The Lincoln Lawyer is a 2005 novel, and it is the 16th novel written by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 crime writer Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. His books, which have been translated into 36 languages, have garnered him many awards...

. It is the first featuring Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 attorney Mickey Haller

Mickey Haller

Michael "Mickey" Haller, Junior is a fictional character created by Michael Connelly in the 2005 novel The Lincoln Lawyer. Haller, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney, is the paternal half-brother of Connelly's best-known character, LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch...

, half-brother of Connelly's mainstay detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.

Plot summary

Moderately successful criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller operates around Los Angeles County out of a Lincoln Town Car

Lincoln Town Car

The Lincoln Town Car is a full-size luxury sedan that was sold by the upscale Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company; it was produced from 1981 to the 2011 model years...

 (hence the title) driven by a former client working off his legal fees. While most clients are drug dealers and gangsters, the story focuses on an unusually important case of wealthy Los Angeles realtor Louis Roulet accused of assault and attempted murder. At first, he appears to be innocent and set up by the female "victim."

However, Roulet's lies and many surprising revelations change Mickey's original case theory, making him reconsider the situation of Jesus Menendez, a former client serving time in San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...

 after pleading guilty to a similar and mysteriously related crime.

In the end, Haller outmaneuvers Roulet (revealed to be a rapist

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 and murderer) without violating ethical obligations, frees the innocent Menendez, and continues in legal practice, though not without much self-examination and emotional baggage

Emotional baggage

Emotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...

.

Characters

• Mickey Haller
  Mickey Haller
  Michael "Mickey" Haller, Junior is a fictional character created by Michael Connelly in the 2005 novel The Lincoln Lawyer. Haller, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney, is the paternal half-brother of Connelly's best-known character, LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch...
  
   - criminal defense lawyer
• Margaret McPherson - Haller's ex-wife, prosecuting attorney
• Louis Ross Roulet - the accused
• Ted Minton - prosecutor in Roulet's case
• Jesus Menendez - former client of Haller
• Dwayne Corliss - jailhouse snitch
• Reggie Campo - alleged victim of Roulet
• Martha Renteria - Menendez's alleged murder victim
• Raul Levin - Haller's investigator and colleague in Roulet's case
• Lorna Taylor - Haller's manager and ex-wife
• Cecil C. Dobbs - the Roulet family Lawyer
• Mary Windsor - Louis Roulet's mother
• Detective Howard Kurlen - the lead detective on the Jesus Menendez case
• Detectives Lankford and Sobel - two cops who investigate Levin's murder

Film adaptation

A film adaptation, starring Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...

 as Haller and Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...

 as Maggie McPherson, was released on March 18, 2011. The film is directed by Brad Furman

Brad Furman

Brad Furman is an American film director, producer, and writer. He directed The Lincoln Lawyer, which starred Matthew McConaughey and was released in 2011.-Filmography:*The Lincoln Lawyer - 2011*The Take - 2008-External Links:...

 from a screenplay by John Romano, and produced by Stone Village Pictures. Lionsgate holds the US distribution rights, and Lakeshore Entertainment

Lakeshore Entertainment

Lakeshore Entertainment Group is an American independent film production company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum . Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California...

holds international rights.