The Reversal

The Reversal is the third Lincoln Lawyer novel by Michael Connelly. Defense attorney Mickey Haller makes the stunning decision to accept a special appointment from the District Attorney of Los Angeles, to prosecute the retrial of Jason Jessup, a man who has sat in jail for 24 years for a crime he allegedly committed 24 years in the past. The crime, a murder of a 12 year old girl, was done before DNA evidence was allowed into the court, but the DNA from sperm found on the girl’s dress was not from Jessup, which seems to contradict the guilty verdict which had sent him to live in prison. This was a potentially highly embarrassing to the DA’s office and the DA told Haller that he had to step outside of his office to get an attorney who would be believed to push the matter forward. Pretrial publicity about this matter was highly favorable to Jessup.

 

Haller’s decision to take the case gave him the opportunity to name his exwife Maggie McPherson, as his second chair for the case. She was not appreciated by the new DA since she had supported Haller in his recent failed attempt to run for DA, and she had been moved out of LA’s central office to the backwater of the Van Nuys division. One of the conditions of Haller accepting the case is that when they got a guilty verdict, that Maggie would be shuttled back to the major crimes in the downtown office. The trial also meant that Haller’s half-brother, Harry Bosch would work for Haller as his investigator.

 

This was a high action drama, great court room action, and lots of content from outside the courtroom to support the plot. There were surprises that I did not see coming. I keep wondering which of these books is Connelly at his best, and it’s hard to choose from this master of the crime drama.

 

East Coast Don reviewed this book 15 years ago, and his more complete review is available in the blog. I recommend you to that.