This author is incapable of writing a bad book.
This time out Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) is teamed up with his half brother Harry Bosch, to get a woman- who plead guilty to killing her police officer husband out of jail- because the case was terribly flawed and her plea was coerced.
Excellent analysis of legal maneuvering to make for a successful release of the woman.
Fantastic book! ( )

I have lost count of how many of Michael Connelly’s books I have now read, but I keep coming back for more. This one features both Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch (Connelly’s principal protagonist for the last thirty years or more) and Mickey Haller (Bosch’s half-brother), who has come to be known as ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ from his preference to work in the back of his Town Car, rather than from a conventional office.

The relationship between Bosch and Haller is a fragile one. Sharing a father, they had not met during childhood (Bosch is probably at least a decade older than Haller), and have markedly different backgrounds. Bosch spent forty-odd years as a detective with LAPD while Haller has forged his career as a defence attorney, frequently pillorying the police for procedural infringements and misfounded, or even corrupt, investigations. Bosch is adamant that his name should not be associated in any of Haller’s cases that involve attacking the police.

This novel follows the travails of a woman convicted some years ago of the manslaughter of her ex-husband, a Deputy Sheriff. At her trial, rather than pleading not guilty, she had simply not contended the charge, in recognition of which she had received a lighter sentence. Now, however, she is adamant that she is innocent, and wants Haller to represent her. Initially reluctant to become involved in the case of someone convicted of shooting a law enforcement officer, Bosch does become involved, acting as one of Haller’s investigators.

As always, Connelly sucks the reader in almost effortlessly. Seemingly just a few minutes after picking the book up I found myself fifty pages in, and entirely engrossed. There is nothing poetic or artificially stylish about Connelly’s writing. Having started out as a crime report. He knows how to set out a story with clarity and conciseness, and few words are wasted. He also knows his characters inside out, having been writing about them for decades. Consequently, their actions and dialogue seem utterly plausible. He also captures the spirit of the city admirably – I feel that I know these neighbourhoods as well as my own.

Connelly has been careful to age Bosch in real time, so I do wonder how much longer he can continue. Connelly has, however, also developed a wide network of regular characters, the most prominent of whom is Renee Ballard. Much younger than Bosch, she has developed many of his traits: principally obduracy, cussedness and a lack of concern for what her colleagues think of her. While she appears only fleetingly in this book, I am sure that she is ready to pick up Bosch’s mantle, following his mantra that, ‘Everybody counts, or nobody counts’. ( )

People in prison claiming to be innocent, contact defense lawyer Mickey Haller. Naturally, he gets a lot of requests. In order to help him determine possible cases, he hired his half brother, retired, LAPD, detective, Harry Bosch, to read the letters and help decide which ones are genuine and might be resolved.
One letter came from Lucinda Sanz, who has been in prison for five years, charged with killing her ex-husband, a sheriff’s deputy, even though she has denied it consistently. She is in prison after signing a no contest plea on this advice of her lawyer who readers will hate almost immediately.
Sanz has been away from her young son for five years. He is now thirteen and she is afraid that he will be attracted to joining a gang.
After speaking with Sanz, both Bosch and Haller decide to look into her case. Their job becomes more complicated as they have to prove not only her innocence but also a gross misapplication of California law by the state courts.
As Bosch and Haller begin their investigation, they quickly discover that her lawyer committed some questionable acts as the sheriff’s department pushed to get the case resolved quickly. And the sheriff’s department has some questionable activities and policies as well.
RESURRECTION WALK builds a wonderful plot as Haller and Bosch try to break down the stories they encounter to prove the truth.
The later scenes in the courtroom highlight the way the justice system can work with a prosecutor who doesn’t let the truth get into his way.
The one problem I have with the book is when a court decision goes against them during the trial, they don’t use another method to use the evidence.
The story maintains both interest and frustration as the reader tries to guess what is going to happen and how to get passed their roadblocks. Michael Connelly’s longtime skills are even better. ( )

Resurrection Walk: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly splits the time between Bosch and his brother, Mickey Haller. At its core, the novel is about a flawed justice system and trying to get innocent people released. But, the read is far more complicated than that.

Mickey Haller is doing pretty well. He just got Jorge Ochoa out after years of being wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and he likes the feeling that kind of victory. He enjoyed that thrill of victory as Ochoa walked out, a sort of “resurrection walk.”

These days Bosch works for him so that he has insurance. Bosch was going to let the cancer do what it did, but changed his mind. Bosch is fighting, and when he isn’t in treatment, he is driving Haller around and reading letters from inmates seeking help to overturn convictions.

It is their own version of the “Innocence Project” and Bosch thinks he may have spotted a case worth looking at in greater detail. Lucinda Sanz was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of her Los Angeles County Deputy Husband. She pleaded nolo to manslaughter as a plea deal. She has no idea who killed her husband in the front yard of their house, or why, but she took the deal because her public defender said to do so. Now she urgently needs to get out and back home to her son.

While Haller is doing various things, Bosch does some poking around and is soon questioning the merits of the case against her. Overturning her plea is going to be damn near impossible, but going to Federal Court might be a step in the right direction. That case and the fight to get Lucinda Sanz out of prison is the primary overarching storyline.

Other cases, Bosch’s cancer fight, and various ongoing matters make up secondary storylines in a complex novel.

While the caner fight is tough reading for those of who have gone through it with a loved one, the overall novel does not spend a ton of time in that storyline. Many things are going on in Resurrection Walk: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly. The result is a highly entertaining read that pulls the reader along at a rapid clip. The book is well worth your time.

After the publisher skipped my NetGalley review request, my reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive App and the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023 ( )

Excellent story but boy the dialogue and some of the interactions are just terrible ( )