The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly

Cover of The Proving Ground shows a man in a suit holding a briefcase walking away from the viewer past columns of a modernist court building Little, Brown
Published on October 20, 2025
Reviewed by Mary-Jane Oltarzewski

The Lincoln Lawyer is back, but he drives a Chevy Bolt these days. Mickey Haller is still brash, glib, and quick on his feet, but he’s no longer advertising on buses and park benches, promising “reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee.” Mickey helped release an innocent man from prison recently, and had a moment of moral clarity. Now he’s in civil court, suing a tech company so big, it takes a pair of twin barracudas to represent it. The attorneys for the defense are a couple of smart, slick, sneering twins named Mitchell and Marcus Mason. Identical except for their facial hair, the Masons and their client will stop at nothing to make this one go away quietly. As Mickey explains, “There was nothing civil about this fight. Randolph versus Tidalwaiv Technologies LLC was one of those rare cases where the stakes went far beyond the walls of the courtroom …this was a fight for the future of everyone.”

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