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“The Reversal” by Michael Connelly

Posted by on February 12, 2020

Copyright 2010 by Hieronymous, Inc. Published by Orion Books.

This is number 3 in the series of “Lincoln Lawyer” books by Connelly, all featuring Mickey Haller as the lawyerly protagonist. In both of the books in the series that I have read he teams up with LAPD homicide detective Hieronymous Bosch, the protagonist in many of Connelly’s other mysteries.

This book is about Haller’s involvement in the retrial of a convicted child killer who has spent 24 years in prison for a crime he swears he did not commit. His conviction was overturned because the semen stain on the girl’s dress, when finally tested for DNA, turned out to be not his, as was alleged in the first trial, but her stepfather’s. So he gets a new trial, this time with one less crucial piece of incriminating evidence and one new path for giving the jury reasonable doubt.

For reasons that are not totally convincing, the LA DA asks Mickey Haller, a lifelong defense attorney, to act as special prosecutor. It gives Connelly an opportunity to have Haller and his ex-wife, Maggie McPherson (or “Maggie McFierce”), a very capable prosecutor herself, to be on the same side for a change. This is a once-in-a-lifetime reversal of roles for him: prosecutor instead of defense. So does the eponymous “reversal” refer to his unusual courtroom role or the overturning of the conviction? Take your pick. Maybe both. A twofer.

Haller jumps to the prosecution with gusto, convinced of the man’s guilt. But one of the first things he does, when they finally get to the courtroom, is to give the man his freedom by declining to oppose his release on personal recognizance. A convicted killer released without even a bail bond? Unheard of. And probably unwise. But necessary to move the story along. Haller’s reasoning: he wants to give the killer a chance to do something stupid. Uh, yeah. Put the public at risk.

The released convict gets round-the-clock surveillance, something which I am sure the LAPD did not have in their budget and would not endear Haller to them. But follow him they did and while he didn’t commit any further crimes while under surveillance, he did take some odd trips at night to secluded locations which gave rise to the suspicion that he was revisiting crime scenes and might be a serial killer. But was bail revoked then? Nope, not then and not when they observed him probably buying a gun. This seems like either prosecutorial malpractice or police acquiescence, neither being something to admire.

I won’t reveal the outcome of the trial, but, as with the other Haller book that I have read, it doesn’t turn out in the best possible way for him.

The book started slowly and, at least in the paperback edition, the print was exceptionally small which made reading a chore. But it picked up steam about a third of the way in and, with the help of better reading glasses, I read the last half of the book in a single day. It wasn’t the best book – or even the best Connelly – that I have ever read, but it did keep my interest.

6 out of 10.

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