The Latest in the Lincoln Lawyer Series, Better Call Saul Season 2, and Team USA Gold Medal Picks
The Law of Innocence By: Michael Connelly
Publication Date: November 10, 2020 Date Finished: February 4, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Michael Connelly was a newspaper crime reporter before he burst onto the crime fiction scene as the author of police procedural novels starring Los Angles police detective Harry Bosch in the early 1990s. He has gone on to publish 22 novels starring Bosch as well as several others in the same universe with Bosch with a handful of other protagonists. The series gained a wider following in 2014 when several of Connelly’s works were adapted for the Amazon Prime Video TV Series Bosch.
I happened upon Connelly’s works in the mid-2010s, and I was hooked, reading through his entire catalogue in relatively short order. I’ve since either pre-ordered all of his newest novels to read immediately upon their release, or made sure I was at the top of the queue at the library when they received their copies.
Harry Bosch is only a secondary character in The Law of Innocence, as the story revolves around his half brother Mickey Haller. This is the sixth story in the series to star Haller (he has featured in several others as well). The most well-known work starring Mickey Haller was 2005’s The Lincoln Lawyer, which was adapted into a film starring Matthew McConaughey in 2011. While they overlap in many instances, it is easy to tell a Bosch novel from a Haller one as the former is written in third person, while the latter is done in first person narration from the point of view of Haller.
Haller has a reputation as an accomplished defense attorney and courtroom brawler who has tried (and won) many high-profile cases. He’s a crafty lawyer who will leave no stone unturned in the defense of his clients. He doesn’t keep an office and instead works out of his Lincoln, which he buys several at a time to take advantage of fleet rate prices. His team consists of his second ex-wife Lorna Taylor who serves as his case manager, Cisco Wojciechowski, Taylor’s current husband, serves as his investigator, and he took on recent law school graduate Jennifer Aronson as an associate.
The Law of Innocence starts with Haller celebrating a recent not guilty verdict at a bar with other members of the LA Defense Bar. Haller, a recovering addict, does not partake in any drinking and leaves the party relatively early in his Lincoln. Shortly after leaving the parking garage, Haller is pulled over by the LAPD whom he believes are trying to even the score against him after he won his case against the state earlier that day.
When Haller explains to the police officer that he hasn’t had a drink in years and there is no justification for the stop, he is informed that he was pulled over for not having a rear license plate. After some time, the officer sees something he considers suspicious coming from the trunk and searches the car. In the trunk he finds the dead body of serial fraud artist, and Haller’s former client, Sam Scales. Haller is subsequently arrested and charged with Scales’ murder.
Haller knows he has been framed and needs to uncover what conspiracy led to the dead man being found in his trunk. Knowing his life and liberty are at stake, he decides to represent himself, pro se, in the upcoming trial. With his career and reputation on the line, Haller knows he needs more than to be found not guilty because of a technicality or some other avenue that leaves doubt about his involvement in the murder. He knows to fully be vindicated, he needs to uncover the truth of what happened and prove himself unequivocally innocent of any charges.
A quote attributed to none other than Abraham Lincoln says that “a lawyer who represents himself surely has a fool for a client”, but Haller will trust the case with no one else but himself and his team. Knowing that Mickey is being set-up, he is also aided by his half brother Bosch and his first ex-wife, and feared prosecuting attorney in the District Attorney’s Office, Maggie “McFierce” McPherson.
The prosecution collects overwhelming evidence tying Haller to the victim as well as the crime scene and are fervent in their pursuit of hampering his defense and making sure he is found guilty and locked away for life. Haller and the prosecution spar over just about every detail of the case as Haller does his best to coordinate his defense from the county jail, where he is unable to work as he would like, while also being vulnerable to attacks from the unknown entities that have framed him for murder.
