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Summary: Complex Characters Create Kindle County Reality
Review: Scott Turow's fictional Kindle County is populated with cheating wives, substance-addicted judges, deceitful cops, bad guys who do great things, great citizens who do bad things, amoral corporate executives, flawed members of the police and lawyers with no personality.Yet out of this eclectic cast of characters, Turow weaves a compelling story of multiple multidimensional characters caught in the intersection of today's criminal justice system. His books may be classified a legal thrillers, but they are more - a throw back to the great novel of old. Where characters take on a complexity and the tales are unusual enough to be characterized as life-like. This book pictures what is at stake - personal, professional and principled - when the state proceeds to end a man's life.
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Summary: It's never too late
Review: Turow tackles the death penalty in his latest legal thriller. A complicated issue, which typically polarizes any group of people, is handled beautifully by Turow. He assembles a cast of interesting but real characters. Arthur Raven is given the challenge of handling convicted murderer Rommy Gandolph's final appeal prior to his upcoming execution. He enlists the reluctant assistance of shamed former judge Gillian Sullivan in his attempts at exonorating Rommy. Prosecuting attorney Muriel Wynn and detective Larry Starczek attempt to re-prove their case as they oppose every attempt Arthur makes to uncover new evidence. Simple, right? Far from a formula thriller, Turow's story becomes more complex the further you get into it. The characters are real people, not written with Hollywood in mind (my personal pet peeve) with plenty of flaws who make plenty of mistakes. Are all their errors reversible? Turow supplies us with the legal definition of reversible error, but in writing this book explores other kinds of errors as well. Compelling reading, highly recommended.
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Summary: Turow's best book, good melding of genre's
Review: So I was in Sayulita Mexico last week. While there I stayed in the house of a friend right on the beach. Could surf right outside the door on a great left. Unfortunately my arms couldn't handle paddling all day, so there was quite a bit of time to read. The house was full of books people had brought and left, so most were just right for the beach. One I particularly enjoyed was Reversible Errors by Scott Turow. Another in the lawyer murder genre which for some reason I have become enamored with. Reversible Errors though stands a bit apart in how developed the characters are. The basic story is a guy on death row gets a new (third) court appointed (high powered pro-bono) attorney to handle his latest haebus corpus to stave off execution. Of course he didn't do it. The busy, expensive lawyer of course doesn't believe him, but is earnestwhile and dedicated. Through some investigation, he finds new witnesses that attest to his client's innocence. Of course the prosecutor who put the guy in jail the first time, is now about to run for Chief Prosecutor and doesn't want to see her career making case fall apart. Where it gets interesting is when the defendant's lawyer gets traction on his long term crush on the disgraced former judge who originally sentenced his client. Meanwhile the formerly single, now married to high powered congressman, prosecutor has had an on/off affair with the married detective who was in charge of the case. The haebeus corpus and various court motions bring these characters back into each others lives after 10 years of turmoil. In most murder/lawyer who dun-it's the primary dramatic tension is: Did he do it? Maybe if you are lucky, you may get some tension because the bad guy is still out on the loose and he may do it again. Here, the tension is different. The guy is already is jail. We know who they think did it. But there is still tension on who really did it because there are witnesses that come in late. The former head of security at an airport near the restaurant where the original murder took place is now an inmate at the same prison as the accused and is dying of cancer. He says he did it. But you don't know his motivations for saying this. There is also the love tension between defense lawyer and former judge in the case. Of course complicated by possible wrong-doings by the judge in the case. Who does the defense lawyer side with, his client (who is a scumbag anyway) or his long-term crush and now possible lover? The prosecutor also has her hands full with an illicit wild sex affair with the detective who made the original arrest and obtained the original confession. As evidence provided by the detective gets called into question, the prosecutor begins to question her ability to believe him in other areas. Each of the multiple plot lines kept me engaged. There was enough tension to keep me reading to the last line. Without giving away the ending I will tell you that Turow doesn't succumb to the temptation many writers have of using the last chapter to tie everything up in a nice bow. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good Book
Review: This is Turow's best novel. Turow has taken a genre format, the legal thriller, and attempted to produce a broader psychological novel using the conventions of the genre. The central plot element is the effort of a lawyer to free a semi-retarded prisoner from Death Row. Set in Turow's fictional world of Kindle County, a fictionalized version of Chicago, the book recounts the efforts of the defense counsel, Arthur Raven, to free his client, and the equivalent efforts of the prosecuting team to sustain the conviction. Wrapped around this armature are the primary themes of the book, regret for past choices and failures, and efforts to correct past errors. All the major characters in this book are in some way haunted by prior choices in life. In the course of the story, all of them have some opportunity to revisit and rectify those errors. Some of these errors are crimes, some are ethical lapses, some are professional misconduct, some merely personal failings, and some varying combinations of all these. Turow is a good writer. His characterizations are excellent and he has a real talent for writing dialogue. The plot of Reversible Errors is constructed well, perhaps a bit too cleverly. His primary protagonist, Arthur Raven, is an extremely sympathetic character; a bit of an everyman who succeeds on the basis of diligence and decency rather than talent. This is an ambitious book and Turow largely succeeds in his aim of exploring regret and the consequences of unfortunate choices in life. Some parts of the book are affecting. This is probably the first of Turow's books that deserves to be classified with other works that surpass their genre such as the better novels of PD James or John Le Carre.
