michael connelly the fifth witness review

She cannot be tried again for the same crime. However, the celebration is short-lived after Mickey realizes that Trammel really is the killer. Despite the fact that the judge puts a stop to Mickey's questioning of Opparizio before he is able to ask some key questions, Mickey convinces the jury to find Trammel not guilty of Bondurant's murder. Opparizio is also the fifth witness Mickey calls to testify, which lends double meaning to the book's title. This, he assumes, will plant the seed in the jury's mind that Opparizio or his associates are responsible for Bondurant's murder, thus exonerating Trammel. Mickey's defense strategy centers on getting organized crime boss Opparizio onto the stand and then berating him into pleading the Fifth Amendment to a question about connections to Bondurant. Shortly after discovering these connections, Mickey is attacked, his life threatened. Mickey works to establish alternative theories behind the case with his two investigators: his ex-wife, Lorna, and her current husband, Dennis, who is nicknamed 'Cisco.' They discover that Bondurant has ties to various members of organized crime families. The prosecutor of the case is Andrea Freeman, a lawyer against whom Mickey has never won a case. She is a suspect despite the fact that she is much shorter than the 6'2'' Bondurant who was murdered from above with a hammer while standing up. One of Mickey’s longtime clients, Lisa Trammel, is suspected of murdering the rich Bondurant.

Mickey works out of a Lincoln Town Car, as opposed to the office, leads to the nickname 'The Lincoln Lawyer' by peers and others. The fact that Mickey frees criminals while McPherson-nicknamed 'McFierce'-puts them away was a big factor in their divorce. Mickey has a daughter, Hayley, with McPherson who works in the Los Angeles District Attorney's office as a prosecutor. He has two ex-wives, Maggie McPherson and Lorna Taylor.

Mickey is the son of a well-known Los Angeles defense litigator, also named Michael Haller, who died mysteriously when Mickey was around five-years-old. The story follows the murder investigation of a wealthy man Mitchell Bondurant. American author Michael Connelly’s mystery novel The Fifth Witness (2011) is the fourth book in a series starring Michael 'Mickey' Haller, a criminal defense attorney based in Los Angeles.

Michael connelly the fifth witness review