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Oct 25, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

Oh, Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!

No, I don't mean Mickey Haller, I mean Michael "Mickey" Connelly. I prefer the Harry Bosch series, as the Haller series tends toward long courtroom scenes. But really, I just love Connelly. His homework and legwork and writing quality and plot complexity are so far superior to others in the genre.

I recommend avoiding detailed reviews of this book. There's some exquisitely skillful misdirect More...

3 comments like (16 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Neil rated it:

I'm on a Michael Connelly/Micky Haller roll right now. I picked up THE FIFTH WITNESS while on vacation and stayed up late the other night to finish it. Not to worry, I went to bed satisfied.
Once again, Michael Connelly excels in courtroom drama. What continues to amaze is how well Connelly thoroughly understands the Criminal Justice System, which actually is neither a system nor about justice. It's about who can best entertain a jury with their magic show and slight of hand, which is often More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2011

Matt rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Daniel rated it:

As I finished this book a few days ago I had another one of those writer moments where I realized just what "pro" means, and what "bestseller" means. Connelly characterizes any and all descriptive terms a person could use for an author/craftsman. He masterfully injects himself into his work on every level and the result is a very strong voice made even better by his high skill level. As I wrote a few weeks ago when I started this book, it's ALL there, everything a reader or w More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 21, 2011

Qazyman rated it:

Michael Connelly "The fifth Witness" 4.5

This is the first Haller book after the Hollywood blockbuster "The Lincoln lawyer", and changes are in the air. This book is focused toward a broader audience and is more commercial in nature.

You could argue this represents Connelly selling out.

But this is an experienced and successful author that is up to the challenge.

The book focuses on a timely topic, with a clear moral message, and t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Teresa rated it:

I loved this book. Anyone who was a fan of Perry Mason or Judd for the Defense will enjoy it because it is chock full of trial testimony, like word for word. But since I'm a diehard Perry Mason fan, that was ok with me.
Lisa Trammel is losing her home to foreclosure. She has hired Michael Haller as her attorney to fight the foreclosure. Lisa decides to take her fight to the streets, so she begins protests in front of the bank that holds her mortgage, Westland Financial, creating such an upr More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 14, 2012

Marcy rated it:

I actually am a trial lawyer specializing in homicide cases. I've done over twenty murder trials on both sides, so I probably should just stop reading these kinds of books because I always find procedural and legal errors that annoy me and then I annoy everyone else by pointing them out and complaining about them. A disclaimer here: no on will watch any of the CSi or Law and Order shows with me anymore. Most common response I get: "it's just fiction, get over it.". So, I'm not going More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Sheila rated it:

Mickey Haller, previously dubbed as the Lincoln lawyer (the back seat of his Lincoln is his office) is focusing his attention on homeowners who are victims of foreclosure. Many of the situations are completed under fraudulant circumstances but it is big business for some companies working with the banks. Mickey is busy enough to have hired on a newly graduated lawyer, Jennifer. Mickey receives a call from Lisa, one of his foreclosure clients. The banker in the bank she has her mortgage with has More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Barbara rated it:

Harry Bosch makes a cameo in Connelly's novel that features "Lincoln Lawyer" Mickey Haller, Bosch's somewhat estranged half-brother. Haller is developing a side business representing those who've been foreclosed on and his next case involves a woman, Lisa Trammel, who's begun a grassroots campaign to end the nefarious dealings of a local bank. When the vice president of the bank turns up dead in the bank's parking garage, Lisa is arrested and Mickey goes to work, squaring off against More...

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Dec 10, 2011

Eric_W rated it:

Bosch makes a cameo appearance as Haller’s half-brother, for what purpose I could not ascertain. I like Connelly very much, especially the Harry Bosch series, and I liked Lincoln Lawyer, which featured Mickey Haller, the lawyer who operates from the backseat of a Lincoln. This book seemed a bit “off” although it may have been the narrator, Peter Giles, who was certainly not as accomplished as Adam Grupper.

