The Brass Verdict
Michael Connelly
Orion
ISBN: 978 – 0 – 7528 – 7583 – 5
October 16th, 2008 (Hardback)
Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch. Now there’s a powerful combination and when both are drawn together in The Brass Verdict by one of the most popular living authors in American crime fiction, it’s almost guaranteed that the read will be fast, furious and, ultimately, fascinating.
One of Haller’s former colleagues, Jerry Vincent, has died, leaving the down-on-his-luck Haller a fist full of cases, many of which are low earners but one of which could, potentially, eclipse that of O J Simpson and Michael Jackson’s combined. Walter Elliot, movie mogul and accused murderer is really that big. Faced with the prospect of being a big league player, Haller has to find the magic bullet that will acquit Elliot. Something Jerry Vincent had but unfortunately failed to reveal in his case notes.
Added to this is the fact that Jerry was murdered, that his death is being investigated by Bosch who is convinced the lawyer was gunned down by an active client and things suddenly don’t look quite so rosy for Haller.
As a reader might expect, this is a book that’s big on suspense and intrigue, has some fabulously drawn characters and scenarios and contains dialogue – especially when illustrating in court Q & A sessions – that fairly zips along. The trouble is because this is what the reader expects and gets, there is little by way of surprise in the writing and so rather than having experienced something different it smacks just a little of more of the same. Yes there are one or two nice twists, but only one or two, and we’re left to wonder what else might have been added to make the plot a little more exciting and a little less formulaic. There is lot to commend The Brass Verdict, but there’s also a sense that more could have been done to make it anything like as memorable as The Lincoln Lawyer
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.