The Proving Ground - Michael Connelly

The Proving Ground

By Michael Connelly

  • Release Date: 2025-10-21
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 3,301 Ratings

Description

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a young girl.

Following his “resurrection walk” and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.

Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy, who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimate delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.

It is said that machines became smarter than humans on the day in 1997 that IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with a gambit called “the knight’s sacrifice.” Haller will take a similar gambit in court to defeat the mega forces of the AI industry lined up against him and his clients.

Reviews

  • I can’t believe they shot Hallar

    5
    By jimmybooM
    Another slow starter, but worth the read!
  • A Timely & Thought Provoking Legal Thriller

    5
    By CaseyWeim
    Wow—Haller absolutely nailed this one! This story tackles one of the biggest issues of our time: the collision of artificial intelligence and the legal system. As AI continues to evolve at an incredible pace, it's clear the courts will take years—if not decades—to catch up with the legal and ethical questions it raises. What I appreciated most was how the book reminds us that AI isn't free from human flaws. It's created, trained, and refined by people, which means our own biases, assumptions, and imperfections can become embedded in the technology itself. Those influences could shape decisions and outcomes for generations to come if we're not careful. This was an intelligent, timely, and thought-provoking read that raises important questions without losing the suspense. If you enjoy legal thrillers that make you think long after you've finished the last page, this one is a must-read.
  • Great Book

    5
    By Dixie Ricks
    I
  • Very readable.

    5
    By Goldpnr
    I would recommend this book to anyone. I never would have thought that this type of story would be of my interest. I was quite surprised. I was definitely locked in all the way through. Great writing and a good story line.
  • Great

    5
    By Bailey422
    Great
  • A+

    5
    By Saratoga Geezer
    Great view into the perils of AI without guardrails.
  • A must read

    5
    By Ddddice
    Excellent…as usual.
  • A Very Good LL Novel

    4
    By TigersJC86
    I did enjoy this Lincoln Lawyer novel but I wouldn’t say it’s the best. There wasn’t quite the threat to Mickey like in most of the LL novels. He also used more dirty tactics that felt a bit unwarranted and seemed wrong even for a guy that bends the rules. It was an interesting case though regarding culpability of AI and the consequences companies and people could face if not handled properly.
  • The Proving Ground

    5
    By suemac78587
    Excellent! It helped me, as a lay person, to understand the demons that could be lurking in the biases of the human coders who “train” (code) the AI companion app. Beware!
  • The proving ground

    5
    By Bibi Cakes1
    Wow. What an incredible book. So well written and interesting.