The Source Michael Connelly - LA Times Magazine

The Source Michael Connelly - LA Times Magazine

Michael Connelly writes about the experience of handing over his novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, and having it adapted into a movie by other artists. I went and saw it despite the fact that I once again went against the description of this blog that I wrote myself right above this post. And... I thought it was a great rendition of the book. I also had high hopes going in because I met Michael Connelly at a book signing a few months ago and heard him tell a similar story to this (article's) first hand. Oh yeah, he also said that the new novel was timed to come out soon after the flick so more to come....The Fifth Witness, in stores April 5th. And...it looks like those Bosch movies might finally get made in the near future, too. Connelly buys Back Bosch and Teams with Yellow Bird (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

The Reversal: Michael Connelly

The new Connelly is about as good as they've been in the past eighteen years, I'd say. As mentioned on the many other reviews on this blog I have read a number of these somewhere in the teens. This new one has both of his recently prominent main characters and also a background cast of many of the players from the entire catalogue of the author. Terry McCaleb and some other crew members from Blood Work and The Poet are among the very few left out, I'll leave it at that. Some new developments have arisen after 9 Dragons, which was one of the very first novels spoken of on this blog and was read during December of last year along with four or five other books and helped me to decide upon this mission/new year's resolution to read more. I suppose I should say "Spoiler Alert!" if you do read Connelly and haven't digested that one yet. Mainly, Bosch is now a single dad raising his daughter here in Los Angeles after the loss of his wife in Tokyo during the madness of that last chapter, which saw Bosch fighting crime in a new country for the first time. The Reversal, refers to this theme of 180 degree change in Bosch's life as well as to the role of Mickey Haller, his long lost half brother from The Lincoln Lawyer, and other novels, who crosses the aisle to work with his ex-wife Maggie McPherson for the prosecution. The book changes perspectives back and forth each chapter from Bosch to Haller and burns on at a break-neck pace, which Connelly's readers have come to love and expect. So, if you've ever read any of these I urge you to welcome back your old pals Harry and Mick and have a nice couple of days in Los Angeles. These novels never take longer than that once you've got them started. Happy reading, The Midge.

Michael Connelly Reading and Signing for: The Reversal

I've probably read 12 of Michael Connelly's books including the ones reviewed on this blog; The Lincoln Lawyer, The Overlook, Blood Work, etc., and others like 9 Dragons, Echo Park, The Narrows...and Borders sends me emails every single night around midnight with coupons and updates about author signings in my area...but...These are usually people I've never heard of and occur in Santa Monica. Then suddenly I get one for a book signing at the Borders in Torrance right near my lovely girlfriend's condo for Mr. Connelly's new book The Reversal. So, we say "Hey, there's something we've never done before.....let's go meet an author and buy a copy of his book to sign." It turned out to be a very quick and easy and I left happy. Connelly was very laid back and cool and had some quick quips for strange questions from the die-hards in attendance. For an example one cat blamed Connelly for ruining his perception of Detective Harry Bosch by finally adding his own picture to the back of the fifth or sixth novel. I have a picture of Bosch in my mind and never really thought of Michael Connelly as being Bosch, but the author just joked that Bosch was much older than he and that since he received a SAG card for being on a celebrity poker show he would be glad to be cast as Bosch in the future. The author also hung back late and signed as many books as these people had (some brought duffle bags full of his novels!) As expected I was one of the youngest fans there and the ones in my range were an extremely small percentage (Like 2%). Still, the older folks were very nice and chatty and the questions were good and he even spoke about the upcoming movie done on The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey due out in March. Connelly hung out on the set for some of the more important scenes and said he was thrilled with the production and is looking forward to the movie. Meanwhile, the new book has both Mickey Haller of The Lincoln Lawyer and Connelly's most famous character Harry Bosch. I am about fifteen pages in and pretty excited to see what happens with the half brothers and Mickey's ex-wife, Maggie McPherson, all working together to prosecute an expected child rapist and murderer. As Connelly wrote on the book he signed for my brother Tim, "Welcome to the Labyrinth." Happy Reading, The Midge......

The Overlook: Michael Connelly

Yeah, so I used three of these Connelly novels in a row to insure that I would get the 5 book quota for the first time in several months. Whatever, it worked. I read this one on Saturday after returning from my second trip to San Diego in as many days. I made a CPK thincrust, Siciliano pizza and poured two fingers of some single-malt that my roommate had out on the counter (Vard, if you read this, thanks for the single malt. I figured that you would be cool with me trying it...) and perched out on the front balcony in the shade wearing a beanie and a sweatshirt over shorts and flops for several hours. It was refreshing to be back in the world of Harry Bosch and not just his creator, Connelly. Bosch and I share a love of jazz music and abrasive honesty that was lacking in the other two characters from the novels read previously this month. They were great, but Bosch is the character that makes me a big fan of the author. No real surprises about this one. Connelly is true to form and the book is a fast paced thriller that has some twists and turns that build tension up until the inevitable resolve. Smaller than most of his novels this one wraps up after about 275.......happy reading.

Blood Work: Michael Connelly

 

Blood Work is one of the best Michael Connelly books I've read. This one is about FBI agent Terry McCaleb who has recently had heart surgery and ends up being approached by the sister of the murder victim whose heart was given to McCaleb. Graciela Rivers, the murder victim's sister, had read a report about McCaleb in the LA times and eventually realizes that he is carrying her dead sister's heart and she approaches him to pick up the murder case and finish what the LAPD have started and given up on. The story telling and twists in this one we're a bit of a surprise to me considering that the book was written relatively early in Connelly's career, but all in all it has to be one of his very best. According to wikipedia (take it or leave it and call my post un-scholarly if you feel the need) Connelly was inspired to write the book after a friend of his was the recipient of a heart transplant and suffered post-op. stress due to survivor's guilt. I'll keep it short and sweet, but if you like mystery novels, cop novels, suspense novels, and the like then I would strongly recommend this one. As always, I also recommend this book and the work of similar authors like John Grisham as "stretching." So you haven't been reading lately and you want to get back into it, but the 700 page book your cousin sent you on environmentalism in the new millennium seems a bit too daunting? Stretch out with a page burner or two and then get back into the tougher and more rewarding ones that you really want to absorb.........enjoy.

The Lincoln Lawyer: Michael Connelly

I often refer to these novels as smut or to the act of reading them as stretching. Authors like Dan Brown of Da Vinci code fame, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, people whose books are constantly being read by the suit on the plane. People who write great mystery novels that often make great movies. The Lincoln Lawyer was good and I have never read a Michael Connelly story that I felt otherwise about. Some are better than others as we will see in the post I write immediately following this one, but they are all quick reads and they are all generally entertaining. Connelly certainly has a system and a form that he follows more or less exactly in every novel, but its a great form and the attention to detail, research, and added factual information about the greater Los Angeles area and the workings of its news and police entities make for believable and dramatic tales. This was the first non Harry Bosch novel that I got entirely through, with the exception of The Brass Verdict, which was a split of Haller and Bosch where they eventually came together. Mickey Haller is the son of a famous defense lawyer of the same name who died when the young Haller was just a kid. With a great knowledge of who his dad acquired through books the son eventually follows the same career path and in this novel becomes entangled in a web of deceit while defending a rich Bel Air client on assault and attempted murder charges. Classic Connelly. If you've read any others and enjoyed them then this one should provide the same page turning suspense.