Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: After you've written Presumed Innocent, it must be difficult to write another book. I've read all of Turow's books. I enjoyed Reversible Errors, but not as much as the others. The point of the novel--that errors, in court and in life, are reversible if we seek to reverse them--is meaningful, but the story seemed to be contrived in order to get the point across. I didn't find Gillian well drawn or believable, and I couldn't buy the tandem of Gillian and Arthur. That doesn't mean there aren't people like that, but I didn't find them to be credible as they were described. The enduring relationship between Collins and his Uncle was tough to believe given all that transpired, as was the disappearance of Collins's mother. Also, there are several extraneous characters. Is there a reason for Pamela, Ned, Gus's kid, or even Susan? In general, while I like the message, the story and characters were blurry--unlike Presumed Innocent or Laws of Our Fathers.
Rating: 
Summary: Always dependable for a gripping character-based story
Review: I've been a fan of Scott Turow's writing since his law school memoir, ONE-L, which he published in 1977 -- ten years before his first novel. He has a terrific talent for incrementally developing his characters, slowly introducing the reader into their minds and lives, as he demonstrates again with Muriel Wynn, the driven chief deputy prosecuting attorney, and Larry Starczek, a talented homicide detective. The two of them have been having a largely destructive relationship for many years, and while neither of them is really a "bad guy," they're aren't entirely good guys, either. In other words, they're real people. The same is true of Arthur Raven, the corporate attorney who gets appointed by the federal court to be counsel for Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph in the last round of appeals on his way to execution. Arthur, who is a bundle of personal problems and contradictions, is nevertheless the closest thing in this story to a wholly innocent person. Then there's Gillian Sullivan, the ex-judge who originally sentenced Gandolph, but who subsequently went down for bribery and is only recently out of prison herself; she is in many ways an admirable person at base, trying hard to rediscover her place in a much more limited world with Arthur's help. As always, Turow also builds a complex but wholly believable mystery plot -- rather slowly at the beginning of the book but gathering speed by page 100 -- doling out reasonable clues but not really giving anything away. (This ain't Agatha Christie.) While the author still indulges in a number of minor but annoying grammatical idiosyncrasies, and often seems to have trouble making his verb tenses agree, I will continue to look forward eagerly to his next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Quite Meet Expectations
Review: In my estimation, Scott Turow is quite simply the best legal mystery writer out there, period. It's an event in my home when a book of his is released, so my expectations are probably a bit skewed and perhaps unrealistic. "Reversible Errors" revolves around a decade-old death penalty case. The accused, Rommy Gandolph, suddenly claims innocence after confessing to the crime shortly after it happens. Turow, as he often does, effectively uses the flashback technique to examine the investigation and subsequent conviction of Gandolph, as well as the current legal wrangling in present day. It's typical for Turow novels to reprise characters from past stories, and this one is no different. Tommy Molto and Raymond Horgan make peripheral appearances, and Gillian Sullivan, the presiding judge in 1991 and now a recovering heroin addict (which brought her legal career to ruins), plays a pivotal role in the story. But this book is ultimately as much about relationships as the dreadfully slow appeals process in death penalty cases. Sullivan and former prosecuting attorney turned defense counsel Arthur Raven become involved, and prosecutor Muriel Wynn and homicide detective Larry Starczek rekindle an on-again, off-again affair after a number of years. The fact that all of these people are working at cross purposes against each other at times--even those involved with each other on a personal level--makes for fascinating reading. Turow's sketches of the four principals are very strong and rival his past characters. Wynn and Starczek, especially, are brilliantly crafted. Wynn, at 44, has her eye set on the mantle of Prosecuting Attorney in Kindle County (essentially the equivalent of District Attorney in the city of Chicago), and she married a rich, high-profile guy named Talmadge whose reputation will no doubt enhance her career. Problem is, she still has feelings for Starczek, who helped her (apparently) crack the triple murder which led to Gandolph's conviction.
