Review of Resurrection Walk

I’ve been reading Michael Connelly books since the 1990s. Bosch is my favorite of his characters, but I have grown to appreciate Mickey Haller, the so-called “Lincoln Lawyer” too. I’ve also enjoyed watching the Netflix version of The Lincoln Lawyer. Check out my Review of Resurrection Walk, a book that was on my list of Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2023!

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Resurrection Walk (Lincoln Lawyer #7) by Michael Connelly

To be published on November 7, 2023 by Little, Brown. Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read Resurrection Walk in October 2023.

Plot Summary of Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly

Invigorated after freeing a wrongfully convicted man, defense attorney Mickey Haller agrees to represent Lucinda Sanz, sentenced to prison for killing her husband, a sheriff’s deputy. Despite accepting a no contest plea deal, Lucinda maintains her innocence. Haller enlists the help of his half brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Bosch isn’t thrilled to be working on the defense side of the case, but sees something that doesn’t add up.

The path to justice is fraught with danger from those who don’t want the case reopened. And they will stop at nothing to keep the two brothers from uncovering what the deputy’s killing was really about.

Review of Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly

What kind of a book is Resurrection Walk?

• Police procedural
• Legal thriller
• Part of the Bosch Universe, featuring half-brothers Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller

I have been reading Michael Connelly since 1992 and by this point his characters seem almost like real people to me.

While I feel more kinship with wary, prickly Bosch than his slicker and younger half-brother Mickey Haller, I have read all the Haller books too. As a Michael Connelly super-fan, I watched Bosch on Amazon and also the Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix – check out my comparison of Lincoln Lawyer books vs series here.

I also reviewed The Waiting by Michael Connelly (2024)

What I loved About Resurrection Walk

Legal Thriller + Police Procedural

I have also been watching Law & Order since the 1990s, and I liked that Resurrection Walk was a combination of a police procedural and a courtroom thriller. Like Law & Order, if you will. While I don’t think the case itself was Haller’s (or Bosch’s) most complex, I did love the courtroom drama (I’m getting back into legal thrillers, so check out all my favorites here).

Mickey + Harry

I loved that it felt like a true collaboration between Mickey and Harry as the two work together to free a woman they believe was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her husband. This is a tough adjustment for Harry, who is used to being on the side of the prosecution. But there’s a personal reason he accepts the job, which I’ll outline below.

In my opinion, Bosch is a lone wolf kind of guy, but Haller is better with Bosch. My only general issue with the Lincoln Lawyer books is that Mickey always feels a little glib and all the main characters (Mickey and his clients) are a bit more unlikeable.

But I think slightly unlikeable characters like Haller do better on the screen than the page. (Also I’m not the biggest fan of Cisco. Once he married Lorna, I thought darn, I am stuck with him forever.) Cisco and Lorna were a very small part of this book, which was fine with me.

Harry is the Heart of this Story

Harry might be one of my favorite fictional detectives ever. He has had a fascinating backstory through all the books: his war PTSD, his battles with LAPD bureaucracy to get justice for victims, his relationship with Eleanor, and his embrace of fatherhood. In this book, he faces a tough personal challenge.

One of my favorite parts of Resurrection Walk was watching old-school Harry combine his well-honed investigative skills with some new ones, like artificial intelligence and geofencing, all while battling CML, or chronic myeloid leukemia. Thankfully, Mickey was able to get Harry into a clinical trial at UCLA for a treatment with Lutetium 177 therapy, or LU 177.

As Connelly has a journalism background, I am not surprised that he wrote about Harry being in a clinical trial for a real type of targeted radionuclide therapy which is currently being used to treat patients. (Harry’s health issues are the reason he accepts the job working with Mickey: he needs good health insurance, as he’s now a private detective.) Best wishes to Harry, who needs to get well and keep solving cases!

If you, like me, are a fan of Connelly, Bosch, and/or Haller, Resurrection Walk is a must read!

Tell me in comments: have you read any Connelly books, and which are your favorites?

Dear Michael Connelly,
Is this new Harry + Mickey book a consolation prize to those of us (like me) who complained (in my Lincoln Lawyer post) that on the screen, Bosch and Haller seem doomed to exist in separate universes? Bosch is on Amazon (now Bosch Legacy on Freevee) and Haller is a Netflix guy. Haller is better with Bosch, just saying. And Bosch is essential, so I hope this clinical trial works!
Either way, thanks for a great book!
A fan (me)PS If Harry dies, we are through.