The Fifth Witness

Geschreven bij The Fifth Witness

This 559-page tome is about ”the Lincoln Lawyer”, Mickey Haller (MH). It is situated during the US mortgage/housing crisis when so many people lost their homes, sometimes because of fraudulent paperwork of their banks. Many bank foreclosures were farmed out to shady agencies, which quickly grew rich and powerful, and in this book, have connections to organized crime…
MH still practices law from the backseat of a bullet-proof Lincoln Town Car. Criminal cases dried up during the mortgage/credit crisis, so he switched to defending people threatened to be evicted from their homes. Lisa is one such client. One from hell in MH’s estimation: abandoned by her husband, fired from her job, she is emotional, opinionated, hard to control. As a campaigner against banks, seen nationwide on CNN and Fox, Lisa suddenly stands accused of the premeditated murder of the man in charge of home loans of her own bank… Mickey was her council in her case against her bank, and becomes her defense lawyer in the murder case.
Before Lisa’s murder trial, Mickey is expertly beaten up in a parking garage by two goons. It haunts him during the trial. Who ordered this? The trial and its preparation is a superbly-written account of Mickey and his adversary, the very bright state prosecutor Andrea’s schemings, strategy and tactics. Andrea has enormous resources at its disposal. Mickey not.
This reader has been careful not to give away too much, because this is a brilliantly-plotted courtroom procedural with many twists and turns. It should be required reading for criminal law students and police investigators. Superbly plotted, written and researched. Highly recommended.

This 559-page tome is about Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, the half brother of Harry Bosch, who is the hero of most of Connelly’s thrillers. It is situated during the US mortgage crisis when tons of people lost their homes, sometimes because of fraudulent paperwork of their banks. Many bank foreclosures were farmed out to shady agencies, which quickly grew rich and powerful.
MH still practices law from the backseat of a bullet-proof Lincoln Town Car. Criminal cases dried up during the financial crisis, so he switched to defending people about to be evicted from their homes. Lisa is one such client and one from hell in MH’s estimation: abandoned by her husband, fired from her job, she is emotional, opinionated and hard to control. A campaigner against banks, seen nationwide on CNN and Fox-TV, Lisa is suddenly accused of the premeditated murder of the man in charge of home loans of her own bank…
Mickey was her council in her mortgage case against her bank and defends her in the murder case.
Before Lisa’s murder trial even began, Mickey was expertly beaten up in a parking garage by two goons. It haunts him during the trial. Who ordered this? The trial and its preparation is a superbly-written account of the duel between Mickey and his adversary, the very bright State Prosecutor Andrea. She has enormous resources at her disposal. Mickey has not.
This reader has been careful not to give away too much, because this is a brilliantly-plotted courtroom procedural with many twists and turns. Recommended reading for criminal law students and police investigators. Superbly plotted, written and researched. And it contains a stern warning to fans and users of Facebook: your friends may be spies, enemies. Sooner or later, one of them may turn against you.
Highly recommended.