When my mother retired from her career in nursing, she got her dream job as a bookseller at a local indie. She’s a natural. Extroverted. Well-read. Passionate about books. When we visit other stores together, she has a disapproving eye for sellers that are just behind the desk. “You should be out on the floor selling!”
Michael Connelly is among her favorites, and she said she’s put The Black Echo in a lot of people’s hands over the years. I finally picked it up after devouring The Lincoln Lawyer series on Netflix. I ended up reading all three of these in succession, so here is my general review.
Critics call David Kelley’s The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix a “potboiler,” a book, painting, or recording produced merely to make the writer or artist a living by catering to popular taste. I’d take issue with the word “merely” here because I think Kelley made some careful changes to the books.
The first season of Kelley’s series is based on The Brass Verdict, which is a later book, where Mickey Hawler, the edge walking defense lawyer, inherits a law practice from the recently departed Jerry Vincent. Mickey has been out of the business dealing with an opioid addiction earned after being shot at the end of the first book. His practice has dwindled. The gift horse he receives could be his way back into the spotlight. Kelley retains all of this but gives Mickey the injury from a surfing accident.
Introduced in the first book, Lorna Crane is his second ex-wife and book keeper of the practice, which he runs out of a car. Kelley and his fine collection of writers make her something more. She’s just as organized, smart, diligent, and hard edged as the original but now has aspirations of her own. She goes to law school and becomes a partner with her own bus bench ads.
Patrick is Mickey’s original driver. A former surfer, he was a client inherited from the original practice who stole a necklace to get his next high. His new driver is a former client who stole a necklace to feed an addiction, but she’s an out of work dancer who is also black and a lesbian. Meet Izzy. While Patrick is a hard luck case who brings out Mickey’s compassion, Izzy is more of his confessor. She acts as a sounding board and takes him to meetings.
Cisco is Lorna’s boyfriend and Mickey’s private detective. Kelley keeps nearly all aspects of this finally drawn character. He’s in some ways Mickey’s foil but also shows the loyalty that gives Mickey more dimension.
Mickey’s main draw client in the original is Walter Kelley, a movie producer. Kelley makes him a video game creator, Trevor Elliot. He also gives the victim, Laura Elliot, more dimension in that he writes her in as the brains and programming heft behind the game rather than a second spouse whose prenup has fully vested.
Mickey still works out of his Lincoln, but Kelley makes it a Navigator instead of the dowdy Town Car. He also gives Mickey a flourish of LA charm. While his dad is still a successful lawyer that looms large in his background, his mother is a Mexican telenovela star with an equally big personality. Kelley’s Mickey grew up in Mexico and moves easily between English and Spanish.
Kelley’s Maggie McFierce, Mickey’s first wife, is more carefully portrayed as well. She’s calm and seemingly softer on the outside with a solid moral core. She’s less critical of Mickey and provides more tough love than I gathered from the book.
Kelley also gives Mickey a confidante, Legal, a former partner in his dad’s law firm. Legal may appear in later books, I’m not sure, but he’s a really lovely addition to the show and beautifully cast in Elliot Gould.
These are really quick and fun reads and should be easy to find at your local indy.
Cher Time 