Starczek, now 54, still has feelings for Wynn, despite a long marriage to wife Nancy and two teenaged boys. The games these two play with each other as they try to sort out their feelings is pathetic, as well as very realistic. At the other end of the spectrum is Raven's involvement with Sullivan. Perhaps the most empathetic character of the book because of his effort to aid his schizophrenic sister, Raven is a 38 year old lawyer with a good career and a non-existent love life. Sullivan, who hides her past heroin problems from him, warns him that she has a troubled past, but Raven involves himself with her anyway. You find yourself rooting for this relationship to succeed, although you know the heroin addiction from the past will come back to bite Sullivan. And it does, in a big way--although she doesn't start using again, it is revealed that she was using while presiding over the original Gandolph trial. More about relationships than a scintillating legal case, "Reversible Errors" is quite strong. But perhaps the book doesn't achieve full momentum because of the death penalty case. While interesting, it moves along at a snail's pace as two other men are ultimately investigated for the crime. As such, it's a very good novel, but just doesn't quite have the fire previous Turow novels do. But again, my expectations of this man's work are probably too high. Recommended, as are all of his fine novels over the years. Start with any, including this one, and read them all.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: novel's title -- Reversible Errors -- suggests that something went wrong in the case at issue here. Rommy Gandolph, convicted of a triple-murder, sentenced to death, and scheduled -- when the book opens -- to die in thirty-three days certainly has to hope so. Arthur Raven has been assigned to handle the final appeal, which he dutifully does with the eager young associate Pamela at his side. He doesn't expect to be able to do much -- but, of course, soon finds that the case is much more complicated than it first appeared. This is a great read and highly recommended. Books I also liked are Michael Crichton's Timeline and Paul Omeziri's Descent into Illusions.
Rating:
Summary: Close Enough For Government Work
Review: You would think that if a state decides capital punishment is appropriate for a convicted killer that every effort would be made to ensure that the right man was convicted. You might think that, but you would be wrong. Scott Turow"s "Reversible Errors" shows how an imperfect system run by imperfect people can, and often does, condemn innocent people. Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph, the death row resident in "Reversible Errors", may or may not have actually committed the grisly triple murder that landed him there some ten years back; there are the by now standard, brilliant, Turovian plot twists that keep the reader guessing throughout. What is clear, however, is that Gandolph was the beneficiary of some woefully defective representation at his trial and that the police and the prosecutor were guided more by self-interest and careerism than by a search for the truth. Arthur Raven is Gandolph's latest court-appointed attorney and he's none too happy about it. He was appointed, basically, to make sure that all the legal I's and T's were dotted and crossed so that the state can pry the Squirrel from his cell, strap him to a board, then squirt poison into him until his heart explodes. Raven really doesn't want to lose time from his day job as a big-firm lawyer, one of those hand maidens of the wealthy, a lackey of the ruling class, a job he apprenticed for by serving as a prosecutor in the same office that sent his new client to the row. Raven's a shlubby little guy who may as well be wearing a sign that reads "Please Love Me". To his credit, Raven takes his new appointment seriously and does the legal and investigative work that should have been done a decade before. His adversary for what is assumed to be Squirrel's final hurrah appeal is Muriel Wynn, who was also the trial prosecutor. Wynn has positioned herself for a run at the top job in the prosecutor's office and this grasping, ambitious woman will be damned if a speed bump like Squirrel Gandolph will keep her from the big corner office. It would be bad for her career, you see, if the man she sent to death row so long ago turned out to be actually innocent. The sooner Squirrel can be turned into fertilizer the better she will like it. Her task is complicated because an inmate from the bowels of the same prison that houses Gandolph has emerged to confess to the same crime that Gandolph confessed to way back when. Squirrel's confession was taken by Detective Larry Starczek, a man cynical to the point of evil, a man who doesn't think twice about planting evidence or committing perjury ("...tightening the case", Wynn calls it). Factor in that Squirrel's trial judge, Gillian Sullivan, was herself recently released from prison (bribery) and the race to save or kill Squirrel is on. There is an immediacy to "Reversible Errors" because the eternal debate over capital punishment is once more on the front burner. Turow's Kindle County, it is no secret, is Chicago. The governor of Illinois recently declared a moratorium on executions when he was appalled to learn that just about as many men were released from death row because they were innocent as had been executed. It is a virtual certainty that innocents were killed by the state. Mr. Turow, in his crisp style, fuels the capital punishment debate by vividly exposing the flaws in both the death penalty machinery and the people who run it.
