I found this book to be really, really painful. The writing was stiff and uninviting, the characters either were meaningless or grated on my nerves, the plot was overly explained, the trial and everything else took forever. I was fairly sure I knew who did it early on and though I did not bother reading the last handful of pages, a spoiler alert on here assured me that I was right, so I won't push myself. When I first heard about this book couched in terms of how great it is and blah blah (and especially in connection to Defending Jacob which actually was enjoyable) I remember thinking, but didn't Scott Turow write it? I mean, no offense, and I had never read anything by him, but you know what I mean, those paper backs in airports with big letters that are brain candy and I personally find unreadable. But people were saying it was awesome so, ok ... yeah well this was a miserable and thankless read. Definitely not my genre but since I have enjoyed a number of exceptions I was open for this to be one too, but it was not.

This book made me fall in love with Scott Turow's writing. I have set myself a goal to read and own all of his books. I had already seen the movie for this book before I read any of it. As often the case, the book was so much better than the movie. Scott Turow is a wonderful writer who draws you into the world he is creating. It is a great book with strong characters, sharp dialogue, memorable court scenes, passion, lust, betrayal, corruption, politics, jealousy, and a great story with many twists and turns. A true classic.