The book’s title has a double meaning: the Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller, normally a defense attorney, is asked in this instance to act as an independent prosecutor in a 1986 case that the higher court has reversed and sent back for retrial. The defendant was convicted of abducting and murdering a 12-year-old girl and has served the past 24 years in San Quentin.
As a condition of accepting the appointment, he demands the hiring of his ex-wife Maggie McPherson as his second chair and his half-brother, LAPD detective Harry Bosch, as his investigator. Rounding out this little family get-together are Mickey’s and Harry’s daughters, cousins who have never me but finally get together along the way and showing some human sidelights of the two main characters, especially taking the hard edge off Harry as an inexperienced parent.
Bringing together the protagonists of his two popular series gives the author the means to write a straightforward courtroom drama led by Haller, as well as a fairly good police investigation a la Harry Bosch. The plot moves forward in alternating chapters, with each concentrating on one of them, giving the reader an insight into not only what goes on in the courtroom, but also outside those hallowed walls. Written smoothly, with a somewhat unexpected conclusion, The Reversal is recommended.
