Turow does a masterful job of taking the reader through the same emotional ups and downs he experienced in his first year at HLS. I found myself getting tense along with him as his exams approached, and relieved when he got his grades. The book is also full of sharp commentary on legal education and the legal profession, particularly in the afterword. There is one big problem with the book, not Turow's fault: his first year of law school was in 1975, and I have no ability to judge how much things have changed. For that matter, I also can't say how much of what he observes is specific to Harvard, and how much of it is common to all law schools. So, I have to be careful about drawing larger lessons and assume that his book may just represent a dispatch from a peculiar set of circumstances. Regardless, if you're interested in legal education or the law generally, this book is well worth your time.

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (1987)

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I adore Turow. He is the author I would love to be. He weaves, like Grisham, an intriguing plot. However, Scott seems more interested in the many facets of human possibilities- how people behave. This neatly dovetails into his ability to explain why they behave the way they do. Turow writes about people who are in situations and how they interact with one another. In many respects, Turow is the Le Carre of legal fiction. I am an unashamed groupie.