Harry Bosch retired from the police; forced into it by being suspended for a minor infraction. He hired his brother, Mickey Haller, the so called Lincoln Lawyer, to sue the LAPD and so when he gets a call from Mickey inviting him to have lunch, Bosch suspects Mickey is going to update him on his case.  But that isn’t what Mickey wants to talk about at all, instead he wants to talk about the Lexie Parks case.

Lexie Parks, one of four deputy assistant managers for West Hollywood, was found murdered in her bed by her husband, Deputy Vincent Harrick.  After weeks of being in the news with little or no progress, the case finally broke when Da’Quan Foster was arrested. But his arrest raised some serious questions. Although Foster had been in trouble with the law early in his life, he had turned his life around and was teaching art in after school programs at a local community center and had had no contact with the police for  more than a decade.  Yet, the police claimed that the DNA found at the scene of Lexie’s murder matched the DNA of Foster that was still in the system when it had been taken back in 2004.  At that time he and 20 other men had rounded up an been held on suspicion of rape but no charges were ever filed and he was released within hours of his arrest. His DNA however, had remained in the system.  Haller had represented Foster before and was now representing him again and is convinced that Foster is innocent. However, the private investigator that Haller usually uses was hurt in a terrible accident and he needs Bosch to help him prove Foster’s innocence.

Bosch is not having any of it. If he crosses the line and helps a defense attorney, even if they are related, Bosch’s reputation would be completely lost.  No one in the police department would ever trust him again. There is no way he will cross that line. But something about the way Haller talks about Foster bothers Bosch, and when he starts looking into the case by reading the news reports and a copy of the murder book, there are things about the case that begin to bother Bosch as well.  And soon, whether he likes it or not, Bosch is doing the very thing he swore he would never do-helping the defense.

This was a great read! The suspense of trying to find out who really killed Lexie Parks  the dissonance that Bosch carries throughout as he ends up helping the defense rather than the prosecution, the disillusionment that both men feel about the justice system and their prickly, and cautious relationship, all add to the depth and reality of these characters and the book as a whole. Connelly has an uncanny ear for dialogue, with each book we are getting to know these characters a bit more!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Sharon and Ken

Book Study Worthy? yes

Read in ebook format