Rating: 
Summary: Great weekend read.
Review: Although I normally eschew this genre of fiction, I happened to see Turow on an interview show on CNBC, which struck me as odd. I listened to him as he gave his advice to aspiring writers ("just do it") and thought he sounded fairly articulate and not at all full of himself. On a whim I decided to pick up a couple of his novels and found out he's a pretty good writer. He has a feel for the human condition and can transmit it well; he seems also to grasp the ambiguity of most of our existence. The end of the book, where he tried to inject some question as to what actually happened, was a tiny bit weak, but his ending the novel without a typical "bad guy gets his in the end" wrap up more than made up for that.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing
Review: Having seen the movie a long time ago, and having read a couple of Turows later books, I was very pleasantly surprised that not only did I not feel I ruined the book by knowing how it all turned out I also felt that this book was his strongest story. Intrigue, romance, lies, betrayal, sex, murder, powerful attorney's and a story with twists and turns, this is a must read for any that are interested in the genre and haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Turow is a master at writing dialogue, it seems to flow naturally off the page and it makes all the characters believable and either likable, dislikable or downright hated. I would certainly recommend reading this before seeing the movie if I had my choice, but don't skip it even if you already know the ending. The writing here is just plain excellent and I give this one a very strong recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Presumed Innocent
Review: I just read a review on this site that made me wonder if that reviewer and I had read the same book. Her obvious disappointment with the characters and plot was sad to read. "Presumed Innocent" was a fascinating read I thought. Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his colleague and, unbeknownst to his accusers, his ex-lover. He tells his own story, and if Scott Turow is a lawyer first, his career as a writer must follow a very close second. First person narrators are barely to be believed if they are telling their own stories. The fragmented technique used by Turow to tell Rusty's story has two vital uses. First, it reflects the state of his mind: he narrates in vivid flashback and in first person present. Rusty is a fragmented man himself. He is emotionally fragile and is being pounded on by elements he feels he cannot control. Rusty believes that he was in love with the dead woman and for the kind of man that he unfolds into being, this is not at all difficult to accept. He makes himself out to be quite dispassionate, but all his actions reveal that he is very passionate and needs to be around people who are as well. Watch out for storytellers who are promising to be objective and truthful. They rarely ever are and more lie in what they say about situations and others than in what they say about themselves directly. Also, this is a wonderful technique to leave the reader wanting more. Turow does not protect his reader from harsh realities in the world of a prosecuting attorney: rape, murder and violent acts. The seemingly large number of characters do not detract from Rusty's story, as they all have their roles to play in the telling. Fragmented narrators seem to feel the need to describe a lot of people around them so as to deflect attention away from themselves and this happens here too. Yet, Turow manages to make all his characters interesting and colourful: Rusty's emtionally distant wife, his politricking boss, his sauve defence lawyer, the larger-than-life judge, the sexy, know-what-she-wants-and-how-to-get-it ex-lover. They all have their stories and very dark sides. Turow may be a "real" writer, but he is not an insensitive one. Barbara Sabich may not be very likeable, but her love for her son is without question, as is Rusty's gentle and intense devotion to their child. The strange kinship between Rusty and his best friend, Dan Lipranzer, is sweet, without being cloying, and it makes you hope to have a friend like that. Turow allows the story to unfold easily and naturally, not hurrying to let things happen, so he keeps the reader in suspense. The investigation into the murder reveals more about others than it does about the accused and when characters begin to become worried about exposure, the book picks up. Flashbacks into Rusty's early career are raw and not for those with a weak stomach. The trial scenes are clear and there is one scene where Rusty's lawyer goes after a pathologist that makes you want to cheer. The film, although sound, didn't do justice the novel and should be read, if just to fill in the blanks. the ending is truly a suprise for a first reader, and not just discovering whodunnit. Turow's novel flows easily, keeps the reader interested and is definately unputdownable.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating all the way to the last page
Review: I picked this book up after reading "1L" and I'm certainly glad I did. Turow's writing style is impeccable and a pleasure to read. There is no wasted space in this novel - everything written contributes directly to the end result of the novel. Turow really does an excellent job of respecting the intelligence of his audience. . .he doesn't ruin the story by stating the obivous and he really keeps you engaged. I enjoyed every page of this book and the end was a complete surprise to me, although it made complete sense. Don't read too many of these reviews because the some of the plot descriptions contain inadvertent spoilers! This is an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Lawyer on Trial
Review: Kindle County's chief deputy prosecutor, Rusty Sabich, has an impeccable reputation. He tries his best to be a good father to his son, Nathaniel, and a loving husband to his wife, Barbara. However, Carolyn Polhemus, a fellow attorney, changes all of that. Carolyn has been brutally murdered - and the timing couldn't be worse, just days before Rusty's boss, Raymond Horgan's last re-election campaign. Horgan, busy with his campaign, asks that Rusty head-up the murder investigation. What Horgan doesn't know is that Rusty had an affair with the deceased. Suddenly, Rusty has become the prime suspect. The evidence against him is very incriminating. Did Rusty kill Carolyn Polhemus? Is he being framed? His lawyer, Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, is one of the best. But is he good enough to save Rusty's life? Scott Turow has such a great writing style. He tells you only what you need to know now, keeping you second-guessing your own instincts and conclusions, and forcing you to read on. The many characters involved in this investigation are all very different from each other. They are very realistic and everyone has some kind of reputation exposed, good and bad. This isn't a "lawyer story" just for the pros. It's written for anyone to easily enjoy - and I certainly did.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Not only really exciting, but extremely well-written with believable characters. Unusually for a book told in the first person, the narrator was human and flawed. Apart from the twists in the tale, I also liked the descriptions of Kindle County etc., which made me feel as though I was there.
