I suppose that in to write great fiction an author can do one of two things: write something new and original, or write something that's been done before but do it better.
There's really nothing ultra original about the Lincoln Lawyer novels. A jaded defence attorney that doesn't really care about guilt or innocence, just the outcome of the trial. A series of cases that make him reevaluate that stance.
But Michael Connelly has done it better than it has been done previously. A lot better.
The Lincoln Lawyer, the first book in this three book tome, is the best one. It's been turned into a movie and the movie, in my opinion is almost as good at the book, but not quite. The Lincoln Lawyer follow Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defence attorney with a solid reputation for defending unsavoury characters. It's not about proving innocence, he tells us, it's about casting doubt on the prosecution's case. The novel follows a case of a rich, Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of a sexual assault and comes to Haller to represent him. Haller takes on the case, seeing it as a case he can stretch out and bill some serious hours (a "franchise case" but soon, moral, ethical issues come to the fore, but not before everything in Haller's life is threatened. It's a mystery, it's a thriller and it is filled with intrigue.
But what makes this book great is Haller himself. He's got a great voice and the whole book is told in the first person perspective. It's like having an inside look in the mind of a defence attorney and I absolutely loved it. Michael Connelly is not a lawyer, but he could have fooled me. I found the first book captivating and I could not put this one down.
The second book in the series, The Brass Verdict, again follows Haller after he's taken some time off after the case in the Lincoln Lawyer. He's a bit of a changed man following what happened in the Lincoln Lawyer, but only a bit. Now he gets to defend a case of a Hollywood Mogul charged with the murder of his wife and lover. This one is almost as exciting as the first novel but there is one problem with it.
Connelly introduces his famous character, Harry Bosch, in The Brass Verdict. I'm not sure why. Perhaps longtime readers of Connelly will like this addition. I found it completely detracted from the story and slowed it down. As mentioned, chapters from Mickey Haller's perspective were told in first person, while chapters with Bosch were third person. This switching back and forth, to me didn't add anything and actually slowed the pace of the book down. And, I apologize to Harry Bosch fans, but I didn't find him to be an interesting character. But he wasn't that dominant in this novel, so I still enjoyed it.
The Reversal, the third novel in the collection follows Haller as he "reverses" to the other side of the courtroom. He is hired on by the State to re-prosecute a man who was convicted of abduction and murder of a young girl and spent twenty years in jail, but new DNA evidence cleared him from those charges. Now, Haller has to use all of his savvy to send the man back to jail. A great story! Except that in this novel, the subplot of Harry Bosch being hired as Haller's investigator on the case becomes as big as the main plot, but not half as interesting. I found myself completely uninterested whenever the point of view switched to Bosch and it did it a lot. My least favourite of the three.

If I was rating each of them individually, The Lincoln Lawyer is easily 5 stars, Brass Verdict 4 stars and the Reversal 3 stars. Maybe Harry Bosch fans will disagree with these, and keep in mind that these were the first Michael Connelly books I've read.