Rating:
Summary: Innocent Man on Death Row
Review: Many people assume reasonably that if someone is convicted of murder and placed on death row that we can at least be assured they are guilty. Unfortunately, this assumption has been shot down by recent events in Illinois where it was learned through DNA testing that at least a dozen of the state's death row inmates were in fact not guilty of the crime with which they were charged. Scott Turow is from Illinois and I'm certain the recent events in that state provided the "catalyst" for theme of this book. As usual he stages his characters in the fictional place of Kindle County in Center City. We briefly bump into a couple of characters who appeared in earlier volumes. However, this book is about new characters. There is the Assistant District Attorney who spends as much time sleeping with a detective (who of course obtained the confession from the man on death row)as she does investigating the crime. There is the brilliant attorney almost 40 years old, divorced, who spends most of his time either carrying for his schitzophrenic sister, or making love to a heroin-addicted former judge. Turow's characters spend more time worrying about getting laid than they do about the innocence or guilt of the pathetic figure, Gandolph, who can barely articulate coherent sentences. Gandolph has been on death row for years for a crime he didn't commit. One is not left with a very appealing portrait of judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, or police detectives. I doubt these people could be this bad in real life. However, the book has two redeeming features. First, you are kept guessing until the very end about whether Gandolph or someone else really committed the murders. The second redeeming feature is a bit more complicated. People really have become complacent about the death penalty in America. Most don't accept that the system sometimes goes wrong and sentences innocent people to execution. Turow uses the device of the murder mystery to make us think a little bit about this system. Is it too cavalier? Do prosecutors sometimes refuse to back down even when substantial evidence of innocence does surface? Are judges more concerned with the mechanics of the system rather than whether an innocent man may lose his life? Do the police go overboard in their efforts to obtain confessions rather than focusing on DNA and other physical evidence of a crime? How can we protect innocent people without decades of appeals by those sentenced to death? I can recommend the book based on both redeeming features.
Rating:
Summary: Less than what I expected
Review: I am a Scott Turow fan, having enjoyed most of his previous books. "Reversible Errors" proved a bit disjointed in comparison and a slow read, especially through the first half of the book. Altough it gets interesting at the end, there is a certain lack of focus as to whether this is a police/judicial thriller or a love story between challenged individuals. Overall not a bad read but less than what I would expect from Mr. Turow.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: This is definitely the best book Turow has written. Readers expecting a slick thriller like Presumed Innocent will be disappointed. This is primarily a psychological novel using the conventions of the legal thriller. All the major, and some of the minor, characters in the book are preoccupied with regret or actual remorse for past choices in their lives. In the course of the book, several of them have the opportunity to remedy these choices; the book deals with how the characters confront these issues, which have both moral and personal dimensions. This books draws on some of Turow's real strengths, particularly his ability to develop believable characters and his ability to write dialogue. Much of the book is presented as dialogue between between major characters and Turow is particularly good at delineating character through such exchanges. The primary protagonist, the lawyer Arthur Raven, is an especially appealing character. A sort of Everyman, Raven proceeds forward driven by diligence and common decency (though in the world Turow has created, decency is anything but common), rather than any particular talents or special attributes. His unlikely romance with the attractive but self-destructive Gillian Sullivan is handled especially well. This book represents Turow's attempt to produce a book that transcends the genre in which he works. He has succeeded and this book stands comparison with the better work of other genre novelists, like PD James or John Le Carre, whose work breaks through the boundaries of their genres.
