- Netflix's adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer skips some books, so TV show fans might want to read up!
- Mickey Haller has a literal half-brother from another well-known series.
- If the series of novels is any indication, we've got quite a bit of material left for at least a couple more seasons.
Easily one of the most popular legal dramas of the moment, it's hard not to see the appeal of Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer. Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a hotshot defense attorney working in the gritty Los Angeles criminal justice system, and runs his practice mainly out of his trademark Lincoln car. Each episode has viewers on the edge of their seat, waiting to see how the lawyer figures his way out of seemingly impossible situations, and ultimately brings justice for his clients.
The multi-season show is based on a series of books by New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. And each season follows the storyline of a particular novel, though not necessarily covering all the ground that the source material does. Season 1, for example, goes straight to the second book in the series while Season 2 skips over to the fourth book.
If you're a fan who wants more Mickey Haller, and wants to know everything there is to know about The Lincoln Lawyer, then I highly suggest going straight to the original text. Here's every single book in The Lincoln Lawyer series in order of release.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Mickey Haller gets his first high-paying client in years: a Beverly Hills playboy who was arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar. As the mountain of evidence builds up, Haller is convinced that this might be the easiest case of his career. But then someone close to him is murdered, and suddenly things don't seem so straightforward. Now, he must figure out a way to solve this case without costing his own life.
The Brass Verdict
This book is where The Lincoln Lawyer TV series picks up. After two years of wrong turns and recovering from addiction, Mickey Haller is back to the courtroom. The first case he takes on upon his return? A high-profile murder trial of a Hollywood studio executive who is accused of murdering his wife and her lover. He inherits this case after Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, and soon Haller finds himself at risk of the same fate. LAPD homicide detective and fellow loner Harry Bosch is determined to find the killer, and wants to use Haller as bait. But as the stakes rise, the two realize that they have no choice but to work together.
The Reversal
Mickey Haller is recruited to switch sides and prosecute the retrial of a brutal child murder. New DNA evidence has exonerated convicted killer Jason Jessup after 24 years in prison, but Haller is convinced that Jessup is guilty. So he takes on the case on the condition that he chooses his investigator, which of course turns out to be none other than his old friend (and half brother) LAPD detective Harry Bosch. This becomes a tough one to solve, as the evidence and odds are stacked against the duo. But they must find a way to nail Jessup once and for all before he strikes again.
The Fifth Witness
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Falling on tough times, criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller has expanded his legal operations to cover foreclosure defense. But it isn't long before the two parts of his business bleed into one another. One of his foreclosure clients ends up being accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home. He kicks his team into high gear to prove his client innocent, even though he isn't so sure of it himself. And when he learns about the alleged murder victim's black market dealings, Haller finds himself (once again) in grave danger.
The Gods of Guilt
Mickey Haller is hired to bend the law once more, this time to defend a man accused of killing a prostitute. But soon, Haller learns that the victim was his own former client, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on right path. Instead of saving her, the Lincoln Lawyer realizes that he may have actually been the one who put her in harm's way. Now, Haller is forced to face the ghosts of his past and deal with a case that could either redeem him, or prove him ultimately guilty.
The Law of Innocence
On one of the most glorious nights of his career, Mickey Haller is pulled over by the police. The cops find the body of a former client in the trunk of his Lincoln. The defense attorney is charged with murder, and is unable to post bail with the hefty $5 million amount slapped on him by a vindictive judge. He's forced to represent himself and build his case from within the confines of his jail cell. Beyond aiming for a not-guilty verdict, Haller must find out who really committed the murder and why in order to truly prove his innocence.
Resurrection Walk
After successfully getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, Mickey Haller gets inundated with letters from incarcerated people claiming innocence. With the help of his half brother, now-retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch, he weeds through the pile. But while most of the messages are undoubtedly false, Bosch manages to find one that's convincing. A woman is in prison for killing her husband who was a sheriff’s deputy, but maintains that she did not commit this crime. Bosch looks into the case, and sees things that don't add up. It seems that the sheriff's department was intent on bringing swift justice after the murder of on of its own. But as the Haller-Bosch team tries to reopen this case, their lives are put in danger by people who do anything to make sure the truth doesn't see the light of day.
The Proving Ground
Mickey Haller goes in a new direction and finds himself in public interest litigation. He's representing a family filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a 16-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend. With the business of AI mostly unregulated, and billions of dollars at stake, Attorney Haller finds himself in the middle of another tricky case. He ends up working with a journalist named Jack McEvoy who wants to write a book about the trial. As McEvoy helps Haller dig through the copious amounts of material on the case, he finds a key witness—a whistleblower too afraid to speak up. This, of course, lands all of them in dangerous territory.
