The Proving Ground

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer returns with Mickey Haller taking on a groundbreaking case against an AI company whose product may have contributed to the murder of a young girl. Following his "resurrection walk" and a desire for a new direction, Haller shifts to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit on behalf of the victim’s family against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot encouraged a sixteen-year-old boy to kill his ex-girlfriend. As he navigates the largely unregulated and rapidly expanding AI industry, Haller teams up with journalist Jack McEvoy, who initially seeks to observe the trial for a book but ends up uncovering a crucial whistleblower through meticulous work. With billions at stake, the case becomes fraught with danger, and Haller must employ a courtroom gambit reminiscent of the day IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, taking bold strategic risks to confront the immense power of the AI industry and protect his clients.