The Brass Verdict brings back Mickey Haller

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly

Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller returns in Michael Connelly's last mystery/thriller. And this time, Connelly teams him up (sort of) with Harry Bosch, the author's long-running detective character.

Haller is not your paragon of virtue, but he is clever and interesting.

Haller is returning from a year off, much of it spent in recovery from drug abuse. He's not really ready to restart his law practice, but he gets tossed into the deep end when an attorney-friend gets whacked and Mickey inherits his practice.

This attorney has a franchise case. He's defending the head of a movie studio who is accused of murdering his wife and her lover.

The characters are good and the plot is interesting, but Connelly could use an editor. This a 300-page book spread out over 400 pages. It doesn't carry the tension of The Lincoln Lawyer, and that was disappointing.

The book ends of Haller saying he's getting out of the lawyer game. I hope not. He's too good of a character to let go. A writer of Connelly's quality can still have a lot of fund with him.


View all my reviews.

Christian Science Monitor book page: interesting stuff

• A good book review in the mainstream media (MSM) is getting harder to find.

Not many of the MSM have retained strong book pages or coverage. The New York Times, of course, is the exception, as it has always been. There is not only the Sunday Book Review, which I have read for many years, but through the week there is full coverage of the book industry, author news, etc.

There is also the Paper Cuts group blog of the New York Times.

The Washington Post is another place where you can get good reviews, but the utter neglect with which the Post treats the design and presentation of the book review section borders on criminal. The folks at the post could do much, much better in presenting their excellent reviews.

The Christian Science Monitor is another of those MSM organizations that has not abandoned the book completely. Check out the CMS's book page and the Chapter and Verse blog, written by Marjorie Kehe. Lots of interesting stuff -- news, reviews, reader comments -- in this cozy little corner of the web.

A century too soon for Cubs fans

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now that fans of the Chicago Cubs have been put out of their impending misery (you didn't really think the Cubs were going to the Series, did you?), they can retire for the winter with this book and wish they had been born about 100 years earlier.

When the Cubs really did go to the World Series.

And they did so at end of one of the most exciting pennant races baseball has ever seen. It was a three-way battle between the Cubs (Tinker to Evers to Chance), the Giants of John McGraw and Christy Mathewson, and the Pirate of Honus Wagner.

Cait Murphy tells this story with a lot of gusto and a style that sometimes gets in the way of the drama. Still, the research she has done is solid and extensive. I liked this book at the end much better than at the beginning and would recommend it to any fan of baseball history.

Writing the Amazon-ready review

• Rule No. 1 in writing an Amazon review: Be honest. Rule No. 2: Keep it short.

Lunch conversation with my good friend Cyn Mobley the other day turned toward our writing group and the things the group could do to help each other promote our books. She asked me to come up with a list of things each of us should do.

One of the things on the list was writing a review for Amazon.com.

Aaron Shepard, in his book Aiming at Amazon, notes that reviews on a book’s Amazon page “have emerged as one of the most powerful influences on book sales.” Shepard also points out that many authors, publishers and friends have tried to game the Amazon system by writing reviews under false names or asking friends who have never read the book to do so.

He urges authors not to engage in that kind of dishonesty.

So do I. Writing, to me, is a semi-sacred act. It should not be violated.

With that in mind, here are some basic rules for writing the Amazon-ready review:

• Rule No. 1. Be honest. If you don’t like the book or a part of the book and you feel strongly enough about it, say so. Negative, or less than complimentary, observations about a book – even if it’s written by a friend – will help the reader as long as they are thoughtful, appropriate and proportional.
  
  
• Rule No. 2. Keep it short. Short sentences, short paragraphs, short review. Learn to write so that you say what you have to say and get out. The model outlined below may help.
  
  
• Rule No. 3. Stay on message. The review is about the book and maybe a little bit about the author. It’s not about you or your Aunt Matilda.

So, what should a review for Amazon look like?

Think in terms of five modular paragraphs (they don’t have to be tied together) and 400 to 500 words max. Less is better.

Paragraph 1: An introduction to the book, its genre and what it’s really about. Note anything that might be unusual about the book – theme, setting, plot, character, or whatever. Some overall evaluative word, phrase or statement is appropriate.

Paragraphs 2 and 3: Plot. Summarize the challenges the protagonist faces without giving away the ending (particularly if it’s a mystery). Make this as straightforward as possible. Your reader will thank you for it.

Paragraph 4: Evaluation. Here you can comment on the plot, the characters, the writing, the descriptions, the setting, the pacing – anything about the book that impressed you, positively or negatively. But don’t try to comment on everything. My rule of thumb is two. Just comment on two of the above list.

Paragraph 5: Recommendation. Should the reader buy the book? Highly recommend, recommend with reservations, don’t recommend. Now evaluate this paragraph. Given what you have already written in earlier paragraphs, do you really need this one?

Once you have posted your review on Amazon, spread the love. Look for another place to post it.

Connelly scores big with The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly



Rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best books that I have read in the past few years. From the very first page, the reader can identify with Mickey, the protagonist, and what he has to go through to maintain his ambulance-chasing law practice and make a living.

Connelly has constructed a taut thriller where the tension and the stakes are constantly going up. Mickey is a clever lawyer but sometimes too clever. His Golden Goose client turns out to be more than he had in mind.

Connelly shows that he is the master of the thriller with this book. He will do his fans (which includes me) a great favor if he writes another one with this character and with the same gripping style.


View all my reviews.

Child fails to live up to his own high standards

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

I was disappointed with this book -- not up to the usual Lee Child/Jack Reacher standards. Reacher and his pals seem to wander around the landscape without much of a clue as to what is happening to them or what has happened to their dead friends -- or why. Maybe this one is weak because Reacher is working with a team rather than by himself or with just one other person. Anyway, the title is great.


View other reviews at GoodReads.