This is my fourth Turow novel to read, and while there is a lot that I like about it, it is probably my least favorite. I should admit a bias from the start, though, as I am a criminal defense attorney, and I have never been particularly intrigued by the malicious internal politics of high-powered civil law firms. I also have a peculiar love for the way Turow writes courtroom scenes, and this novel stays out of court entirely (only flirting with the idea briefly in a disciplinary hearing).The story in this book is kind of a treasure hunt, as a high-power law firm partner has disappeared with millions, and an underperforming partner with a history as an alcoholic police officer is dispatched by the senior partners to hunt him down. The amusing narrative structure is that the book presents itself as the transcripts of some reports that he tape records at various points in his adventures, and while it doesn't really work (the dialogue, descriptions, and pacing still feel like a novel and not the ramblings of an occasionally tipsy lawyer), I appreciate the creativity in the effort. Plus, Turow does a stellar job with shocking revelations and the tying up of loose ends in the last fifty pages of the book.My problem, though, is that even lawyers don't like corporate/civil lawyers, and this novel does nothing to change that for me. I didn't find any of the characters sympathetic, and there was no one really to root for. In theory, I should have gotten behind the protagonist, but he is just such a colossal failure in every area of his life that I couldn't really relate to him, and his frequent oversharing (the reader gets uncomfortable detail every time he has a sexual encounter, whether that is with another person or by himself), combined with some views on race/gender/orientation issues that are understandable for the character but not acceptable in polite company almost twenty years after the publication of the novel... I just never liked Mack Malloy, and that's a hurdle that the reader absolutely must clear to really engage with the deeply personal story of the novel.This book is fine as a mystery or as an example of work by a writer who can put out a good novel even when he's not at his best, but I don't recommend it over any of Turow's other work.
I feel terrible to have a book that I didn't like as much as I didn't like this book. Mr. Turrow spent time sitting down and writing this, however this book had so many different things going on, there were a lot of different stories happening kind of within the plat. Usually that is good, because it makes you think about who did it and why. This was hard to follow. There was so much legal mumbo jumbo and people that it was soooo hard to follow. Since I had invested so much time in this book I figured I should find out the ending. At least that didn't disappoint. SPOILER ALERTSPOILER ALERTSPOILER ALERTBook in Brief: Law firm partners realize that one of their partners Bert is missing. They get a Jr. partner who was formerly a cop/detective, to help find Bert. The idea is that Bert left with something like 5 millilon from an escrow account of a tort case was managing. The cop whose hamartia is alcohol, gets into trouble, and we realize that he figures out that Bert didn't take the money, a partner guy did ( I am not ever sure if the guy was a partner), and he steals the money. Goes away to the Caymans (or something like it). He lies to the other cops, and it is so convoluted that you can barely remember the reason why I listened to this audio book for so long.
What do You think about Pleading Guilty (2001)?
Another well written legal mystery with lots of interesting characters and stunning plot twists. Mack Malloy is a mediocre lawyer, ex-cop and recovering alcoholic who works for one of the most prestigious law firms in fictitious Kindle County (which is the setting for most of Turow's novels). One of the firm's lawyers has mysteriously disappeared and evidence suggests that, in the process, he may have stolen $5.6 million from the firm's largest account. The partners of the firm want to keep a lid on that information and request Malloy to track down the errant lawyer and the stolen money before their largest client learns of the theft.
—Duane Bowker
I really did try to read this terrible book. I have a rule, I can't remember whether it's the 50-page rule or the 100-page rule, but the point is, it's a rule, and I live by it: reach that page and you are committed, like the Clintons' marriage. You do not abandon ship! So for me to drop this book at p. 154 should tell you something. What it should tell you is that I had reached the point in the book where the potbellied, 50-something blue-collar lawyer Mack has gone to the apartment of his hostile black law firm colleague Glyndora, who has very reluctantly let him in, after a few minutes he has placed his hands on her nipples, felt an enormous sexual charge, he runs out to buy Seagram's and condoms, and when he gets back to her apartment she won't let him in. Which I was elated about, as I could not have endured a sex scene between them at that or any other point.I dearly love a good police procedural, so clearly I have nothing against the police, or their procedures. But it's impossible to overstate how much I hate writing like this. I'm not a fan of the hardboiled or noir, and this is just ridiculous:"She was pointing out the features of her inner sanctum and I, the former sot who'd done more wandering than a minstrel, was at home conducting a perverse and private romance with Mary Fivefingers.""Glyndora is past forty and showing little wear. This is one good-looking woman and she knows it - built like the brick shithouse you've always heard about, five foot ten in her stocking feet and female every inch of it, a phenomenal set of headlights, a big black fanny, and a proud imperial face, with a majestic look and an aquiline schnozzola that reports on Semitic adventures in West Africa centuries ago."For every sentence like this Turow should be sentenced to 20 hours of community service, perhaps scrubbing the shit out of brick shithouses, or representing me pro bono when I punch him in the face.
—Lobstergirl
About the book:Mack Malloy is a partner in one of Kindle County's top law firms. An ex-cop who joined the firm on a wave of enthusiasm and optimism, he now feels himself to be on the way down, and possibly out. Bert Kamin, gifted, erratic and combative, is one of the firm's star litigators and he has disappeared.My ReviewI love legal thrillers as a rule. I just find it all very interesting to follow a case through to the end. However, in this case, I didn't enjoy it all that much. The story star
—Margaret
