Michael Connelly

I always wonder if the movie version of a book I’ve read will be a good one. You never know how the two are going to match up, so I was happy to see how well the 2011 film of The Lincoln Lawyer matched the book of the same name by Michael Connelly.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Matthew McConaughey plays the lead, but the cast is full of well-knowns, including Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and Bryan Cranston. The story revolves around Mickey Haller, an LA defense attorney whose office is the back of a Lincoln Continental. Haller faces his greatest fear when takes on a wealthy client who has been arrested for assaulting a woman: is his client telling the truth? The words of his famous lawyer father echo in his brain, “There is no client as scary as an innocent man.”

Both the book and the movie tell a swift-moving and entertaining legal crime story. I like Michael Connelly’s writing and enjoyed seeing his characters on-screen. The book, of course, provides a lot more detail and back story, including the connection between Haller and Connelly’s other famous character, Harry Bosch (the two are half-brothers).

I recommend both, but read the book first so you can get the full story in your mind. The movie is pure entertainment!

Click here for a full review of the book.

Want to know more about the movie? See the whole cast and crew on IMDb.com.

And to reward you for reading to the bottom of this post, here’s a nice pic of McConaughey.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

May has been busy and I’m looking forward to more reading time in June. I usually store the books I’ve already read on my bookshelf and put the new ones in a pile next to the kitchen phone. Here’s what’s on top of my pile!

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin – My mom just finished this one and passed it along to me. Truman Capote was such an interesting person. I want to read this historical novel about him and the movers in high society New York, one of my favorite subjects!

A Long Way Gone – Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah – My college son read this at school and when he brought it home this month, it immediately caught my eye. It’s the story of a boy fighter in the Sierra Leone and how he was rescued from this violent life.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly – This one’s up next for my Whodunits book club at my library job. Also a popular movie starring Matthew McConaughey. I’m sure I’ll check out the movie after I read the book!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – This neurosurgeon author confronts his devastating diagnosis with stage IV lung cancer and asks what makes life worth living in the face of death.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Swedish author Fredrik Backman – I’m reading this one for my local book club. Backman also wrote the very popular A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here. I don’t usually jump on the popular book bandwagon but if I like this one I’ll read A Man Called Ove.