Customer Reviews: Read 101 more reviews...
 Brass Verdict December 1, 2008
I thought the book was great! Started reading it and could not put it down.
 The Brass Verdict December 1, 2008
As usual, Michael Conneley offered a great read. His characters are well developed, and allow the reader to feel that the character is known to her or him. The plot was engaging, and kept me reading until the end. I am fairly new to Mr. Conneley's work, having read the Lincoln Lawyer earlier this year, and will now seek out other books written by this author.
 Where's Harry? December 1, 2008
The Brass Verdict was well written, as all of Connelly's novels are, in my opinion, but I felt a little deceived by the description of the book as a "Mickey Haller/Harry Bosch" vehicle. To me, Bosch's presence was so negligible that he might as well not have been written in at all. If you like the Mickey Haller character, you'll probably love the book. However, if you like Harry Bosch as much as I do, then I think you'll be as disappointed with this book as I was.
Brilliant with Haller and Harry Bosch November 30, 2008
Michael Connelly's 'The Brass Verdict' is, in my opinion, an amazing feat. First, let me confess that I am not a huge fan of 'lawyer' novels. That aside, I read Connelly's 'The Lincoln Lawyer' last year and was completely bowled over. With super tight plotting and no obscure judicial rumblings, Connelly deftly sliced and diced his way through a gripping tale. Now with his new book, 'The Brass Verdict', I am standing up cheering for more... yeah, you heard right. And I'm the reader who doesn't like lawyer books!
His main character, Counselor Mickey Haller is twice divorced but not bitter; likable in a principled way but willing to bend the rules and finally, he's kind of a wuss when it comes down to violence and sometimes it does come down to violence. All the supporting characters like his ex-wives, his investigator friend and even his chauffeur read like real people who help drive the plot forward, not just cliches who hang like drapes in the background.
His villains have been done before but, but what villains haven't? At least they ring true in the context of the story and there are always a few clever red herrings or plot twists scattered throughout, plus a few classic OMGs at the end. However, in The Brass Verdict, there's another unique twist: Harry Bosch, Connelly's stalwart hero in a dozen previous books, shows up as the head detective investigating a studio mogul's wife's murder. What is unusual is that we see a completely new Harry Bosch through Haller's eyes, and believe me, it's not one we've seen before, what with the "flat, cold eyes" and a nasty bag of tricks he uses to try and trick Haller into betraying the hallowed lawyer/client privilege. Things get even edgier when Haller's little girl wants to know why he always trys to get the bad guys out of jail, something all of us sometimes wonder about defense attorneys. There are also subplots of FBI subterfuge, mafia involvement, surfer hijinks but thankfully, no gooey love story tagged on to appease the dewy-eyed reader.
Indeed, there are a lot of courtroom scenes in this book, but they dovetail nicely into the plot and Haller's superb first person narrative plants you firmly at the defense table with all the info you need to have a pleasant and not overly taxing read. I think the verdict's clearly in - grab The Lincoln Lawyer first, read it, then go out and buy The Brass Verdict. You won't regret it.
Great read, BUT....... November 30, 2008
I was on a "pre-release" order list for this and three other books. Imagine how disappointed I was to find all four books on the retail bookshelves more than a week before I received my copies. Further, they were priced below (Sams/Costco) what I had paid through Amazon. Lesson learned!
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