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    The Brass Verdict: A Novel
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    The Brass Verdict: A Novel
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    The Brass Verdict: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Brass Verdict: A Novel

    Written by Richard Powers

    Narrated by Peter Giles

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.

    Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.

    Bringing together Michael Connelly's two most popular characters, The Brass Verdict is sure to be his biggest book yet.

    A Hachette Audio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateOct 14, 2008
    ISBN9781600244001
    Unavailable
    The Brass Verdict: A Novel
    Author

    Richard Powers

    Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. His books have been translated into 36 languages and have won many awards. He lives with his family in Florida.

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    Reviews for The Brass Verdict

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    • 5/5
      This is an excellent book and seemed to read itself! Very difficult to put book down and plenty of twists and turns. Feels quite different to other legal thrillers.
      Now read the first two in the series and have enjoyed them both - a lot! A good reading style, a good story, good characters, twists and turns, pace in the story, good courtroom action, clever story lines and flawed main character. What more could you want?
      I look forward to continuing with this series.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting addition to the Harry Bosch series because we finally get to see Bosch interact with Mickey Haller (from the Lincoln Lawyer book and movie). And we learn that Bosch and Haller are half-brothers. In fact most of the action revolves around Haller with Bosch popping in and out.Haller has been on a year's sabbatical when he gets a call to appear before the Chief Judge. He is told that a friend and sometime associate, Jerry Vincent, has been murdered and he left the continuance of his practice to Haller. There are a number of cases but the biggest one is the murder trial of Hollywood mogul Walter Elliott who is accused of murdering his wife and her lover. It is due to start shortly and the client agrees to go with Haller providing there is no delay in the trial. Harry Bosch is one of the detectives investigating Vincent's murder and he wants to know what is in the files that could help with the investigation. Haller agrees to work with him providing it doesn't breach client confidentiality. Haller and Bosch plant a news story that could put Haller in danger so Bosch assigns people to watch him. There isn't much evidence against Elliott and he says he is innocent. Haller finds a way to counter the gunshot residue found on his client's hands and it looks like Elliott will get off. Then fireworks explode and Haller learns something about the jury allocation process that points to tampering. Haller seems to be permanently off practising criminal law but we'll see.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: A lawyer is murdered and Haller inherits all of his cases. However, there is also someone out to kill whoever defends a particular case, and this puts Haller in the killer's sights. Review: Interesting story in which Haller and Bosh meet; they realize that they are half-brothers.
    • 4/5
      Mickey Haller meets Harry Bosch and, in several ways, it gets personal.This is Michael Connelly’s second novel featuring Mickey Haller, known as the Lincoln Lawyer because of his predilection for working from the back of his Lincoln Town Car, rather than from a conventional office. The opening chapter is set in 1992 and presents Haller acting as defence attorney for a client facing two murder charges. The prosecuting counsel is Jerry Vincent, an Assistant District Attorney well known to Haller. They have faced each other in court several times and have even occasionally socialised together. This time, although the case should really have been a slam dunk for the prosecution, Haller lights upon a convincing line of defence, and secures an astonishing acquittal. Vincent is left so devastated that he throws in the towel as a prosecutor, setting up instead as a defence attorney in his own right.Fifteen years later, Vincent has a fairly thriving defence practice, and has come to view his embarrassing defeat at Haller’s hands as an epiphany. Indeed, not only does he hold no grudge towards Haller, but has entered into an unofficial pact whereby they both stand in for each other in case either should be indisposed. However, as he prepares for his biggest ever case, the defence of Walter Elliott, a prominent and immensely wealthy film producer accused of murdering his wife and her lover, he is murdered outside his office. As a consequence of their pact, Haller, who had been on a sabbatical for a year following the climax of his previous case in which he ended up being shot by his client, finds he has inherited Vincent’s caseload.Initially this galvanises Haller, and he throws himself at the work with renewed vigour. As he reviews the caseload, however, he discovers certain anomalies in some of the cases, and in particular that of Walter Elliott. He also finds himself being interviewed by the detective leading the investigation in Vincent’s murder – a certain Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch.This allows Connelly to drop into a new gear. Previously we have encountered Bosch as the protagonist of his own novels, with everything focused around him. Indeed, two of them were even narrated in the first person by him. Here we get to see him from a new perspective. Connelly handles this well, and Bosch, already decidedly plausible as a character, solidifies even further.Connelly also shows his ability to switch sub-genres within the crime field. While there is a murder investigation wound throughout the book, it is principally a courtroom drama, and Connelly manages this with the same adroitness as John Grisham. He also manages to throw in several wholly unexpected twists, including the final resolution of the story, which I didn’t spot coming at all.Another fine addition to a fine series.
    • 3/5
      Great, fun read.
    • 5/5
      This is a book primarily about attorney Haller, not detective Bosch. It is a book about a lawyer, about putting together a court case, and picking a jury. If you are looking for live action and Mickey Spillane type shoot-outs and fistfights, this isn't the book. Most lawyer dramas are written by guys who eeked their way through law school and then never found the time or the heart to actually practice law. That generally shows in their writing. Connelly is not a lawyer. He is a crime reporter or, at least, has worked as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Coincidentally, the Times Building on 1st and Broadway is a block from the Criminal Courts Building and Connelly shows his familiarity with the building with his descriptions of how crowded and impossible the elevators are. His descriptions of picking a jury and examining witnesses seem to be based not merely on seeing courtroom drama movies, but on his watching actual trials and interviewing actual trial lawyers.

