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Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.
Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years.
With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.
The Reversal is a magnificent piece of literature 
Harry Bosch has always has always had a clearly defined job with the LAPD standing for the dead and being a voice for those that have had theirs silenced. The last few months have thrown him many curves with the death of his ex-wife and the incorporation of his daughter Madeline into his life full time but he still cuts through on a straight path. Michael Haller has also known what his job definition is until the day the District Attorney made the call and asked him to move across the aisle from defense attorney to prosecutor. The DA makes Mickey a one-time proposition Mickey does not want to turn down but truly questions if he can bear the burden of standing for the people and doing right by them. The opportunity being offered is to keep Jason Jessup, a child killer behind bars even though new DNA testing evidence can exonerate him and would potentially set him free after 24 years in prison. Mickey chooses his side and incorporates his ADA ex-wife, Maggie McPherson and Harry into the mix which makes the entire situation workable and possibly winnable.
Mickey and Harry are half-brothers who have shared some case time but not even that interaction can prepare them for what they are about to face both personally and professionally together. Mickey has no intention of letting this killer walk and plans to use some of his favorite tricks against the high profile lawyer Jessup has working for him who may be clever but Mickey knows slick does not compensate for the facts and if he can find the key missing witness, reconstruct the police work and piece together fact from media hype he will not only win this but make it a slam dunk sending this murderer back to prison.
As the trial moves forward and the days drag on Jessup becomes more intense and his actions more sporadic. The FBI profiler has concerns about what might happen when all the stress builds up and has to be released. The profiler also feels the original case started off in the wrong direction and once re-routed to its proper path Harry discovers something even more horrific may have happened all those years ago.
Along the way Mickey and Harry form a bond that draws their daughters into the mix even though Harry is reluctant to start down this road. Harry has kept Mickey and that family connection at arm's length but now he knows Maddie needs family to help her recover from the loss of her mother and the transition of moving away from friends and living with him. Maddie is Harry's main focus in life and will do anything to make her happy even if it involves doing things that make her very unhappy with him.
I admit openly to being a Harry Bosch fan and find that with age and the addition of the family angle he is even more interesting. The stories could not be told with another character even with Michael Connelly writing them and this is the one factor that shows in his story telling with Harry. Mr. Connelly respects his characters and writes them as if they lived next door and he can relate to them making them plausible to the reader. This story while a horrific nightmare for any parent does also show how venerable Harry has become in his personal life. He was Teflon before and nothing could touch him but now with his daughter in his life what was once armor is now ice cream.
Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch Make a Great Team!
Mickey Haller is asked by the District Attorney's Office to cross the aisle and be the prosecutor in the retrial of Jason Jessup. Through use of DNA testing a key piece of evidence from the 1986 trial was thrown out and Jessup's conviction has been overturned. Jessup was convicted of abducting and killing a young girl and dumping her body.
Mickey is reluctant to take the case at first feeling that it is a losing proposition and against his nature as a defense lawyer but he is soon convinced to do it. He chooses Maggie McPherson, his ex-wife as his assistant and none other than his half-brother, Harry Bosch to be his investigator.
Connelly does a masterful job of writing, using first person when the chapters are more about Mickey, and third person when the chapters focus on Harry. This style works quite well. As the story progresses Harry calls in the services of his old girlfriend Rachel Walling, who blends into the tale quite nicely. Haller tries to use his own experience as a defender to anticipate all the moves of his opponent in court and most times is quite correct in his assumptions.
As Jessup is awaiting trial, he is allowed out and the press follows him around like he is a celebrity. This shows the ugliness of our society where vicious criminals can sometimes be admired Also people mistakenly think that if that if criminals are treated well, they will be your friend and change their ways. It is apparent that Jessup hasn't changed his ways and his nightly travels suggest that he is up to something. It is up to Mickey, Maggie and Harry to keep all their wits and work at constant overtime to make sure Jessup is taken down again before he can get his way.
The book doesn't have as much action as past Bosch/Haller individual tales, but the courtroom dialogue exchanges are great and Harry's investigative talents are at their best. I hope Mr. Connelly can come up with more creative ways going forward to keep Harry and Mickey working together!
Gelati's Scoop
Happy Monday to everybody! We are coming into an incredible stretch of novels that seems like a blitzkrieg but basically it is just the precursor to Christmas, go figure. There are seriously good novels being released this week and Michael Connelly's The Reversal leads the way. Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller, and just about everybody in their little fictional microcosm is involved in some small capacity. Just how big a Michael Connelly fan am I ? Well I have read all his novels: The Harry Bosch Series, Mickey Haller Novels, The Poet, Blood Work, Void Moon, Chasing the Dime, and The Scarecrow.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here so let's get into the guts of the novel from the back cover : "Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and be the prosecutor in the high-profile case of a brutal child murder. After twenty-four years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case with the condition he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD detective Harry Bosch.
Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them are Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years.
With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again."
