I’m generally a big Michael Connelly fan, with the newer series featuring Renee Ballard (sometimes partnered with Harry Bosch) probably being my favorite, but I’m also a Lincoln Lawyer fan (which I read with an image of Matthew McConaghey etched in my brain). So I was especially happy to get an ARC of The Law of Innocence from Little, Brown and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

In this latest courtroom drama (among my favorite genres, when done well), LA attorney Mickey Haller violates the well-worn rule about the person who serves as their own lawyer having a fool for a client. As he leaves a post-verdict celebratory party at a bar, Mickey is behind the wheel of one of his Lincolns (first surprise — where is his driver?) when he is pulled over by an aggressive LAPD patrolman who finds a body in the trunk. Mickey is charged with murder and goes to jail rather than post a $5M bond (he really shouldn’t have pissed off that judge!).

As if having the LAPD and the judge against him isn’t enough, Micky soon has the staff at the jail against him as a result of his exposure of jailhouse corruption . Fortunately for Mickey, he knows a first-rate police detective (his half-brother Harry Bosch) who has time on his hands following his retirement from the LAPD.

Mickey’s goal isn’t just exoneration on the murder charge. He is well aware of the unwritten “law of innocence.” Similar to the physical law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, the law of innocence is that for every person found not guilty of a crime, there is someone out there who actually IS guilty of that crime. So Mickey sets out to expose the true murderer. I loved this book. It’s Connelly in fine form. I didn’t even miss Renee 🙂 Five stars.