      This book is a good, quick read. Haller is finishing a year off, much of that spent in recovery. The chief judge calls him in and tells him another attorney was killed and Haller just inherited his caseload, including a whale of a case involving a movie producer accused of a double murder, the producer's wife and her lover. The producer is used to calling the shots and is a difficult client. He wants the trial done with so he can get on with his life. Never mind that Haller has barely a week to prepare.
    • 4/5
      Excellent! Fast paced, great story.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic read...surprising ending. Reflection of life in it's truest sence. This book reminds me of a line in Ceelo Green's song Sometimes, which goes like this...."sometimes getting evil will get you even".
    • 4/5
      Another solid legal thriller with Mickey Haller defending a murderer.
    • 4/5
      this book explains the connection between Harry & Mickey
    • 4/5
      The second installment of the Lincoln Lawyer series, "The Brass Verdict" is sure to please fans of Michael Connelly. This book contained his two main characters, Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch, as well as a small appearance by crime beat reporter Jack McEvoy.

      The book starts in 1992, when Mickey Haller was still at the public defender's office. Involved in a double murder trial, Haller has evidence that the prosecutor, Jerry Vincent, used some underhanded tactics in the trial. Vincent, knowing his career as a prosecutor would be finished if the information came to light, tried to make a deal with Mickey. However Haller went for the jugular and got his client an acquittal. Fast forward 15 years and believe it or not, Vincent and Haller are friends and stand in for each other when one cannot make it to court. Apparently, leaving the prosecutor's office was the best thing ever for Vincent's pocket book. He never would have been this well off if he had stayed.

      Haller has taken a one year hiatus from practicing law (we later find for a drug dependency problem due to being shot in the previous book) and is thinking about coming back to work slowly when he is called into chief judge Mary Holder's office. She informs Mickey that Jerry Vincent had been murdered the previous night and that Jerry had named Mickey to inherit his law practice. Among Vincent's cases was the high profile murder case of studio mogul Walter Elliot, who stood accused of killing his wife and her lover at his Malibu beach house.

      These cases, and especially the Elliot case, would set Mickey up quite nicely, although it was not really the slow comeback he had planned. He meets Harry Bosch, who is lead investigator on the Vincent murder, and soon begins their strange love-hate relationship. Vincent kept all his trial strategy on his laptop, along with hard copies in his briefcase, both of which were stolen after his murder. Mickey was forced to reconstruct Vincent's calendar from the case files in Vincent's office. Bosch is certain the key to Vincent's killing lies in one of the case files, but Mickey is unable (and unwilling) to breach the attorney-client privilege.

      The main focus of the book was in fact the Elliot murder case. However, there was another case Mickey thought was somehow connected. He racked his brain until he finally found it. Also interesting was his handling of a one time professional surfer accused of theft, who Mickey ultimately hired to drive his Lincoln. Bosch's investigation of Vincent's murder was seamlessly integrated into the plot making this book a treat for both Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch fans.

