In the installment, Haller is part of the prosecution rather than on the defense as the audience has gotten used to. He teams up with his half-brother detective Bosch to create a strong duo to convict a brutal child murderer. The case is however a retrial since the defendant has served some time behind bars for the murder of the young girl 24 years earlier. It proves to be challenging because he is released on DNA evidence, therefore, rendering his case a mistrial. Though Haller agrees to work for the prosecution, he accepts with particular stipulations in order to work independently.
They believe they have a strong case since they have the testimony of Sarah which creates much of the conflict in the narrative. The story tracks the two main characters through different perspectives with Bosch handling the case in the past and Haller in the present. Haller uses all the tools he can even involving his ex-wife to get to the root of the crime that was committed years ago. The team has to dig up every ounce of confession and evidence to ensure the trial goes as planned. However, a chain of events that ruins the defense case leads the defendant to murder his legal team and subsequently get killed. This leads to many unanswered questions for Haller which are largely uncharted waters for the lawyer.
The novel balances the police procedurals and courtroom dramas to show the journey of a man thrown into new territory while navigating parenthood. Jackie Cooper of Huffington Post reviewed “In The Reversal parental guilt and the quest for good father daughter relationships are combined with the trial of a man for the murder of a child. Based on all of his past books we expect a first rate story from Connelly and this time, like all the others, the man delivers. He knows his way around a police investigation and he knows his way around a courtroom.”
