The Lincoln Lawyer

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Adam Grupper

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The best-selling legal thriller - and CBS TV series - has charismatic defense attorney Mickey Haller taking on a slam-dunk court case involving a Beverly Hills playboy - but as it spirals into a nightmare, he finds himself in a fight for his life.

Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers - they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence, it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice.

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney's dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career. Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame.

To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal - this time to save his own life.

©2005 Hieronymus, Inc. All Rights Reserved (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

• 2005 Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award, Mystery/Thriller

"A fast-paced, unpredictable ride." (Bookmarks Magazine)

"[The Lincoln Lawyer] has all the right stuff: a sinuous plot, crisp dialogue, and a roster of reprehensible characters." (Booklist, starred review)

Great Story

Good storytelling. Fantastic production. Strong characters. Definitely will read more of his books. Enjoyable and clean.

Great first in this series

Attorney friends begged me to read these so I started and was not disappointed at all

Entertaining

Looking for something as a background while I do manual labor this entertains without distracting.

Great legal thriller with an outstanding narrator

I'm not a particular fan of legal fiction or even crime fiction, but a few good Bosch books by the same author brought me to this first book in the author's legal series. The writing is crisp, the plot engaging, and the narration is superb.

Refresh to the Movie

I remember the movie. I decided to listen to it before I watch the movie again. I really enjoyed the Audible and now look forward to watch the movie to see how close did they get it to the Book(Audible).

Simple but gripping

I originally heard of this book through the movie that was made years ago, and after watching the Netflix film adaptation, I decided to listen to the book. I enjoyed, picking out the similarities and differences between the three adaptations.

I highly recommend any of them if you like crime and drama stories .

The voice actor with the audible is really good, and as a good job, separating the voices of the characters and makes it entertaining to listen to .

Van Nuys Law

If you are wondering how much Michael Connelly’s 2005 book “The Lincoln Lawyer” is like the 2011 movie starring Matthew McConaughey, skip this review. I can’t tell you. I haven’t seen the movie - yet. It is in my Netflix queue.


If you want to know how true Connelly’s book is to Los Angeles county in general, and Van Nuys in particular (where the trial is set), read on. Connelly makes the Van Nuys Government Complex, which has always seemed to a tragically designed modern concrete fortress fighting an encroaching seedy commercial district of auto repair shops, pawn brokers and bail bondsman, into an inviting and vibrant public square. His description of the nearby canyons is spot-on, and so is the freeways.


At one of my first appearances as an attorney, I saw Leslie Abramson, who was defending Lyle and Eric Menendez, furiously smoking a cigarette in front of one of the Van Nuys courthouses, pacing back and forth in a powder blue suit and heels. At the time, I didn’t understand Abramson’s decision to defend the pale, mole-like brothers I’d glimpsed once, in shackles, who were accused of murdering their wealthy parents.


Connelly’s book gave me some insight into why criminal defense attorneys do what they do. A lot of what Mickey Haller, Connelly’s protagonist does, can be chalked up as “plausible deniability”, or “deliberate ignorance.” Haller doesn’t live easily with either. However, he’s more than comfortable paying off bail bondsmen and court clerks for referrals, and running various money making scams with a coterie of low lifes.


Haller’s the stereotypical ‘scum sucking bottom dweller’, until his wealthy client, Louis Roulet, makes him rethink what he’s doing.


The day I saw Abramson in Van Nuys, she did something that took real nerve and courage at the time, and I admired her for it: she wasn‘t wearing pantyhose. Abramson, like Connelly’s Haller, was taking a stand. She flaunted convention. Abramson was doing it her way, as Haller does in “The Lincoln Lawyer”.

The plot was really very engaging, and I didn’t know Haller was going to resolve his situation until almost the end.

I had real fun listening to this book, especially since I know the neighborhoods and the Courts Connelly is describing. I did find one thing jarring, though: Connelly kept having his characters address the judges as “Judge.” There’s a Los Angeles Superior Court Rule of Court that instructs attorneys to address judges as “Your Honor”, and never “Sir”, “Ma’m”, or “Judge.” That was a distraction for me as an attorney, but that won’t distract a non-lawyer.

I did not really like the narration. Adam Grupper has an East Coast accent, and Haller is a native Californian.

I liked “The Lincoln Lawyer” so much that I went on a “book bender” and purchased the whole Mickey Haller series - after listening to “The Brass Verdict“ to make sure “The Lincoln Lawyer“ wasn‘t a fluke. So, this is my Mickey Haller review, 1 of 4.

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Connelly is a Can't Miss Author

I have never been disappointed with any of Connelly's novels. His research is impeccable. I love his characters and the mystery is always believable and unique.

Start of a wonderful legal thriller series

This one is from several years back in my Audible library. Meet Mickey Haller. He's a defense lawyer, one of the best. His office is his car, a Lincoln; he has two giving him a backup office just in case. His driver and bodyguard is an ex-client. There is also a girlfriend, a research assistant, and an investigator. LA super cop Harry Bosch is Mickey's half brother, same father. In the Lincoln Lawyer, Haller is enticed to change sides for a few months to act is special prosecutor to lend credibility to a very public case.

This is Book 1 in the marvelous 5 book (so far) Mickey Hallar series.

Novels do not get better than this!

Great Narrator !!!!

One of the better books I've listened to this year. Adam Grupper
really brings this story to life.