      I took off one star because the ending came out of nowhere. Mickey had found the person pulling the strings with information received from Cisco, his investigator. This is fine except that information was never shared with the reader until Haller dropped his bomb. I like to try to solve mysteries along with the protagonist. I am not always good at it, but at least I like to give it a try. I felt cheated on this one because there was little chance of solving this without the crucial piece of evidence dropped on us at the end. I will admit it was a shocking ending, but not the way I prefer it being presented.
    • 4/5
      Second book in Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller series.
      Mickey's had to take a break from the bar and is just about to take his first steps back to work when all of a collegue's cases land in his lap, including a very high profile murder case that could set up his reputation, if he wins.
      Another Connelley favourite, Harry Bosch, is involved and he and Mickey try to play each other to get information.
      Things are not obvious and Mickey tries to get himself back into play as a defence attourney, pllling strings, and doing his best for his possibly innocent cleint.
    • 4/5
      Another solid legal thriller with Mickey Haller defending a murderer.
    • 3/5
      Read this one after stumbling into "The Lincoln Lawyer" and I may read more of this series.
      Legal thriller and easy read.
      Read in 2011
    • 5/5
      I've now revised my list of FAVORITE books and put The Brass Verdict at #1. We have Michael Haller, known as the Lincoln Lawyer because he doesn't like working out of an office and prefers to work from the back seat of his Lincoln Towncar. We have Walter Elliott, president of a soon-to-be major movie studio who's accused of murdering his wife and her lover. Then there's Harry Bosch, a back from retirement detective, a man of few words, but much action. The courtroom drama, from the judge to the jury selection to the prosecutor all build to create an excellent story of twists, turns, and surprise after surprise.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable mystery even though I figured most of it out early, it still was a good book. Listened to it on CD and kept ones attention.
    • 4/5
      A thoroughly absorbing, legal thriller. Fast-paced with credible courtroom scenes, not too long or boring.
    • 4/5
      Yep, you could say I'm hooked on Mickey Haller and the Lincoln Lawyer series after I read this in about two days.I found this one a little confusing with it starting when he was with the Public Defender's office and so much left unsaid between Lincoln Lawyer and this one, but I think I eventually sorted it out. Did not see the Walter Elliot twist coming, nor did I see that with Harry Bosch.On to the Reversal. Glad to be reading this years later where I know that Haller didn't walk away.
    • 3/5
      "Love to hear from Lincoln Lawyer again - however, ending is not dramatic as the storyline- leaves you wanting more. "
    • 5/5
      It's been a while since I've picked up a Michael Connelly book, but I've no idea why that should be - as he's one of the best living thriller writers we have. It was a pleasure to get reacquainted with him here. The Brass Verdict appears to be a follow-up to The Lincoln Lawyer but that doesn't matter as it didn't spoil my enjoyment one iota.Mickey Haller is a wonderful character - a lawyer with an addictive past who's clean now and wants to get his career back on track, but is initially startled by the way this takes place at the beginning of the novel. I was gripped by the descriptions of how Mickey makes a go of things again, and he's ably supported by one of his exes and her new boyfriend, both of whom work for him. They're a great little team and I was rooting all the way through for them to succeed.I also enjoyed Mickey's relationship with his most recent ex-wife (not the one who works for him!) and daughter, and will look forward to reading more about the three of them.As always with Connelly, the courtroom scenes are excellent, and the twists and turns of both the crime and the case as it plays out are very exciting indeed. Those surprises just keep on coming and I will certainly not leave it so long again before my next Connelly fix.Verdict: Gripping and humane. 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      After a one year absence, Mickey Haller is back in the courtroom having inherited a practice from an acquaintance who has just been murdered. He's got a big, money-producing case with movie mogul, Walter Elliott. Harry Bosch is investigating and using Haller as bait . Fast-paced, courtroom drama..the ending is a little far-fetched and disappointing.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy Mr Connelly's books, particularly the Harry Bosch novels. However, I felt about this one, the same as I felt about The Lincoln Lawyer. It was a bit dull.In the Bosch books, it's "just another chapter before sleep". I didn't feel that way about this. Enjoyable enough but I think most US authors struggle with sympathetic defence lawyer characters, simply because the clients are pretty much always guilty and the reader loses sympathy with the person trying to get them off.Only Perry Mason ever got away with his clients always being innocent!Interesting to see Bosch from another point of view though and he's pretty scary.
    • 4/5
      Michael Connelly is one of my very favorite writers, so I was very excited to get his latest in my hands.

