The first half of season two of The Lincoln Lawyer, based on Michael Connelly’s novels about Mickey Haller, dropped on Netflix this week. This is a very good thing.
Like many, I’ve been looking forward to seeing more of the Los Angeles defense attorney who does his best work while being driven around in his various high-end cars, with custom plates that say things like “NTGUILTY”, “DISMISSED” and “IWALKEM”.
I’ve grown to like Mickey Haller, and the moral and ethical dilemnas Connelly creates to mess up his life and practice. It’s also fair to say that I started following the Lincoln Lawyer when I ran out of Harry Bosch stories, and wanted a little Connelly to fill in the gap.
It was COVID, and I was doing a lot of treadmill running, and cycling the flat roads of our rural county in Southwestern Ontario. Connelly’s tales of the darker side of Los Angeles helped me cover a lot of miles, during a time when it was hard to feel like I was going anywhere.
I chose my fictional accompaniment based on what I could download from our county library system, which meant I borrowed what I could, in the order I could get them. It was especially lovely when I could check out the e-book and audio version at the same time, and carry on reading after a good long ride. I’d sometimes choose to jump way ahead in the protagonist’s life-arc, because both versions of that story were borrowable.
Connelly is very good at continuity, and provides enough context to quickly ground me in the protagonist’s timeline. This was helpful while I was bouncing around the space-time continuum, and also chugging along on foot, or rolling away the miles on my Trek Duo-Sport.
Connelly’s use of timeline cues is instructive to me as an author who wants to follow up on my debut mystery, and build an ongoing series. I can’t assume the reader has all the background and history immediately accessible in their memory.
I sure don’t remember everything about Mickey Haller’s track record with marriage, his most challenging cases, the names of his drivers, or even the clever wording of his vanity license plates. I am grateful when Connelly drops in enough back story, without slowing things down, so I can mentally nod to myself “ Oh yeah, that.”
There is a lot to be said for the quiet joy of recognition, of knowing you are back inside the world of the story.
I’m not at the point where I read, or listen to the same book more than once, at least not on purpose. As soon as I realize I’m doing that, I stop, and return it to the virtual shelf.
I’ve read/listened to The Fifth Witness, which is the basis of this new season of the Lincoln Lawyer. Fortunately, I don’t remember enough to spoil the fun of watching how the plot will unfold onscreen.