The Reversal by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly, The Reversal, (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 2010), 389 pages.

In The Reversal, Michael Connelly gives us another Los Angeles-based fictional crime story, this time its one that brings together two of Connelly’s most intriguing characters, veteran Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch and “Lincoln Lawyer” Mickey Haller. The two are (naturally) brought together by the intersection of a murder investigation and the court room. In this book, a convicted serial killer is granted a re-trial more than twenty years after his conviction. Defense attorney Haller is convinced by the district attorney to switch sides and re-prosecute the case. Bosch is chosen as the lead homicide investigator. Connelly employs a shifting narrative to tell the story; he writes one chapter from the perspective of prosecutor Haller, does the next chapter from the perspective of detective Bosch, alternating back and forth through the entire book.  The story shows what the characters must do to get a conviction in a case where the evidence is old, where the witnesses are either dead or missing, where the suspect is out on bail potentially looking to commit new crimes.

The Reversal again demonstrates Connelly’s skill as a natural storyteller of crime thrillers and police procedure. He engages his readers by bringing together two entertaining and believable characters in Bosch and Haller. He takes nothing for granted and provides sufficient back-story for both new readers of his fiction, as well as his regular readers of his past works. Connelly knows Los Angeles, and knows how it courts and police department operate. In typical Connelly fashion, the story is fast-paced, engaging, and peppered with numerous twists and turns, and surprise detours. Even though this book is engaging, it is somewhat bleak in that it’s regularly punctuated with death, crime, corruption, violence, cynicism, and the hard-nosed characters that seem comfortable with the grime of crime. The book is somewhat notable for its absence of joy, humor, fun or delight. Such are the lives of Connelly’s stern committed, driven principle driven characters. But this should be expected in any crime novel; anything other than this would be unusual at least, if not inauthentic. Nonetheless, The Reversal is very well written, and is a fine example of crime writing and legal/court room storytelling, that is further proof of the assertion that Connelly is one of America’s finest crime fiction writers.

The Litigators by John Grisham

The Litigators by John Grisham, (New York: Dell / Random House; 2011), 488 pages.

In The Litigators, John Grisham gives the reader another story based around a lawyer dissatisfied with the practice of law. In this book, the central character is a young Harvard graduate practicing law in a large Chicago law firm in the relatively obscure field of bond underwriting. He earns a very high income, works very long hours, hardly ever sees his wife, and is miserable. One day he decides to go to a bar instead of work, gets drunk, and ends up at the end of the day at the office of two sleazy ambulance chasing lawyers. He decides to work for them on commission, just as they start a questionable and ill-founded class action against a pharmaceutical company. Both the sleazy lawyers and the young hot-shot are pleased: the sleazy lawyers get someone to run their litigation, and the young hot-shot learns how to run a real case through the courts. While the class action case slowly falls apart, the young hot-shot learn how to make a case, how the civil courts operate, and the sleazy side of certain mass tort cases. All these skills are put to use in a case he runs concurrently, a product liability case on behalf of a young child that was seriously injured though led poisoning from a toy. Through litigating an unfounded founded class action against a pharmaceutical company, our young lawyer learns the nobility and satisfaction that comes from fight for justice on behalf of the injured. By the end of the book, our young lawyer redeems himself, puts his family life on the right track, and sets things right with the two sleazy ambulance chasers that took him in.

Readers interested in a fast paced and exciting legal drama will not be disappointed by The Litigators. This book fits into John Grisham’s general model for a legal thriller in that the young lawyers who discovers that the legal profession can be both deadly dull and sleazy, can redeem himself and so something good an honorable in that profession, in an Atticus Finch kind of way. I’m not aware of any serious errors or gaps in this book. There may be some technical errors known only to legal experts that work in the civil courts of Chicago, but only they would notice them if they were there. If there is a weakness, or element of implausibility, it’s the way our young hot-shot chose to make his career change. Is it plausible that a young Harvard hot-shot would leave his six-figure job in a big city law firm without any pre-planning, and after spending the day in a bar, go and work for a couple of sleazy ambulance chasers? Likely or not, it doesn’t matter. This is fiction, and in this book, the story works. It is because the young hot-shot makes such a dramatic and unexpected change that his redemption is so satisfying. Perhaps through the hot shot lawyer, Grisham has a message for us all: no matter how much you dislike your job, you have certain skills that can be put to use in an honorable and satisfying way that can benefit society. All you have to do is make a change and work really hard.

This book is worth reading. It’s a fast paced story that manages to entertain as well as provide an example for those that want to change their life. Go read it.