Serious stuff. This novel is a tense gripping drama. Question you may have is: Is this a Bosch or Haller vehicle? Which one dominates? Are there enough pages in the novel for the two of them? The answers are: both, neither, and yes. I was happy to read the novel and enjoy the manner in which Connelly placed the two characters together, like the jigsaw pieces they have been in past novels. The fuller and bigger picture is fun and taunt as the two coexist and work together to do the right thing. I am not going to give away any of the story for you. I find no joy in that, but the truth be told, The Reversal is an apt title for this gripping nail biter.
I can't say that this is his best work, but I certainly enjoyed the convergence of all the characters in this little universe Michael Connelly so masterfully put together. Bosch and Haller, the unlikely ying/yang brothers, going together against the forces of evil is nothing short of a flying by the seat of your pants ride. This novel has plenty of twists and turns so even those that are the most jaded can appreciate the way he builds and builds the suspense and tension all the way to its final scenes. Michael Connelly is in some rare air with the style and mastery he has come to show us time and time again. He makes it seem effortless as the entire plotline comes together at the cataclysmic end. If you are a fan of this author's work at all, missing this is a mistake.
Here is a cool link you may not find yet: The Publisher will also be running an exclusive video on MulhollandBooks.com of Michael Connelly driving on Mulholland Drive to promote the amazing enhanced eBook. It will post at 12:01 AM tomorrow.
http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2010/10/05/michael-connelly-drives-mulholland-exclusive-video/
Here is the link for the book tour, check it out maybe his in a town near you:
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Here is the link for the You Tube video for the novel:
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Definitely a solid effort from Connelly! 
The Reversal brings together Mickey Haller, erstwhile defense attorney (Brass Verdict, Lincoln Lawyer) with long time Connelly hero LAPD detective Harry Bosch. The men are half brothers but uncomfortable allies in this thriller. Haller, a fairly brash and arrogant character in earlier novels has grown psychologically and hence crosses over to the district attorney's side to prosecute a child murderer who is being released from prison after 24 years. His release is based on a new DNA finding. Bosch is in a supporting role as his investigator though he is almost a co-lead in this story. Also playing a supporting role is Haller's ex-wife Maggie McPherson as a prosecuting attorney assisting Haller in this case. One of the things I like so well about the Connelly novels is the way he develops and continually expands our knowledge of his characters; when he intermingles them in novels that only adds to the fun.
The story, replete with the expected twists and turns is a convincing police/legal procedural, certainly up to the standard we have come to expect from Connelly. The action is fast paced and I think tempts the reader to stay up half the night finishing this story. There were two items that prevented me from giving this story five stars. One I struggled with the change in voice. When Haller spoke it was in the first person, when Bosch was the key character it was described in the third person. This might have worked if Bosch was not so frequently present in the story, but for me it was confusing and took some getting used to as the action moved along. The second problem for me was the ending, it was without drama. I won't give away the ending but I bet you guess what happens fairly quickly. There was lots of psychological baggage and moral ambiguity picked up by both Haller and Bosch that I am sure will reappear in future novels. Definitely a solid effort from Connelly!
Connelly ROCKS IT again!!
The Reversal presents itself as a legal thriller, again combining his two most popular characters, half-brothers Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch (The Brass Verdict). As that, the book is very successful. You'll be thrilled by the narrative velocity Connelly creates in this story, no doubt about that.
But of course, it's more. Because Connelly is more. He wants to challenge our thinking about the legal system itself. About the tenents we value so strongly--and rightly--and how we react when they are perverted.
Our Story Begins as Haller is approached to be a Special Prosecutor on the re-trial of one Jason Jessup, recently awarded as the result of re-examination of DNA evidence using techniques not available in the mid-80's when Jessup was convicted of the murder/dumping of a young girl. We've all seen the heart-wrenching stories of falsely-accused inmates freed after long incarceration by the fabulous advances of technology, right?
Jessup's case looks to be the latest in the series, and the media is all too eager to anoint it as such. But the DA has other ideas, and feels Haller's reputation as a no-holds-barred-for-the-defense guy creates the perfect counter to the spin. Throw in a little plausible deniability in case of acquittal, and Haller is a perfect fit.
Haller demands his ex-wife, ADA Maggie McPherson, be his second chair and Bosch be his lead investigator, and off we go.
Connelly does a great job blending the continuity of these two characters, we enjoy watching new cousins meet and bond, and we continue to enjoy Connelly's decision to make Bosch's daughter such a strong part of that world. The changes Maddie Bosch brings to Harry's hard edges are more real for their subtlety.
As Haller, McPherson and Bosch unravel the threads of both the investigation and the trial, Jessup's character is developed and it doesn't take long to fully invest the reader in the proceedings. The process is aided by the colors that Connelly brings to the ancillary characters, primarily Sarah Landry, older sister of the victim all those years past, and, of course, a living victim of the same crime. Her journey to testifying at the trial is a solid support beam to what Connelly is building here.
Connelly blends the distinct narrative styles of both series to fine effect in The Reversal, intersecting two of the genre's most popular characters while maintaining individuality.
reviews: page 1, 2
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