With the help of Bosch, Mickey Haller discovers that both the murder of Sam Scales and Haller being set up as the fall guy are even more nefarious than they seem. Bosch, Haller, and the rest of the team uncover a criminal enterprise perpetrating fraud at the highest levels as they search for exculpatory evidence to prove Haller’s innocence. Twists and turns abound in just about every chapter as more about the case is discovered.
The novel is very fast paced for a legal thriller. Haller even comments to his daughter Hayley, a first-year law student, that she will learn way more watching him defend himself than she will from her classes at USC.
Towards the end of the novel, things with the case and in the jail become complicated as the virus we now know as COVID-19 begins spreading in Southern California. Haller is determined to see that he has his constitutionally guaranteed speedy, public trial so he can get out of jail and continue his life with his daughter and his rekindling relationship with ex-wife McPherson.
The ending somewhat comes out of nowhere and compared to the rest of the book is a little unsatisfying. But overall, The Law of Innocence is another great work by Connelly, who continues to be one of the best active writers in the field today.
Better Call Saul Season 2
Release Date: February 15-April 18 2016 Date Watched: January 22-Thursday July 15, 2021
Rating: 9/10
***Warning: Possible Spoilers***
I’ve recently made a point to carve out more time in my schedule for watching TV shows other than Jeopardy. I’m by no means a binge-watcher and it usually takes me forever to get through one season of a show, let alone an entire series. For example, I started watching the FX spy drama The Americans during the Obama administration and I’m only midway through the fifth season. I keep pretty current with books, film, and to a lesser extent music. But until recently I’ve struggled with making time for watching TV.
The only time I have ever done a true binge of a TV show was back in college with Breaking Bad, the show for which Better Call Saul serves as a prequel. I’ve always been an early riser, and when I lived with several roommates that enjoyed sleeping in, there wasn’t much better to do than pull up Netflix, put on my headphones, and watch the latest travails of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. In that show, Walter White is a down on his luck chemistry teacher who moonlights as a car wash attendant, struggling to make ends meet as he battles cancer. He ends up getting involved in the New Mexico methamphetamine trade with his ne’er-do-well former student Pinkman. If you haven’t seen Breaking Bad, I would recommend it even more than Better Call Saul. I loved every minute of Breaking Bad and plan to revisit it again after BCS wraps up it’s sixth and final season next year. The only negative experience I had with Breaking Bad was the series finale and it was thoroughly my own fault and not that of showrunner Vince Gilligan. My issue was my friends goaded me into watching the finale late one Friday night/Saturday morning in a rather inebriated state. I wasn’t able to fully appreciate it but was cognizant enough to know what was going on that I didn’t get the full effect on rewatch either.
We first meet Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman (formerly know as Jimmy McGill) in Breaking Bad when Walter and Jesse need a lawyer to help with covering their tracks in their illicit drug trade and with laundering the money they are making hand over fist thanks to Walter’s supreme skill as a meth cook. Walter is skeptical of Goodman and his grandstanding TV ads and other practices he views as unprofessional, but Jesse convinces him he’s the right guy by telling him ,“You don’t want a criminal lawyer, you want a CRIMINAL lawyer.”
Better Call Saul details the rise of Jimmy McGill from mail room employee in his brother’s law firm to becoming the notorious Saul Goodman. Jimmy has always been a con artist but in the first season, he tries to work on the straight and narrow, serving as a public defender and practicing elder law. At the beginning of Season Two, Jimmy is convinced that from that point forward he’s going to take whatever low hanging fruit is there for him to pick and not let any moral scruples get in his way. He returns to his conman ways in the first couple episodes (sometimes joined by Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill associate and on and off love interest Kim Wexler) by finding braggadocios financiers at hotel bars and making them believe he came into a fortune through inheritance that will soon need a money manager. Jimmy and Kim string along the unsuspecting target while racking up huge drink tabs and then disappear without a trace.
