strictly speaking, a criminal defense proceeding, and even a cursory examination of the forensic evidence raises Bosch’s hackles. Bolstered by Bosch’s discoveries and a state-of-the-art digital reconstruction of the shooting, Haller heads to court to face Assistant Attorney General Hayden Morris, who has a few tricks up his own sleeve. The endlessly resourceful courtroom back-and-forth is furious in its intensity, although Haller eventually upstages Bosch, Morris, and everyone else in sight. What really stands out here, however, is that Connelly never lets you forget, from his title onward, the life-or-death issues behind every move in the game.
The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot.
