The latest offering from Michael Connelly is a strange mix of excellent narrative and a suprisingly dull story. "The Reversal" is for the most part a tense court room drama with Attorney Micky Haller having switched tables to prosecute a child murderer whose original conviction has been shown to be suspect after 24 years of incarceration for the crime. Harry Bosch is Hallers investigator for the case and a few of the usual suspects including "Maggie McFierce" and "L.T. Gandle" make a welcome appearance also.
The normal Connelly trademarks are there, excellent writing and the building of credible characters. However, following the adrenalin filled court case which takes up the first 80% of the novel, the denouement of the story is strangely rushed and skews off into a tangent which feels unconvincing and doesn't provide the satisfying resolution that you have prepared yourself for. A Major plot point is left unexplained at the end also, which looks as if it will be picked up in a future novel.
I have always been a massive fan of Michael Connellys work, but "The Reversal" is lacking the fire works and excitement of his earlier books. Yes, it's well written but the story is quite bland and given the build up, the pay off is a let down because it functions independantly of the earlier story line. It feels almost as if the authors publisher hurried him too much and he came up with the first ending he could think of to complete the story.
Of his recent works, "Nine dragons" and "The Scarecrow" were very much below par and had it not been for "The Brass verdict" I dont think I would have purchased "The Reversal". Having read it, I really hope his next offering "The fifth witness" is back to some where near his best.
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