Haller has made mortgage foreclosure cases a specialty (Connelly expounds at l More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Sangita rated it:

A gripping courtroom drama..Set in the times when there are foreclosures happening in the market,this is the story of one such client who is now accused of murdering the home loan dept's CEO.

The books talks in detail about how courtroom wars are fought..Court Room war strategy is important and all the more so when evidence is not on your side..Also an interesting take on how lawyers might not actually believe in their own client's innocence..All this is written in a very matter of fact More...

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Dec 05, 2011

Deana rated it:

I love Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller character. Haller is a lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln town car. As a defense lawyer, his business of representing criminals in the LA area has dried up. He decided to take his business in to the house foreclosure arena. While doing this he has a client named Lisa Trammel whose house was under foreclosure proceedings. No biggie, Mickey was getting the bank to back off so she could save her home. But, the situation changes when Mickey More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

James rated it:

In a difficult economy, the criminal defense business is not all that it used to be and so Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, is reduced to defending clients who are about to lose their homes to foreclosure. One of his clients, a not very pleasant woman named Lisa Trammel is not content simply to let Mickey wage the legal battle on her behalf. She begins her own campaign on line and in the streets to defend herself and others against what she perceives to be the villainy of the greedy bankers wh More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Alison rated it:

Michael Connolly takes us through the arrest and trial of Lisa Trammel; a women who became an activist when her house was going through foreclosure during the height of the economic bust in recent years. Long out of being a defense attorney, Mickey Haller fount it profitable to represent homeowners in foreclosure. When he receives a call from Lisa Trammel he knows his life is about to change. Lisa has been charged with murdering the very banker she believes is responsible for taking her home More...

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Oct 14, 2011

Jane rated it:

This weak book by Connelly is still better than an average book by other authors. I enjoyed it in spite of the flaws.

STORY BRIEF:
The bank is foreclosing on Lisa’s home. Bondurant, a bank executive is murdered. Lisa is the accused. Haller defends her. The title refers to a witness taking the fifth – refusing to answer questions which may imply guilt to a jury.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This was ok, not his best, but good. It kept my interest. There’s a lot of co More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Jen rated it:

I've just poured through all four Mickey Haller novels over the period of about a week, so clearly I've enjoyed them. The characters are well constructed and interesting, and Mickey, for all of his bad reputation is a good man, sometimes professionally bound to do ethically questionable things. I've thoroughly enjoyed them.

One enjoyable part about the books has been the narration of the menutia of a defense lawyer's (or in some cases any lawyer's) life. It has been fascinating to More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Linda rated it:

On the surface, Attorney Mickey Haller, brash, cocky, and seemingly amoral, is a hard guy to like. But hey, the position of a defense lawyer is never ethically simple, and once he accepts a client, Haller goes to the mat for her. In this case, the client is the emotionally volatile Lisa Trammel. Mickey has been representing her in a house foreclosure suit, when she's accused of murdering the banker who held the mortgage. He doesn't much like Lisa, but he does believe in her innocence, and he tur More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Michael rated it:

The Fifth Witness is a follow-up to The Lincoln Lawyer and includes the return of Mickey Haller as the main character. Haller is a wonderfully flawed hero - a brilliant and cynical defense lawyer with a hidden sense of idealism and an ability to tiptoe right up to (but not over) the ethical divide in the pursuit of truth.

Connelly's courtroom scenes are fascinating and entertaining (if at times a little long), but his true genius is in creating the unexpected plot turn. Some of the interactio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

Skyring rated it:

I love a good legal thriller, and Michael Connelly has produced a ripper with this one. We meet Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, again as he ploughs through a new world of legal practice, the humdrum but topical world of mortgage foreclosures. Happily we don't spend the book rummaging through deeds and banks and loans - there's a murder case popped up, one which will grab our hero by the nuts and turn him right around.

Apart from Mickey, the book is full of unique characters, a real More...

