Children’s Library Assistant Polly Hopkins recommends The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly.
I never really imagined I’d quote O.J. Simpson of all people, but he made a pretty spot-on statement in his 1995 memoir when he wrote that, “in America, you get as much justice as you can afford.”
This was regrettably confirmed for me via some recent first-hand experience. Toward the end of that experience, maybe a little serendipitously, I started listening to the audiobook of The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly. Although Connelly himself is not an attorney, he has undoubtedly familiarized himself with the nuances of our wacko legal system. In this book, he ingeniously weaves together themes of artificial intelligence and big business, and the main characters hash it all out in front of the jury box (which is the area of a courtroom known as “the proving ground”).
This is the most recent of Connelly’s well-known “Lincoln Lawyer” novels. In it, defense attorney Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer) legally represents three clients simultaneously, all of whom were gravely affected by a powerful AI platform in varying but intertwined ways.
One of the clients is the mother of a teenage girl who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. The other clients, a husband and wife, are the parents of the murdering ex-boyfriend. Haller’s arguments center around the notion that an AI avatar that the boy had fallen in love with had provoked him to kill the girl. The plot is challenging to describe much beyond that without revealing what else unfolds.
I will continue by saying that, as a devoted and avid reader of Connelly’s books, I was thoroughly convinced after finishing this novel that he has mastered his craft. His writing through the decades just gets better and better, and his storytelling becomes more and more gripping with every new piece of work.
Many of Connelly’s books, including this one, are narrated by actor Peter Giles, and I feel obliged to acknowledge his honed skills as well. Giles’s gravelly vocal tones and dramatic inflections match the script impeccably. Regardless of readers’ varying stances on AI, I truly believe anyone may enjoy this book as much as I did.
The storytelling is brilliant, the descriptions are vivid, and the captivation level is off the charts.
Michael Connelly is definitely in his right element and undoubtedly does a tremendous amount of research prior to developing his stories. The Proving Ground is a total page-turner.
