Wednesday, July 28, 2010

INNOCENT by Scott Turow (2010)


Judge Rusty Sabich and P.A. Tommy Molto go head-to-head again twenty years after Molto prosecuted Sabich for a murder which he didn't commit in Turow's legendary courtroom drama PRESUMED INNOCENT. This time the stakes are raised because Sabich is now accused of killing his wife of 35 years, Barbara.

It's a complicated case because Barbara was also being treated for bipolar disorder and as such taking a wide range of pharmacopeia and was known certainly to her family as someone easily inflamed. Barbara's health issues aside, Rusty had recently consulted a high-powered divorce lawyer, and had had an affair with a much younger woman, one of his talented law clerks.

Rusty's strained relationship with his son Nat is another fly in the ointment, though Nat is certainly prepared to support his father no matter what.

In his trademark taut style and through his ability to make the banality of courtroom drama seem gripping, Turow delivers a story with enough credible twists and turns to give you whiplash as you read.

INNOCENT is worth the hype.

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