Eventually, Jimmy decides to accept the partner track offer he received from white shoe law firm Davis & Mane. He does so probably as a means to impress his older brother, and main antagonist of the show, Chuck, as well as Kim. Jimmy is never a fit with Davis & Mane and runs afoul of the partners with some of the schemes he pushed in his early career as a sole practitioner. By the end of the season, Jimmy has forced his way out (he had to be fired so he could retain his signing bonus) and started back with his own firm. Kim also turns down a lucrative offer from the law firm Schweikart and Cokely to go solo. She agrees to share an office and other expenses with Jimmy, but due to his propensity to go into legal gray areas, or outright illegality, she makes sure they are two fully separate entities.
The end of the season deals a lot with Jimmy and Kim trying to get their businesses up and running and with Jimmy’s ongoing antagonistic battle with his brother Chuck. Chuck views the law as sacred and cannot stomach the idea of his brother making a mockery of it. This all comes to a head when Kim convinces a growing regional bank to be her client at her new solo practice, but Chuck pulls out all the tricks to convince them to stay with HHM. Jimmy sabotages Chuck’s work for the client, resulting in their return to Kim. The season ends with Chuck determined to do whatever it takes to get his brother at least disbarred for his behavior, if not sent to prison, for his illegal meddling.
In addition to following how Jimmy McGill became Saul Goodman, Better Call Saul also gives the backstory of another Breaking Bad character Mike Ehmantraut. Mike was a retired corrupt police officer in Philadelphia when his son, who followed him into law enforcement, was murdered by his fellow officers because he wouldn’t take part in their corruption. Mike avenges his son’s death and then moves to Albuquerque following his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Mike starts out working the booth of the courthouse parking lot, but eventually gets involved in the criminal underworld of Albuquerque to raise money to support his granddaughter.
In Season 2, Mike tries to help Nacho Varga (for a significant fee) get rid of the unpredictable, and often violent, Tuco Salamanca. The staged assault Mike sets up to get Tuco sent away doesn’t quite work to plan as the big boss, Hector Salamanca gets involved. Mike then tries to find a way to take down Hector. He is very diligent and resourceful in his pursuit and comes close to taking down Hector, but an intervention by an unknown person who has been tracking his movements stops him moments before he can act.
The season leaves us on a cliffhanger both in regard to how Chuck will attack Jimmy with his knowledge of forgery and with who has been following Mike. While thoroughly engrossing, Better Call Saul is very much a slow burn compared to Breaking Bad (though Breaking Bad did have its moments, who can forget the famous Fly episode?). I’m excited to start Season 3 soon and hope to have the first five seasons watched by the time Season 6 airs on AMC next year.
USA Olympic Locks
Noah Lyles to win Gold in men’s 200m (-175 at FanDuel)
Leonidas of Rhodes competed in four ancient Olympic games. Each time he contested the stadion (a foot race of about 200 meters, it was the oldest and most prestigious of the competitions), the diaulos (more or less a double stadion), as well as the hoplitodromos (basically a diaulos, but the competitor wore a full warrior’s armor). Each time, he took first place in all three events. Leonidas was the greatest champion of the ancient Olympics and when he showed up, the other competitors were just vying to see who could come in second.
The modern games have seen dominant athletes along these lines. Some that come to mind from recent years include Usain Bolt, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, and Mo Farrah. I’m not saying that Noah Lyles is as sure of a thing in this years 200m dash, but he is close. I wish I had published this earlier, as I was able to get Lyles to win at a better value (-135). Despite being a higher cost now, I still think taking the kid from Virginia is a good bet.
Because of my sister, I have been attending amateur track and cross country meets for the better part of my life and have really fallen in love with the sport. The first ever professional contest I went to was the 2018 US National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. I was able to get tickets in the section right by the finish line for only $20 or $25. It was a great time all weekend, but I’ll never forget the final of the men’s 100m dash. Lyles ran a non-wind aided 9.88 to beat out Ronnie Baker by .02. I have been to many games and contests and have seen athletes do things that seem almost impossible, but that 100m final in Des Moines remains the most impressive athletic feat I have ever seen in person. I can’t even fathom what it would have been like to see Bolt run a 9.58 at the World Championships in 2009.
