The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly (Book)

The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly.

I have a weird habit of picking up and reading the "filler" books that I go through on and off 🙂. I never read a Michael Connelly book before I picked this one up 🙂, what made me pick this one was its super glossy cover with a courtroom in background, its size (550+ pages) and that last name Connelly. I've been a Jennifer Connelly fan all my life (you've got to see her in leather) so I thought how bad a book can be with that similar last name 🙂. On top of that I have read a few Grishams and Jodi Picoults with superb courtroom dramas in the recent past. And on top of that I recently finished a Thomas Hardy so I wanted unwind a little before I pick up my first Kafka next. But what a terrific heartbreak this one was, totally predictable with almost no character development, I could feel nothing for none of the characters, almost no thrill element even after multiple murders and an unknown killer roaming around looking for his / her next target. Lackluster courtroom scene and dialogues, almost good for nothing detectives totally clueless as what is happening and unfortunately they do not uncover anything as I said that the ending was totally predictable. I was able to guess the killer in the first 50 pages only 🙁. Some of my favorite names from Hollywood too weren't able to make it any better for me like Johny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Mickey Rourke 🙂. 

Started reading this on Sunday morning and finished it on Tuesday afternoon, was a breeze of an easy read but just about a very average story (much against my expectations). Perfect setting of an out of work lawyer taking break from his practice recovering from drug addiction. No work and family to look forward to, his fortune changes as one of his close buddy (another lawyer) is shot dead with a high profile Hollywood producers case hanging in-between. The producer is a suspect himself of a dual murder (his wife & her lover). Two ex wives with one of them working with him (and her boy friend) and a daughter in toes, his father's best buddy as the detective helping him solve the case, imagine it had so much scope of being a fantastic novel but I guess Mr. Connelly has read too much of Christie, Grisham and Conan Doyle but learned nothing, as it all falls flat on the reader. Even for a person like who reads books for pleasure, this didn't had almost nothing for me in it, still I kept going forward thinking it may shock me somewhere down the line and may have a different ending than how I imagined but even that wasn't the case. The only good thing about the book was that it kept reminding me of the terrific movie Lincoln Lawyer that I watched and loved a few years ago, based on Michael Connelly's most successful book I guess. 

After a long time I guess I found a book which I won't be recommending much to my own heart-break. But do let me know if you have read "The Brass Verdict" and liked it too. If not, do let me know if you have a favorite Michael Connelly book, I would like to give the Author a second chance.