Rating:
Summary: Plot and Character in Harmony
Review: Scott Turow hits all of his characteristic notes in his latest, superbly crafted, legal drama. The last grains are running through the hour-glass for Rommy Gandolph, convicted of a triple murder ten years ago. Now he approaches his shocking appointment with state-sanctioned extinction, and a corporate attorney, Arthur Raven, is appointed against his will to represent the accused, pro bono. Not for Turow the Perry Mason staples of one innocent client after another. There are plenty of asides about the rarity of innocent clients, and the accused is not really innocent either; a mentally limited pest and a thief. But is he really guilty of this crime? Despite having confessed to it twenty times over the years? Turow provides what, in outline, seems a simple enough basis for a story, and a limited number of characters. Yet no-one can match Turow for a plot which is dense and layered, and yet unravels in a way that is totally faithful, not just to the brief of facts, but to the personalities of the characters that he creates. The narrative is convincing, as well. Obviously he knows his law, but more than that, there is a comfortable expertise in his depiction of the rhythms of the legal system and the characteristics of the players; prosecutors, defenders and judges, offenders and police. All of Turow's work speaks of great experience of humans. Lawyers and police and salesmen see a lot of what people really are, as they leave the bounds of controlled social protocol and fall under the under the influence of fear, jealousy, greed, tribalism, and human responses to extreme situations. It is depth of character and revelatory wisdom which drives his writing, and at times the narrative seems to consist of one philosophical observation after another. His detective, in particular, is brilliantly drawn. Cynical, bullying, unwilling to change a view once formed, yet he becomes understandable and somewhat sympathetic even so. Turow accomplishes this because he is able to package these things in a person who is nevertheless intelligent, human, and driven by real and reasonable motivations, and whose mistakes seem to be reasonable responses to the information that is presented to him. I suspect he is based on someone that the author knew well. Turow's achilles heel, at least to the sensitivities of this reviewer, is a tendency to venture too far into soapiness as he investigates his characters. That was certainly the case in 'Burden of Proof' and then again in 'Pleading Guilty'. In 'Pleading Guilty', however, we saw the characters and the plot come together brilliantly in a unified whole at the end - a combination so much greater than the book had invited the reader to expect. In 'Personal Injuries' there was more discipline again, and 'Reversible Errors' meets the same standards of plot and character. Nevertheless Arthur is a bit soapy and his burgeoning relationship is awkward and teenage as an unexpected personal aside to a major case. Of course, for all that, it has its place in the major themes of the book. The title 'Reversible Errors' refers to the state of a legal process that is subject to appeal, but of course it has particular poignancy when considering a death sentence, and it further suggests characters in search of redemption. Some of them are, indeed, seeking redemption, and all are captured at a point in time, looking to the future and worrying about paths that they are choosing. Not everyone needs to be redeemed, but everyone is multi-dimensional. For Turow no-one is wholly bad. One senses that his challenge - perhaps a fundamental skill of the defence lawyer - is to find the understandable core of the sinner, and so to defuse his sin in the eye of the beholder. The authors' delight is to present the actions of a character in a particular light, and then to render the behaviour so understandable that the perpetrator seems more like a whiskey priest. Reversible Errors is intelligent, satisfying, and a superior novel.
Rating:
Summary: Confusion Supreme
Review: Gentle reader,
If you are convinced that you purchased a mystery, your conviction may need correction. There are bodies around, for sure, right in the beginning of the book. And somebody is in jail for doing the foul deed. But did he actually do it? Every 100 pages or so we get another character strongly pointing to yet another perpetrator. Those whose job it is to uphold the law sit by and let events pass them by. Nary a real investigation. And don't ever believe you could deduct the identity of the murderer by following the narrative. The whole thing is a surprise without the "I knew it" effect. And if you believe that, at the very least, you have a novel with worthwhile characters and soaring language, forget about that, too. Besides the usual coupling 101, there is really nothing to get excited about. Except, maybe, sentences like "Everything else in life was just the feathers and hide on the foraging animal of love." Or a situation like "What flashed very briefly from Genevieve toward Arthur was raw enough to be hatred. It seemed out of character, but in that look of loathing she'd found his enduring vulnerability, and Arthur flapped a hand against his side." Lovely pictures like "Arthur's round sedan cruised to the curb", not to be outdone by "...the ripe turn of her behind, which he had always found the most becoming part of her anatomy".
The author is even versed in the latest slang:"I don't think I done said that to her. Nnn-uhh..... I think the onliest one I gone on to like that was the other dude. And ain nobody seed him in years". No wonder they keep the guy locked up. Waste neither time nor money on this, unless you need a door stopper.
|
