Mick Haller is a criminal defense attorney whose clients are mostly shady, and many have trouble paying him. He gets most of his clients through bail bondsmen to whom he gives “bonuses” at Christmas. When one of the bondsmen refers a wealthy prospective client to Mick, Mick is surprised, not only because the client comes from a wealthy family, but also because he is a real estate agent with no police record.
Even though Mick is excited at the prospect of making the kind of money he usually only dreams about, Mick is also somewhat suspicious because he wonders why this man did not want representation from his family's attorney C. C. Dobbs or from someone Dobbs could recommend. Mick suspects there is more to this case than meets the eye, but when he meets Louis Ross Roulet, Mick comes to believe Roulet is truly innocent of the charges of beating, attempted rape and attempted murder of a prostitute. Mick thinks the prostitute set up Roulet with the criminal charges so that she can pursue a civil case against Roulet afterward, as they had been in the same bars several times and she thus had several opportunities to observe that he is wealthy. Besides, Mick reasons that Roulet, as a handsome and clean-cut man, would not have to pay for sex anyway. After hearing Roulet's side of the story in which he explains away all the evidence the police used to arrest him, Mick thinks it won't be hard to win this case. However, during the course of preparing for trial, Mick discovers some disturbing information that shows that Roulet may not be innocent after all. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70% Murder of certain profession? Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Legal Thriller Yes Legal Plotlets descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - kicks How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - California City? Yes City: - Los Angeles Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |