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Summary: Exactly what a legal thriller should be!
Review: In the first chapter of Scott Turow's REVERSIBLE ERRORS, the reader meets Arthur Raven, a typically (for the genre) jaded lawyer assigned to a pro bono capital case. The reader knows at once that Raven will find the spark in this case that forces him to look differently not only at the legal system but at life in general. That's the genre, and that's where Turow leaves predictability behind. Told in vivid scenes from both the past during the original investigation of the brutal triple murder and from the present when the man convicted of committing the crime makes his final legal appeal with the assistance of Raven and his young assistant, Turow takes the reader on an extraordinary and breathtaking ride. The characters and the issues they face are deftly drawn, with ethical and personal ambiguities intact. Well-written and expertly told, this novel shows Turow at his absolute best.This was a novel I couldn't put down and yet didn't want to finish. I adored the storytelling method of leaping back and forth through time and from character to character. The technique gives REVERSIBLE ERRORS a richness rarely encountered in legal thrillers. Read this book. You won't regret it. REVERSIBLE ERRORS satisfies from start to finish.
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Summary: GREAT READINGS OF INTRIGUING TALE
Review: Scott Turow has garnered a legion of fans with his legal/thriller novels, and he'll gain countless more with "Reversible Errors," an exciting and illuminating tale focusing on past crimes and present capital punishment. An outstanding attorney in his native Chicago, Turow often participates in death penalty litigation. Thus, he knows his subject well and mines it with suspense and literary assurance. In the unabridged version veteran film and stage actor J. R. Horne gives a thoughtfully balanced reading, laced with drama and appropriate emphasis. Versatile and popular on the small screen (Bridget Loves Bernie, St. Elsewhere), David Birney is also an award-winning stage and film actor. His reading gives the tale an exciting urgency and zest, while always apparently mindful of the life-and-death issues upon which the story focuses. Over ten years ago a triple murder took place in Kindle County. Muriel Wynn with the assistance of detective Larry Starczek didn't waste any time in finding Rommy Gandolph who readily confessed to the crime. As the story opens Rommy is a Yellow Man, an inmate on Death Row who is soon to be executed. Arthur Raven is his court appointed attorney. As might be expected Raven is less than pleased with this assignment, and doesn't expect that anything will keep Rommy from his date with death despite the convicted killer's protestations of innocence. However, the unexpected does happen. Another convict who is dying of cancer comes forward claiming that he is the true murderer. Of course, Muriel Wynn, who has political aspirations, and Larry Starczek are angry, believing the convict's confession is trumped up, an excuse to save Rommy's neck. To complicate matters further the judge who heard the original case has been a convict herself, serving time for taking bribes. Scott Turow has again woven a fascinating study, intriguing on all levels. If legal/thrillers are your favorites - this one's for you. - Gail Cooke
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Summary: Turow's Best since Presumed Innocent
Review: Scott Turow is a much better "legal fiction" author than John Grisham - his storylines are plausible, and his use of the law propels a story, rather than bog it down. "Reversible Errors" takes a death row case to the microscope with both thrilling and disturbing results.
"Reversible Errors" revolves primarily around 2 stories, told at the same time - events surrounding a suspects criminal conviction, and efforts to prevent his execution ten years later. A confession at the heart of the conviction is brought under the microscope as the story unfolds, thus raising an examination of the earlier trial, and the impending execution. Turow populates the story with some well drawn characters, and the parallel storyline gives a great opportunity to understand how these people have evolved over the ten years, both in respect to the initial slaying, and with each other. Particularly sympathetic is the original trial judge, who has herself run afoul of the law subsequent to the initial trial.
This book moves very fast, and is entertaining throughout. The ending is both plausible and satisfying, and leaves you with very strong feelings towards the characters. I found myself thinking about this book for days after I had finished it, and you'll likely feel the same way.
Rating: 
Summary: "Over Dramatized"
Review: I thought Mr. Turow's "Reversible Errors," was vastly over dramatized, so much in fact it annoyed me throughout the entire read. The characters were predictable which I also found very annoying. On the plus side the editing in "Reversible Errors," wasn't half-bad and it was somewhat a quick read, I finished the book in one night, thank the 'GL!" All and all a doable read.
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Summary: The whole truth ... good stuff
Review: It's nice to know that while corporate crimes dominate headlines, an old-fashioned courtroom drama about murder can still stir the blood.
OK, maybe Enron isn't yet the stuff of best-selling crime fiction, and maybe Scott Turow's new novel, "Reversible Errors," doesn't break new ground for legal thrillers, but it might be a pleasant distraction from obsessing about your plummeting 401K - and wishing white-collar corporate criminals could be hanged. Fans will recognize the romantic subplots that have imbued Turow's characters with depth, frailty and humanity, and so often played a role in the legal dramas he contrives. Love and sex are woven inextricably with law and order to tell a story of human dimensions, where characters' passions are exposed in both the bedroom and the courtroom. And in both cases, those passions can redeem as well as cripple. Happily, "Reversible Errors" is not a polemic on the death penalty, even though Turow is a Chicago lawyer who has often argued real-life capital cases. For him, a looming execution is a plot thickener, not a chance to take sides in the most debated element of American jurisprudence. He portrays good and bad people on both sides of the bar, in and out of prison.
Writer-lawyer Turow doesn't write like a lawyer, but his legal descriptions are occasionally as labyrinthine as modern American crime and punishment can get. Fortunately, those moments, as authentic as they might be in reflecting the twisting and twisted nature of the court system, are brief and rare for lay readers. Turow plays the reader like a jury, sucking us into sympathy with his clients er, characters until we are completely in their world, ready to believe anything. The verdict? "Reversible Errors" is a sleek legal romp wrapped in stylish prose, and it makes a good case for Turow's primacy in the world of legal thrillers. And, oh, at least one filthy corporate executive dies.
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Summary: Turow Tackles a Tough Topic and Comes Out on Top
Review: With his usual flair, Turow tackles the eternally thorny question of the death penalty. One thing I love about Turow is that his novels are always caught in the midst of a larger perspective, and in this case, it's centers on questions of morality, justice, and revenge. The great thing is that this book creatively considers the subject of "reversible error," that is, when the system screws up, how does (or can it) correct itself. Problem is, it usually doesn't, and that goes especially for cases involving the poor or retarded. If you're not a regular reader of Turow, don't fret; you can read this one as a first book if you want, since the story is intact inside this novel. What you'll find is Turow's knack for creating very vivid characters. For example, there's the tough, smart detective named Larry Staczek and an ambitious (is there any other kind?) young prosecutor Muriel Wynn who work together to get a confession and conviction of the mentally retarded thief (Rommy Gandolf) of a particularly vicious murder at a diner. But just 33 days away from his execution, Gandolf is insisting that he did not commit the murders. Turow manages to capture the spectrum of damaged souls that inhabit the legal system, as well as interdepartmental rivalries that exist in every organization, but more so in bureaucratic ones: the angry, underappreciated cops on the front lines, the ambitious and politicized prosecutors, the important DNA and ballistics technicians, the remote and egomaniacal judges, and dragged along by the unspoken undertow of race. What we find is that mistakes are sometimes made, and when they are by the legal system, it often ruins not just one, but multiple lives. I think this is one of Turow's best, so of course I heartily recommend it.
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Summary: Masterful, Brilliant Novel
Review: Turow has again crafted a plot that is riveting and engaging. His prose makes great reading, speaking to my heart as well as to my head. These characters are expertly realized, especially Arthur and Gillian (defense attorney and former judge.) Their relationship is developed and interleaved wonderfully with that of Muriel and Larry (prosecutor and cop.) Turow's reflections on the beauty and shortcomings of our legal system are without peer in their intelligence and insight. I found the story suspenseful and compelling from start to finish. I could not put it down. There is no writer better at conveying a vivid sense for the prison, cars and urban settings in which events unfold. If you like great novels, read this one. You'll love it!
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Summary: Could Have Been A Brilliant Court Drama
Review: Many of the reviews comment positively on the large amount of space devoted to the character's lives outside the strict confines of the plot. In my opinion, however, this was the downfall of this, otherwise superb, courtroom novel. At 350 pages this would have been a brilliant page-turner, at 550 pages it dragged a lot. The basic plot is certainly enough to maintain interest through the sidelines, though. The early part of the novel spends part of it's time in 1991 when a policeman who "had the right man" and a very ambitious junior DA (also his lover) 'assisted' a mentally subnormal man ("Squirrel") into confessing to three murders - a confession that ended up giving him the death penalty. Jump forwards 10 years and we have his appeals lawyer starting to dig into a few murky circumstances that shed serious doubt on the case. Turow does a great job of keeping our interest in the various murder suspects; the original assistant DA is now highly placed to become the next DA and doesn't want this to ruin her chances of election; the policeman anxious to put charges of coercement behind him; the appeals lawyer, finding a new love of the law in the process; the original judge, having fallen on hard times herself, second-guessing her decisions. The machinations of the prosecutors is handled masterfully and, of course, we have the twists and turns expected. Unfortunately, this is interrupted frequently by tedious chapters that add nothing to the plot and, actually, add little to the characters we see. Pages and pages of very similar dialog do nothing. Now, some will argue that I'm just being shallow and buying into the constraints of the genre. Perhaps. I'm certainly not adverse to heavyweight material (see my review of Joyce's Ulyssees) but this isn't particuarly good and it does seriously impede the flow of the book. It seems from other reviewers that this was a departure for Turow. I'll certainly give him another chance but, for me, this book will always be a little soured by all the things in it that shouldn't have been there.
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Summary: One-Hit Wonder
Review: Turow's first novel, Presumed Innocent (1987), is absolutely fantastic. It is probably the best legal thriller ever written, bar none. But that's his Dreamweaver--his one-hit wonder. He just never seemed to pull all the right pieces together to make another book like it. What follows is my review of a rather average legal mystery:
Three people are shot and killed and put in the freezer; a man is convicted and sentenced to die. Asked by the court to defend the accused, Arthur Raven discovers a passion for defense law of which he wasn't aware in his world of civil litigation.
As usual, Turow's technical prowess shines again--there's nothing like a practicing attorney to get the details right (or at least believable) in the legal proceedings that highlight this book.
The problem with the novel is not the writing, which is certainly better than average. The problem is that I found I didn't care who did it. Is the accused really the one who killed those people? He's a schizophrenic with a criminal record whose cerebral cortex is a glob of melted crayons--but is he a killer? We are introduced to a few other losers who act as though they might be the true killers. But who cares?
We the readers can't find much sympathy for any of the suspects for the murders--they're all bums. It's hard to care whether the accused really gets freed from prison. The novel is much too long, and you find yourself flipping ahead to see how long to the end. You keep hoping the suspense will rise and peak at some point, but it never really does.
On the plus side: not only is there good writing and legal accuracy, there is real insight into the lives of those who care for loved ones with schizophrenia.
Read Presumed Innocent and pass this one by. Turow's got real talent, but we're waiting for it to shoot through the surface of his mundane subsequent efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: Having read and enjoyed Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof, I was looking forward to reading Reversible Errors while I was on vacation. To be succinct, and not waste your time as mine was in reading this book, it stinks. I found myself not caring one way or the other about the characters. They were not developed to the point where I gave a hoot about them. Unlike his other books, the plot was dull and even contrived. From page to page and chapter to chapter I kept waiting for something to grab my interest, but vacation hours later, nothing did. I feel I got cheated out of precious vacation reading time.
I'm left with one question, "Did I spend more time struggling to read this book than he spent writing it?"
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