Mickey Haller
The protagonist of this crime thriller is Mickey Haller, a criminal defense lawyer in L.A. Haller was initially introduced to readers in the author’s 2005 novel The Lincoln Lawyer. While he was riding high as a defense attorney in that story, by this point in his career, Haller has become somewhat disenchanted with this role within the judicial system. Frustration leads to the decision to accept an offer to join the prosecutorial team in the retrial of an infamous kidnapping/murder case granted on the basis of the discovery of new DNA evidence. Haller tells his story through first-person narration.
Harry Bosch
Harry Bosch was introduced to readers in the author’s 1992 novel The Black Echo. The two were initially paired together in The Brass Verdict in 2008. Bosch is not just a homicide detective with the LAPD, he is also Haller’s half-brother. The sections focusing on Bosch’s perspective are written using a third-person point-of-view. The result of the dual approaches to perspective is that while readers gain personal insight into Haller’s thought processes, Bosch remains a more enigmatic figure whose motivations and opinions are more ambiguous and must be arrived at allusively through his action and dialogue.
Jason Jessup
A quarter of a decade earlier, the body of twelve-year-old Melissa Landy was discovered in a dumpster mere hours after she had initially been reported missing. Melissa’s older sister Sarah had witnessed the abduction and identified the driver of a tow truck as the man who had taken Melissa. That driver was Jason Jessup and he was subsequently convicted of Melissa’s murder. With the evolution of DNA evidence arrives a shocking revelation that not only grants Jessup a new trial but transforms the entire nature of the case. Semen found on the clothing Melissa was wearing at the time of her murder tests negative for Jessup but finds a match in the young girl’s stepfather.
“Clever Clive” Royce
The man known as Clever Clive takes on the role in this story which would otherwise be assigned to Haller. Jessup engages Royce to defend him in part because of the “Clever” part of his nickname. He is famous for finding the nearest camera and spouting in public all the things which a judge would admonish him for saying inside the courtroom. Royce earns his moniker by staging an elaborate media-focused campaign in which his energy is more focused on earning a bloated payday to compensate his client for wrongful imprisonment.
Sarah Gleason
Melissa’s sister remains the key witness in the case despite the newly introduced DNA which seems to absolve Jessup of guilt. Ultimately, the big revelation produced by DNA testing which Royce is counting on to reverse Jessup’s guilty verdict proves to be not quite the bombshell it seems. Sarah makes a stunning confession that serves to explain the presence of her father’s semen on the dress Melissa was wearing. At the same time, this information also undermines the value of this new evidence as justification for questioning Jessup’s guilt.
