The Gods Of Guilt Reviews
“As he’s done throughout the Haller series, Connelly shows a remarkable ability to bring the courtroom alive—not just the details of the case at hand and the procedural machinations but also the personal drama simmering below the surface of the thrust and counterthrust of legal strategy. …A gripping novel, both in the courtroom and outside of it, and a testament to the melancholy maturing of Mickey Haller.”
– Booklist *starred review
“plenty of drama, danger, and suspense in this gem of a legal thriller.”
– Publishers Weekly *starred review
“Thanks to Mickey’s complexities, the Lincoln Lawyer series keeps getting better. I think this is the best one yet”
– Washington Post
“Mr. Connelly writes courtroom drama as a changeable set of circumstances, so that Mickey’s role as manipulator is at least as important as his detecting. In this book, he does a very satisfying job of feinting about what he’s truly after until he leaves his real target wholly unprotected, and the maneuvering is masterly. ”
– New York Times
“An Amazon Best Book of the Month, December 2013: What distinguishes Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer books from the average legal thriller is the complicated likeability of his flawed hero, Mickey Haller… Connelly writes crime fiction verging subversively on literature, and Haller is becoming an increasingly complex literary figure, cruising LA’s darkest corners in a style that feels like a modern twist on Chinatown. …Incredibly, Connelly just keeps getting better.”
– Amazon Editorial Review
“In “The Gods of Guilt,” Connelly’s fifth outing with Mickey, he delivers another heart-pounding walk on the other side of the mean streets Bosch patrols so vigilantly, while painting a deeper, more nuanced picture of Haller and his legal team. …Yet for all of the deft character touches Connelly layers in the book, “The Gods of Guilt” is first and foremost a propulsive, engaging legal thriller that for sheer courtroom drama surpasses the bestselling “The Fifth Witness,” which earned Connelly the 2012 Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction. And while Lee’s Atticus Finch might not have defended clients quite like Andre La Cosse or Gloria Dayton, both he and Mickey Haller share a thirst for justice, regardless of the cost, that makes Haller a worthy colleague of Finch and Bosch and puts him in the front of the pack in the legal thriller game.”
– Los Angeles Times
“Connelly is a master of crime fiction, and his latest Mickey Haller book continues the trend of compelling stories while forcing the reader to grapple with moral ambiguities. He’s dominated both sides of the justice system, and his latest trip into the courtroom will continue to expand his reputation and fan base.”
– Associated Press
“Michael Connelly delivers a compelling, suspense-laden plot that accelerates at high speed from the first page in his fifth outing with Mickey. “The Gods of Guilt” stretches the legal thriller’s boundaries, making the novel as much of a character study about a very flawed man haunted by the fact that doing his job well can have fatal repercussions. …It’s almost become a cliché for me to add that each novel shows why Connelly continues to be one of the best – and most consistent – living crime writers. “The Gods of Guilt” hands down that verdict again.”
– The Sun Sentinel
“His characters, even at their darkest, usually display grim determination and self-assurance. But here, Connelly abandons that formula and instead focuses on Haller’s insecurities and weaknesses. The result is his most complex, nuanced and rewarding novel in more than a decade.”
– Arizona Republic
“One of the best things about immersing yourself in the world of Mickey Haller is his riveting voice. In recounting his ongoing legal and personal adventures and misadventures in the “City of Angels,’’ the defense attorney and central character of Michael Connelly’s popular Lincoln lawyer series maintains a refreshingly straightforward, confiding, engaging tone, and never shies away from revealing his vulnerable moments and uncertainties. Without drifting into a sea of sentimentality, Haller exposes his soft underbelly as a legal eagle, a twice-divorced-yet-hopeful lover, and a dad. …This latest outing offers unfettered pleasure to regular readers, and a terrific introduction to new ones.”
– Boston Globe
“”The Gods of Guilt” proves that time has only honed Connelly’s skill. …Connelly is great in setting up characters. Haller carries a lot of baggage. He’s damaged, guilt-ridden, mercenary, but at heart a pretty decent guy. But it’s the courtroom drama that is riveting.”
– Denver Post
“So five novels into the Haller saga, with the new book, “The Gods of Guilt,” it’s fair to ask how the series is working out. The answer is, really, really well. …In this book, Connelly certainly sets himself a challenge. And he meets it.”
– New York Daily News
“Connelly is one of the great crime writers, a novelist who creates a fictional world so succinctly, and inhabits it so purposefully, that you are convinced it must be real. His mastery of place and character, his ease with dialogue, his control of plot gives his books a subtlety that is irresistible.”
– Daily Mail (UK)
“Nobody writes a courtroom thriller quite like Connelly, and this one’s a humdinger. …You won’t put it down!”
– Peterborough Telegraph (UK)
“Connelly does a masterful job of creating and sustaining drama. …Mickey, as fans will know, is the half-brother of Connelly’s greatest creation, homicide investigator Harry Bosch (who makes a very brief appearance in this book). Bosch’s sense of justice is unbending, the driving force in his life — his personal credo is “Everybody counts or nobody counts.” Mickey has a way to go before he develops his big brother’s sense of integrity, but The Gods of Guilt is a fascinating step in that direction.”
– Tampa Bay Tribune
“This is the fifth novel in the Lincoln Lawyer series and the one in which Connelly does the best job of fleshing out Haller.”
– Houston Chronicle
“Connelly’s attention to Mickey’s dilemma raises The Gods of Guilt out of the territory of simple thriller and into an exploration of morality and its consequences.”
– Columbus Dispatch
“Connelly has a gift for fast-paced drama, and isn’t afraid to paint a warts-and-all portrait of his main character. When it comes to passing judgment on Haller’s style of lawyering, Connelly will let the reader decide.”
– Minneapolis Star Tribune
