Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)

One of the few Turow books I've read. It was a pretty good read.

For his first work of fiction, Scott Turow opted for that creature of an infinite number of crime noir books - the innocent man falsely accused. But PRESUMED INNOCENT is not noir, falling instead into the more generic genre of standard mystery. Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor in a fictional Midwestern county, becomes the center of suspicion when Carolyn, a former co-worker and lover, turns up dead. That Carolyn seemed like the type of woman who would have collected a number of enemies at the point in her life when she died, many of whom might have been happy to do the ghastly deed, seems not to dampen anyone's enthusiasm about pointing at Rusty instead. Turow takes us through several plot twists and legal maneuvers. Rusty is, of course, a lawyer and knows the system. But so is Turow, the author, and his knowledge of the field comes through. The story line flows easily enough and, if not exactly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is at least as good as the average mystery writer. Although we ... Read more

I first read PRESUMED INNOCENT when it first came out in 1987, back when I was in my mid-teens. Having recently re-read it as an adult, I wonder how much of it I actually understood as a teenager. This is a book meant for mature adults. This book is also quite good, a finely crafted legal thriller that succeeds at multiple levels. The prose in PRESUMED INNOCENT is first rate, and the major characters are drawn with great complexity and depth. This novel starts slowly, but once the trial begins about a third of the way through, it really takes off and becomes a highly suspenseful page turner. All the courtroom scenes are also terrifically well done and brim with authenticity, which shouldn't be surprising given Turow's background as a prosecutor in Chicago. PRESUMED INNOCENT also succeeds as psychological drama. The protagonist of this novel, prosecutor Rusty Sabich, is 39-years old and is forced to deal with numerous career and relationship struggles that many men typica... Read more

I loved this book when I first read it in paper, so I was going to buy a copy for my Kindle so I could read it again (I gave my paperback to a charity sale), but was dismayed and definitely deterred by the incredibly unresonable out of sight price of the Kindle edition. Update July 13, 2008: I emailed the publisher about the Kindle prices and see today that the two books with the $20+ prices are now priced at $7 for the Kindle editions! Quick response from publisher. So I put both on my Kindle. Now hoping for equally quick response on getting the rest of Turow's works available in Kindle format. Moral of Story: If your favorite author isn't available for Kindle, write to both the author and publisher!

Reasonably diverting, although it seemed more like an entended TV-movie of the week than an actual "movie" movie. There was a time once, long ago, where I used to like Harrison Ford movies ("Witness" remains one of my favorites) but for the past 20 years or more he plays essentially the same character in every movie he appears in, whether that movie is average or mediocre...and the character he plays isn't particularly engaging or interesting. Fortunately for this film, there are some very good actors involved in it-- Raul Julia, Brian Dennehy, Paul Winfield, John Spencer, and, especially, Bonnie Bedelia. It's really nothing short of a cinematic crime that Bedelia's career hasn't gone further than it has; she's excellent, showing more in her silences and facial expressions than Ford can show even with 10 pages of dialogue. Bedelia and some of the other actors manage to elevate the proceedings to something more than just another lawyer-in-peril potboiler.

One of Turow's best, if not the best. I have not seen the movie, therefore the ending was a complete surprise. I will not repeat what the other Reviewers have written, just wanted to rate the novel as I thought it was truly a 5-Star read.

This is a strong, compelling story with a page-turner drive. Though longer than average, it's easy to read and took only a couple of days of concentrated effort to finish, and it was a pleasure to do so. My impression is that the most powerful element of this book is the characters - they are well drawn, with good voices, and consistent through the arc of the story. My only criticism is that some of the strong voices are stereotypical - but, of course, stereotypes come from somewhere.

One of those books you needed to read to catch the subtle things in the movie. Good book, average movie.

Turow is guilty of impersonating a writer.

This is the only book by Scott Turow that I have enjoyed. It is quite suspenseful, and the movie version was great, too.

Good except for excessive profanity.