I want to emphasize that while Lyles is a dominant athlete, he is not Usain Bolt. Bolt’s 100m (9.58) and 200m (19.19) records will surely stand for a long time. Usain Bolt is one of a kind and totally broke the mold for what a sprinter could do. In contrast, Lyles is just the best talent of his generation. At the Olympic Trials he actually failed to qualify for the team in the 100m. I think this bodes well for his gold chances at 200 though as he can focus solely on that race and not worry about conserving energy trying to double. Lyles has incredible top end speed, but still struggles every now and then getting out of the blocks smoothly. As a result, the 200 has been his forte throughout his career so far. The field in the 200m isn’t as tough as it has been in games past. Lyles is clearly the class of the US contingent; he is joined by Erriyon Knight and Kennerth Bendnarek. Unlike in previous years, the Jamaican team isn’t sending anyone that would threaten Lyles if he is having a good day. Former world champion from Turkey, Ramil Guliyev, is in the field, but only expect him to be a factor if the weather is bad and there is madness, as his pure talent alone doesn’t come close to Lyles. The biggest threat to Lyles winning the competition is Andre De Graase from Canada. He has posted times of 19.80 in the 200 and 9.90 in the 100. He will offer stout competition, but in my opinion, it is very much Lyles’ race to lose.
USA Women’s Soccer Team to win Gold (-165 at DraftKings, currently offering a boost to +100)
Unlike the men’s tournament in Tokyo, which will feature under 23 teams with a select number of overage players, the women’s tournament is for full internationals and the stakes are as high as any competition save for the quadrennial World Cup tournament.
The US women’s team has steamrolled their way to claiming the last two World Cup competitions. However, the team disappointed at the 2016 Rio Olympics by losing to Sweden at the Quarter-final stage. Many of the players from the 2016 team will return to try to right things from five years ago. The returning players of that team will be aided by several young players that have come up through the ranks in the subsequent years.
Veterans like Carly Llyod, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz, Kelly O’Hara, and captain Becky Sauerbrunn will look to provide solid play and leadership for the team. Before suffering an injury that she has since recovered from, Tobin Heath was one of the best performing players on earth. Some of these players will no doubt be starters in every important game, while others will be asked to provide depth and a spark off the bench. Experience and savvy cannot be underestimated at the big international tournaments.
Completing these stalwarts in Tokyo are several exciting young players who have proved their worth both at the international and club level. Crystal Dunn is an exciting young player that provides an attacking spark from her wing back position while also being solid defensively. Alyssa Naeher looks to be as solid in goal in Tokyo as she was at the last World Cup in France. In Rio, she watched from the bench as the now retired Hope Solo was first choice at the last Olympic Games. The Mewis sisters (Kristie and Samantha) have been playing spectacularly during the warmup sendoff series matches.
There is talent both young and old up and down the roster. This team really has no weak point for other teams to exploit. However, what I’m most excited about, and why I think it will be impossible for a team like Sweden to successfully park the bus and defend to eke out a win this time around is the brilliant Rose Lavelle. Lavelle is easily my favorite national team player since the retirement of Mia Hamm over a decade and a half ago. Lavelle was awarded the Bronze Ball at the France World Cup for the tournament’s third best player, but to my estimation, she was in a class by herself at that tournament. No one else on the team, or on any team at the tournament, has the same capability of seeing the killer pass that will tear open the defense and lead to a clear goal scoring opportunity. In addition to setting up goals and controlling the game from midfield and keeping the pace at the level the team desires, Lavelle can pop up at any instant to score a goal for herself. She is a totally unique player on this team and the main reason I feel so confident of their success.
Great reviews! Are you betting on the olympics?