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Summary: A story about the search for truth and personal redemption
Review: Rommy Gandolph is on death row for the murder of three people in a diner when corporate lawyer Arthur Raven is assigned by the court to represent him in his final appeal before execution. Raven resentfully goes through the motions of representation until he receives word that another inmate, now dying from cancer, may have new evidence. Raven takes up the crusade of proving that Gandolph, a small time drug user and thief with a low IQ. was framed for the triple murder that put him on death row. As the title suggests, the book follows both the errors made when Gandolph was convicted in 1991 and the discovery of new evidence and witnesses. But the story is not really about Gandolph, but about the three of the people who were central to the original story and current defense attorney Raven. Raven works with the judge at Gandolph's original trial, Gillian Sullivan, in getting the new evidence. Sullivan, recently released from prison for taking bribes and a recovering drug addict is drawn to Raven, a hard working attorney who is unable to sustain personal relationships. The unlikely couple, a beautiful ex judge in her late 40s and an awkward driven attorney in his 30s, develop an unusual kinship. This is one of the two key relationships at the core of this story. The other relationship is that between the prosecuting attorney of Gandolph's case, Muriel Wynn, and Larry Starczek the original detective on the case. Wynn is now married to a wealthy but aloof businessman and running for DA and is put into contact with Starczek with whom she had a long term affair at the time of the Gandolph trial. Both question what happened over the years and whether they made the right choices. Wynn and Starczek have different motives for ensuring that Gandolph is executed for the murders. The first third of this book alternates between flashbacks to the original events in 1991 to reveal what happened at the arrest and trial and 2001 when the new evidence is presented. This part of the book is somewhat tedious but the pace picks up nicely in the rest of the book. The relationship between Raven and Sullivan becomes central to the story and is as much a part of the redemption theme as is the work to free Gandolph. The final resolution of the story tests that relationship as well as Raven's core beliefs in the legal system. Be aware that this is not a traditional legal thriller due to the key focus on relationships but it is still a very satisfying story.
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Summary: A look in the heart of the system and the people in it
Review: After "Personal Injuries" Scott Turow was called Americas' best novelist by "NY Times". Here he confirms his reputation with a stellar novel about death penalty case and people caught in it.
Turow stopped writing legal thrillers somewhere around his third novel. I mean it in the sence, that he is not writing about a crime or an investigation, they are used in his novels to look at the law establishment and the society in general. Thus, the readers who look for car chases, conspirasies and other Hollywood-style stuff are often dissapointed. But people looking for thoughtfull reflection on many important issues, a novel inhabited with living, breathing people are in for a treat. The book starts with a person, sentenced to death, getting his last chance at appealing the verdict. He claims to be innocent (after keeping silent for years). The problem for his newly appointed lawyers is that their client allready confessed the crime, and he is also not the most sane person. The novel then cuts to the past, and shows us the other side - a detective and a prosecutor. Cutting back and fourth Turow gives us both the defence and prosecution, and he managed to make them interesting and sympathetic. So you don't just root for one side - somehow you end up rooting for both, and that makes the conflict more intense. But this story is not only about trial, it's about people - attorney, prosecutor, judge, detective - caught in a focal point in their lives, where they find that maybe, some of the errors they made in there lives, can be reversed.
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Summary: A Good Argument Against the Death Penalty
Review: Arthur Raven isn't very good looking. He's kind of dull and he has a paunch. However he's a dogged and determined corporate lawyer who has just been appointed as the pro bono defense of triple murderer and death row prisoner Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph who has been sentenced to die in less than two months. Gandolph's original prosecutor was the ambitious Muriel Wynn, who is now running to be the first female Prosecuting Attorney for Kindle County. She secured Gandolph's conviction in an airport diner with her lover, Detective Larry Starczek, who originally arrested Gandolph. Also the original trial judge, Gillian Sullivan, who had sentenced Gandolph to death, has just recently been released from prison for taken bribes and now she is a recovering drug addict. Raven's investigation into Gandolph's claim that he didn't commit the ten-year-old murders brings him into conflict with Wynn and Starczek, however Sullivan, who at first wasn't willing to help, becomes Raven's ally and a relationship develops between them. So in a way, this is kind of a love story, but it's foremost a mystery with enough twists to make it a satisfying puzzle. It also has some very dramatic courtroom duels. However, if like me, you read and identify with several characters in a novel, you will be just as involved in the relationship between Raven and Sullivan as you are in the exoneration of Gandolph. Mr. Turow seems to find some good in all his characters, even drug dealers and murderers, however his protagonists aren't lily white in character either. Muriel Wynn, Larry Starczek, Arthur Raven and Gillian Sullivan all do reprehensible things for a variety of reasons. But in the end, we understand that they are human, as are we all. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not engrossing
Review: I usually avoid stories about the death penalty, but this one looked interesting. It kept my attention, but I was not engrossed in the story, which is my indicator of a great book. The author switches between the perspectives of both sides - the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney. Because I wasn't totally paying attention, I had a hard time keeping the story lines tied together. It's a good read, but easy to put down after a short time.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome.
Review: I loved this book--found it hard to put down. I think it was better than P.I. The characters here are so rich and the plot was good too. Mr. Turow, you can really write! Keep them coming.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Understand the High Reviews
Review: I purchased this book based on the customer reviews here on Amazon.com. I do not understand the high reviews. I am still reading the book, but am having trouble continuing. It is boring and confusing--somewhat rambling.
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