Rating:
Summary: At the top of legal thriller chain
Review: One word - outstanding. This legal thriller will leave you spinning with surprise, even though all the clues have been carefully planted along the way. The plot has many turns, yet holds together nicely. It is simply one of the best and most imaginitive novels written.
Rating:
Summary: Book Review Presumed Innocent
Review: Rusty is a normal man, an attorney, that fell in love with a woman that he shouldn't have, Carolyn, which is later discovered dead. He had an affair with this woman while he was married to a loving wife, Barbara, the mother of their only son, Nathaniel. Through Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow we see the development of Carolyn's murder case and witness the scintillating tension of the courtroom drama that takes place when Rusty is no longer the prosecutor but takes the place as the defendant after being charged with Carolyn's murder. However, what separates Scott Turow's novel from the rest is how he cleverly contributes his "inside knowledge of the American legal system" (Los Angeles Times) to the story line. Fortunately, graduating from both Harvard and Stanford University prove to have been worth the effort for Scott; landing him a spot as assistant attorney of the Seventh District United States Court of Appeals and later making him a partner of the Sonnenschein, Carlin, Nath, and Rosenthal Law Firm. Scott Turow brings a freshness to law stories by allowing his readers to become part of his story. We uncover evidence as the characters do--sometimes even before the characters do creating an unbearable suspense--letting us untangle a possible motive for the killer's actions. All the way, Turow leaves behind subtle hints and clues that he pulls together intelligently piece by piece. When Rusty finally realizes what is actually happening around him, Turow expresses his own legal expertise through Rusty's persona. "Yeah, but I'm a big attorney, not a dummy. I was supposed to recognize the glass--not ask for prints", Turow writes, "in a major murder case you ain't gonna ask for prints. Maybe she didn't know they could make a laser match" (Presumed Innocent,416-417). With lines like these, Scott Turow applies insight of our justice program with an uncanny amount of accuracy that it crawls beneath your skin. His work may be fiction but the influence behind it is all too real. This "gripping tale of murder and courtroom drama" (New York Times Magazine) is the work of a profoundly gifted writer, asking us questions like "What is harder? Knowing the truth or finding it, telling it or being believed?" (Presumed Innocent,418) to allow our minds to develop into that of a killer--a woman desperate to keep her husband and willing to do anything in her power to make sure she keeps her family together. However, her plans are altered when the last person she ever expected to be on the case, Rusty, is handed it being the police's last resort to ever soolve Carolyn's murder. Therefore, taking homicide very seriously, he refuses to give up on Carolyn's killer determined to help the memory of a loving friend. However, suspicion grows when the evidence found starts to hit close to home. Futhermore, Turow does an excellent job of foreshadowing the conflict that arises in the courtroom and an even better job of wrapping up all the loose ends left behind leaving his readers with a sense of overwhelming surprise until the last, riveting page. Scott Turow pulls our strings and allows our suspense to grow out of control with every sentence, giving an ending that you'll be dreaming about for weeks. Torn between the loss of a woman he yearned for, which is not his wife and her murderer which is, Rusty is forced to put everything he loves and values on the line. However, it's not an easy choice to make and what he decides to do is sure to affect his life forever. With this book, Scott Turow establishes himself as jone of America's most compelling and artistic novelists probably causing "more sleppless nights than caffeine." (Vogue)
Rating:
Summary: Lawyers on trial
Review: Rusty Sabich is chief deputy prosecutor for Kindle County, his boss Raymond Horgan is up for re-election, and his associate Carolyn Polhemus has been brutally raped and murdered in her apartment. The upcoming election will determine if Rusty will have a job. And we learn that Rusty had an affair with Carolyn which she ended several months earlier.
Rusty is handling the investigation of the murder despite the conflict of interest that only he is aware of. His friend, Dan Lipramzer is investigating the crime. They first focus on convicted sex offenders that Carolyn helped to prosecute. Then Rusty learns that his boss Horgan had a brief relationship with Carolyn. Meanwhile Rusty's marriage is in a shambles as his wife Barbara knows about his affair. As evidence surfaces that implicates Rusty he is arrested for the killing.
The prosecution is led by Nico Della "Delay" Guardia, who has now defeated Horgan for the position of Prosecuting Attorney, and Tommy Molto. The evidence against Rusty is serious; calls made from his home to hers on the night of the murder, a bar glass with his fingerprints on it, carpet fibers matching those at his house are found at her home, etc. The courtroom drama that ensues takes many turns for and against him. By the end of the book we do discover who the killer. This is a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: There are a ton of reviews here describing the plot of the novel, so I'll just say this - anyone who likes mysteries, legal dramas, is interested in the law, has been in court, or just enjoys a good story needs to read this book. It is an absolute classic that launched this author's career. No one knows the courtroom like Turow.
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