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Jul 15, 2011

Sam rated it:

Oh boy, the first real disappointment in terms of 2011 reading was this book "The Fifth Witness". Never mind the utterly boring title that brings to mind exactly nothing, I felt that Connelly was milking the Mickey Haller character too quickly. I mean "The Lincoln Lawyer" is, to me, Connelly's finest book. It not only introduced a compelling, charming, anti-hero with a unique approach to his work, but it told a fascinating murder mystery that transformed into an amazing thril More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Kevintipple rated it:

In what is arguably the weakest book in a series that began with “The Lincoln lawyer” criminal defense attorney Michael Haller takes on the murder case of Lisa Trammel.

Lisa Trammel was already a client for Haller’s exploding business of stopping foreclosure. It is not work Haller likes but the criminal stuff was in short supply due to the bad economy. That same hideous economy created a huge foreclosure business caseload and that has kept things goings for his law practice. Abandoned b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

LJ rated it:

First Sentence: Mrs. Pena looked across the seat at me and held up her hands in a beseeching manner.

Attorney Mickey Haller has left defense law and has been spending his time defending homeowners against banks and agencies threatening to foreclose on their homes. One of his clients, Lisa Trammel, started marching in front of the bank who held her paper, to the point where they took out a restraining order against her being within 50 feet of the banks offices. When Mickey receives a More...

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Jul 05, 2011

Mary rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 30, 2011

Kate rated it:

Book 3 in my Stephen King challenge- just started it yesterday and I'm already more than halfway done. I haven't read any Connelly books before, and I haven't yet seen The Lincoln Lawyer, but despite that fact, I'm quite enjoying this book. There are lots of twists and turns, and although I didn't think I'd be very interested in reading about all the home foreclosures, I have to say that Connelly does an excellent job of making it interesting and that the story quickly morphs into so much more More...

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Jun 03, 2011

Barbara rated it:

I liked everything about this book, including the surprising explanation of the title. Michael Connelly, I never tire of saying, is one of the best storytellers around. He meticulously populates his stories with details but doesn't drown out the main story with them. In this case, Connelly has returned to the adventures of Mickey Haller, the "Lincoln Lawyer." When last we saw Mickey he had done a turn as a special prosecutor at the behest of his half-brother, Harry Bosch, star of Conne More...

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May 31, 2011

Justin rated it:

I'll try to be short and sweet with this one. The Mickey Haller series has been fun for me to read/listen to, and I've found that this kind of book translates well to audiobooks. So mowing the lawn has moved from hot, sweaty drudgery to hot, sweaty, Mickey Haller time. And the best and worst thing I can say about these books so far is that they're a lot like a TV show.

The appeal of these stories is the plot. The characters have a tendency to be flat and without growth, but the stor More...

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May 25, 2011

Barb rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 23, 2011

Simon rated it:

3.5 stars. When I was a bookseller I eagerly awaited each of Connelly's next books. It has been a while since I read him with that regularity but The Fifth Witness is an entertaining and topical read. Even if "Lincoln Lawyer" Mickey Haller isn't quite as memorable as Connelly's #1 hero Harry Bosch (who has a walk-on here), we find him here at a turning point in his life. Haller seems uncomfortable with what he's doing, even as his practice gets a financial shot in the arm through the f More...

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May 20, 2011

Luanne rated it:

Michael Connelly is one of my favourite authors. I wasn't too sure about the Mickey Haller character when he introduced this new series, but I'm an ardent fan now. The Fifth Witness is the fourth book featuring the lawyer who practices out of the back of his Lincoln.

The Fifth Witness finds Mickey working on stalling or nullifying home foreclosures. With the downturn in the economy, he's got no lack of business. Lisa Trammel was one of his first clients. Eight months later, she needs More...

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May 19, 2011

Kaje rated it:

Michael Connelly writes mysteries that are intricately plotted and well-paced, with unexpected twists that keep the reader guessing all the way to the end. This time Mickey Haller, lawyer for the defense, takes on the case of a woman accused of murdering the bank official whom she holds responsible for foreclosing on her home. Mickey and his team chase down evidence and pursue leads in an attempt to throw enough doubt on the case to exonerate his client.

Mickey Haller is a wonderful c More...

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