      "Starring" Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer), with second chair inhabited by Harry Bosch, this courtroom procedural is full of surprises and thoroughly enjoyable.

      Haller, fresh off a voluntary sabbatical from the practice of law, inherits the caseload of a friend of his who has been murdered. The biggest case involves a studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover, and Haller is off and running.

      The only real problem I had with this one is that having Bosch in a secondary role was disconcerting to me!

      Other than that -- a solid read!
    • 5/5
      Mickey Haller ( Lincoyln Lawyer) is back and inherits cases that belong to Jerry Vincent that was murdered. Harry Bosch enters the seen. Mickey Haller And Harry Bosch worked together to find out who and why Jerry was killed.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! Can't believe it'd just been sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. Couldn't turn the pages fast enough and luckily I was on vacation and could just enjoy. I sure hope that Mickey Haller comes back for more and I'd love to see more with he and Bosch teaming up.
    • 4/5
      The 2nd Mickey Haller book by Michael Connelly gets off to a rather slow start with lots of background trial stuff and some revelations about Haller's life between book 1 (The Lincoln Lawyer) and this book. However, around half way through the book, things start to pick up and the plot starts to thicken. The introduction of Connelly's other 'her' - Harry Bosch livens things up and the story twists and turns to an interesting conclusion. The book is probably 150 pages too long and you do sometimes feel that there is too big a jump from book 1 to this book, but apart from that, a good read. Connelly is clearly grooming the Mickey Haller charachter to take over from Harry Bosch as he appears to be in his last story or two now before retirement
    • 5/5
      I watch thrillers about lawyers and court every now and then, some of them are really good. I liked the Runaway Jury, though, not being American, and really unfamiliar with jurisdiction practices, I could hardly follow the jury selection part. But now I know what happened, because I have red The Brass Verdict, and it explained the process in details. Which was not boring at all, if you might think. Besides that, there are plenty of other details about the judiciary processes and work, really well integrated into the story, without being too educative.If you are into very fast paced action with dead bodies on every second page, then this book is not for you. But if you enjoy suspense built page by page, I recommend this novel. The characters are alive, well drawn, likable. The narrative and the dialogues are well written. The story unfolds in a good rhythm. Sometimes I found out the next step by myself, but later it turned out that something entirely else was at stake, and the story took a twist. And there is a twist at the end, you can bet.
    • 4/5
      My second Connelly book and my first with Harry Bosch. Great distraction for a hot weekend. Connelly can write a page turner and it's full of moral ambiguity. I have not read any of the Bosch books but now I will. For what this book is, a thriller, a distraction, it's very well done. It doesn't have the complexity of Tana French or Asa Larssen but it's a great read.
    • 3/5
      First of all, this is not a Harry Bosch book as advertised. It's Mickey Haller and while he's an interesting protagonist, I might have skipped this and read on in the bosch series. This was not my favorite Connelly novel, it seemed a bit shallow and predictable; never really grabbed me in any way to make me eager to read on. A lot of unfounded and random stuff in it too (drug addiction, rehab, sudden revelations). Read it for enjoyment, but it's missing the gritty style of connelly that I find so entertaining.
    • 4/5
      This was the 2nd book about Mickey Haller. Actually, this is listed primarily as a Harry Bosch story, but Mickey Haller really takes over all the action. I've read 4 books now featuring Haller, and this is my least favorite. Partly it's because of his addiction history that is suddenly spring upon us. He was shot at the end of the previous book, and now we suddenly find that he has had a year away from the law. During that time he had surgery, became addicted to pain killers, became totally irresponsible and screwed up his relationship with his daughter and ex-wife, went to rehab, and is now trying to get back into the law. I'm sure that would have been a fascinating story. It would have been a good one for Connelly to write. However, just springing it on us as an aside in this book was too big of a leap for me. It didn't sound at all like the guy I got to know in book #1. That spoiled things for me a bit, but it was still a very compelling read. Great travel book.