The client (novel)

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The client (English: The Lincoln Lawyer ) is the 16th novel by the American crime novelist Michael Connelly , his first novel with Mickey Haller as the main character. It was published in 2005, with a German translation in 2007. The client received the Shamus Award and the Macavity Award for “Best Novel” in 2006.

In 2011 the novel was made into a film under the title " The Client " with Matthew McConaughey in the role of Mickey Haller.

action

Michael "Mickey" Haller is a Los Angeles attorney. His office is his Lincoln Town Car , in which his chauffeur Earl Briggs drives him from appointment to appointment. Mickey Haller was married twice and has a daughter, Hayley Haller, from his first marriage to the prosecutor Maggie McPherson, also called Maggie McFierce by Mickey. His second ex-wife is Lorna Taylor, who as his secretary, case manager and accountant makes sure that money comes in.

Mickey Haller has two price lists. List B has flexible pricing based on what clients can actually pay. Price List A is for the rare occasions of customers who can actually be made money with.

Through the bail agent Fernando Valenzuela, Haller becomes the defense attorney for Louis Ross Roulet, the son of Mary Windsor, who owns a large brokerage firm. Roulette is accused of rape and attempted murder. Haller senses a case that can push his prestige and also without doubt allows the use of price list A.

Paul Levin, Haller's investigator, finds out that a video camera is installed in the bar where Roulette met the victim, Reggio Campo. The recording of the time in question shows that Campo had spoken to Roulet and slipped him a note. Mickey Haller sees this as clear evidence that roulette was not the culprit. Why should he force a woman into sex that he invited and paid for? Haller negotiates with the responsible public prosecutor, the inexperienced Ted Minton, confident of victory. But he has solid evidence: A blood-smeared knife with Roulet's initials was found at the scene of the crime, the knife with which he is said to have attacked Reggio Campo.

Mickey Haller begins to doubt the credibility of roulette. He suddenly notices that Reggio Campo bears a striking resemblance to Martha Renteria, a nightclub dancer. Renteria was raped and brutally murdered with many knife stabs. The police were certain that Jesus Menendez was the perpetrator. Haller had defended Menendez at the time and advised him to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty; and this although Menendez had always protested his innocence. Haller flies to San Francisco and speaks to Menendez in San Quentin . Menendez can identify Roulet from a picture as the man who was also at the nightclub where he spoke to Martha Rentera. Mickey Haller is shaken: Roulette, which he thought was innocent, is probably a serial offender and Menendez, whom he thought was guilty, is innocent in prison!

Mickey Haller continues to prepare the trial against roulette, but at the same time instructs Paul Levin to investigate his client's past. Haller and Levin are finding more and more sexual offenses likely to have been committed by roulette. In early April, Haller and Levin have an appointment for the Los Angeles Dodgers' opening game in the 2005 baseball season, but Levin does not appear. In the middle of the game Haller receives a call from the police: Levin was murdered, with Haller's pistol, as it later turns out. Mickey Haller knows who his friend's killer is. What should he do now? His plan: to continue to defend Roulet, but at the same time convict him in the case of Martha Renteria and thus get Jesus Menendez free.

The trial of roulette begins on May 23. And in the minutes before the trial begins, Roulet tells Haller that he knows what Haller is thinking. He blackmailed Haller so that he could pass Haller's pistol to the police.

Haller deliberately put needle pricks against the credibility of the prosecution witnesses. He wants to get the prosecutor to take an informer from prison to the stand. Haller got wind of the fact that the prosecution agreed to make a false statement with this informant. The informer will testify that Roulet bragged about the attack on Campo. And Haller does it. The prosecutor calls DJ Corliss to the stand. In the cross-examination, Haller gets the informer to testify that Roulet also confessed to the murder of Martha Renteria to him; a statement that proves the innocence of Jesus Menendez. Haller threaded this statement through one of his clients who was in the same drug clinic as Corliss. The police officers present are listening carefully. Haller then dismantled the police spy, whereupon the public prosecutor dropped the charges against Roulet for the attack on Campo. When Roulet leaves the courtroom a free man, he is arrested on suspicion of having raped and murdered Martha Renteria and other women. Mickey Haller's plan worked.

What Haller hadn't expected: Roulet was released by the police shortly afterwards. Haller panics: Roulet had threatened an attack on his daughter Hayley. Haller pulls out all the stops to get his daughter to safety. As he is about to leave his house to go to his daughter, Roulette's mother, Mary Alice Windsor, shoots him and injures him with a shot in the stomach. In self-defense, he shoots back and kills the attacker. The police arrive immediately after the exchange of fire. She had deliberately released Roulette and tailed him. The police did not expect his mother to take revenge. It was also the mother who shot Paul Levin.

Haller recovered only after three operations and five months of convalescence. However, his guilt over the conviction of Menendez, who was infected with HIV in the innocent prison, and the murder of Levin will haunt him.

reception

The New York Times finds that Connelly masters the genre in his first court thriller and delivers a "powerful drama full of cynicism" that lives from the character of the windy lawyer Mickey Haller. Haller's motto is: “The law has nothing to do with truth. It's about negotiating, twisting and manipulating. ”The review comes to the conclusion that Connelly is using“ some cheap tricks ”, but he has created an interesting character in Mickey Haller.

The review of the Krimi-Couch.de emphasizes the realistic insights into the American justice system, which one gets credibly before one's eyes in the novel: "Justice has no place in the courtroom". The reviewer believes that Connelly designed the finale of the novel “too routinely” with a twist that was conjured up from a hat. Nevertheless, he thinks that reading the book arouses curiosity about further adventures of the Lincoln Lawyers.

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marilyn Stasio: 'The Lincoln Lawyer': One L , New York Times October 9, 2005
  2. ↑ Michael Drewniok: An angle lawyer in deadly distress , review of “The Client” on crime thriller couch.de, August 2007