The Proving Ground (The Lincoln Lawyer #8), by Michael Connelly
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Once a thrilling voice in crime fiction, Connelly’s newest outing feels rushed, uninspired, and stripped of the courtroom tension that once defined the series.
A few years ago, I came across a TV show simply called “Bosch” that quickly became one of my favourites. At some point, I realised there were Bosch novels – and I was done for.
Michael Connelly had created a detective and an entire “Bosch Universe” that I came to love. Of course, I dived straight into anything in that universe and, by now, have read everything set in that universe – including the exploits of Mickey Haller, the “Lincoln Lawyer”.
So, when a new instalment was published, I rushed in excitedly – and found a shallow, bland, uninspired novel, trying hard to cash in on current worries about AI (artificial intelligence).
Don’t get me wrong: there is certainly reason to be at least concerned about AI because right now, the pace at which AI is being developed by far outpaces the ethical concerns around it. The scenario of “The Proving Ground” could, to some extent, play out today.
Unfortunately, said scenario – an unhinged teenager murders his ex-girlfriend – is something we’ve seen long before the AI hype. AI doesn’t really play any decisive role here, and the one bold and (relatively) original idea Connelly has remains unused.
Jack McEvoy, himself a protagonist in the Bosch Universe, makes an appearance, but is barely used and even when he’s around, his contributions are hardly meaningful. Sadly, the same applies to pretty much every other one of Mickey’s friends as well.
Worst of all, though, it all dies with a whimper. There would have been countless interesting, exciting, or even novel ways to end this rather short novel (it’s 20% shorter than the average of all other novels in the series), but Connelly goes for the easiest and most boring one.
Even the writing is not up to the author’s usual standards: stylistically, “Proving Ground” could itself have been written by an AI.
Compared to earlier novels in the “Lincoln Lawyer” series, this one lacks all the grit, the suspense, the courtroom drama, the subtlety of Mickey’s performances, and it’s even very repetitive at several points.
If you are a completionist like myself, go ahead, read it – you will be disappointed, but that’s not the point, eh?
If you are new to the series, just choose an earlier one and pretend this one doesn’t exist. A sentence from chapter 49 reflects my feelings perfectly:
»And yet there was something underwhelming about it.«
Generous three stars out of five.
