For some reason, I found this book difficult to read. Mr. Turow has a peculiar way of wording sentences (some of them, not all of them), such that some sentences I find myself reading 2 or 3 times, and still not understanding what he is saying. As in PRESUMED INNOCENT, there is much insight into interpersonal relationships, and he will frequently (when introducing a new character) go back into a somewhat detailed description of past history with that character. His introspection into Sandy’s relationship with his wife Clara (who commits suicide at the very beginning of the book) is deep and subtle, and full of those sentences that I have to re-read. I find particularly interesting, his interaction with his son Peter. It is strained, and the two obviously do not relate to each other that well. Yet, Sandy (partially) confides in Peter when he discovers a record of a lab test that Clara had done, that shows she had Herpes. I found jarring the incident between Sandy and Fiona Cawley, the wife of the philandering doctor who lived next door, and who was apparently the source of the late Clara’s herpes infection. Sandy made a clumsy pass at Fiona, and this IMHO is totally out of character for him. Sandy visits Sonia (Sonny) Klonsky at their (Sonia and her husband) cabin, on business. Sonia’s child persuades Sandy to get into the hot tub with him while Sonia is taking a nap (she is pregnant). Later, Sandy starts to have romantic feelings toward Sonia. Helen figures this out, and they break up. Sandy figures out that Dixon is guilty, and tells him he will most likely go to prison. Dixon as given Sandy his safe to keep for him. Sonia serves Sandy with a subpoena for the contents of the safe. When Sandy tells Dixon he must surrender the safe’s contents, Dixon refuses, and later (apparently) steals the safe back from Sandy. Sandy threatens to resign as Dixon’s attorney. Later, Sandy persuades one of his criminal clients to assist him in stealing back the safe from Dixon’s house. They break in and find the safe, which is open. Sandy’s sister (Silvia- Dixon’s wife) comes home and Sandy explains what is going on. In the safe is an account agreement for Wunderkind Associates, the dummy company, through which Dixon has been laundering his money. The signature on the bottom of the agreement is that of Stern’s daughter, Katherine Stern (whose husband John works for Dixon). Meanwhile, Silvia tells Sandy that Dixon had herpes a few years before, and now Sandy knows that Dixon had been Clara’s lover. Sandy goes to visit son Peter, and finds that a government agent is there. After the agent leaves, Peter confesses that he has been the informant all along. He was trying to save Kate’s husband John, who had been doing the “trading ahead” and had lost $250,000 doing it. The plan was to put the blame on Dixon. Sandy’s temporary infatuation with Sonia/Sonny ends, as she appears happy once again with her husband. Near book’s end, Sandy gets a call from Helen at 3 am to come immediately. She has been having sex with Dixon, who died in the act. Sandy arranges with a detective friend of his (who owes him a favor) to move the body to Sandy’s office. This not only protects the reputation of Helen, but also saves heartache for Sandy’s sister Silvia, who is Dixon’s wife. Sandy ends up marrying Helen.This book did not have the interest for me that his first book (PRESUMED INNOCENT) did, perhaps because the crime was insider trading, rather than murder. The inter-family interactions were absorbing and well-done, but sometimes hard to follow. I give this book a 6, compared to the 8 I gave PRESUMED INNOCENT.
This book promised much and I expected an exciting climax but its flaccid finish let me -as well as others - down. It was too long. Despite this, some of the characters remained an enigma to me to the end. Instead of a rousing finale, the plot just became a bit more convoluted. Its seems as if the author has a compilation of incidents, characters and quotes from real life that he wants to insert jiggsawlike in the book. (When the ‘Observer’ refers to the plot ‘ tied up so tightly that you’re holding your breath..’ I wonder was I reading another book!) Much of the book concerns America’s favourite game – the Law – and this alone for me left an ugly taste in my mouth. Like Wall Street, the law attracts brilliant minds who play pokerlike games, like Stern in the book, but add little value, though certainly they add to costs. The author himself has a legal background and probably there is a fair bit of him in Stern, the main protagonist. He thinks he can maintain his integrity whilst practicing his profession. But from the comments of some of the characters, the author is questioning if this is really possible if you want to be a successful lawyer. One of the most interesting characters, Klonsky, for the government prosecution, effective but really miscast in the legal profession, is the one who comes closest to questioning the integrity of the law and how it operates. This was one redeeming feature about the book - although immersed in the law, the author, through some of the characters, does question the morality of it all.
What do You think about The Burden Of Proof (2000)?
✭✭✭
—Canavan
I would call this a 3 star or OK/good read. Having just reread Presumed innocent as a prep for this my hopes were quite high. While this was an OK/good read, it did not live up to my expectations that the first book developed.Jonas/Sandy Stern is quite a likeable character, and his further development in likely the only reason that I continued to read this and/or might lightly recommend it. It started with a terrible tragedy, that I wrongly assumed would be a devious investigation and trial of a murder/suicide. Instead this storyline becomes a sideshow rather than a focus. Well, that is OK there seems to be a devious insider trading/embezzlement storyline that will draw me in as did the trial in presumed innocent. WRONG! Instead what I get is for all intents and purposes, an adult (bordering on pornographic) soap opera type of story.Again Sandy/Jonas is a very deep and likable tragedy whose faults and humanity are very relatable as he struggles to cope with a web of family. The story kept building up to what I felt would be a climax (no pun intended), and time and again it just developed into another family secret. Very lackluster storyline, and ending. Once again if not for the likeability of Stern and the attachment I have for him, I would not have finished this at all.Turrow must write the very worst (no exaggeration) romance/love/sex scenes in all of literature. I thought Lee Child had cornered the market on that (I love Reacher but his love scenes are almost wooden and comical in their awkwardness). I am not a fan of sleazy relationships depicted in books, but I can often tolerate them....This was lewd, almost as if Turrow needed to convince someone that he knew his way around a bedroom.....much to descriptive, and very poorly portrayed. If you are in the market for book 2 of this series by all means check it out, Stern grows into an even more likeable and deep character. If you are a fan of drama, soap opera type of deceit and duplicity this might be up your alley. If you want a legal thriller (or drama), there are many better books to grab.
—Mark Soone
This is another great and fantastic legal thriller. This one deals with Sandy Stern. This one deals with tons of surprises and some trips down to Memory Lane with flashback, right after his wife commits suicide. But from there, he deals with an emotional load of stuff with his children and his client/brother-in-law in an embittered battle. But with every twist and turns, he discovers some family secrets behind the scenes. We really see the emotions he goes through from grieving to outraged through the end. We do see a different side of him than before. This one will really grab you on the first page and shock you. Not bad for the 2nd Kindle County installment in the series.
—Kristen
