3.5 Stars

My first read for this author and I have very much enjoyed it. Love me a good legal thriller

البريء المفترض

رواية إثارة قانونية ممتازة، حصلت على الجزء الثاني منها والذي صدر بعد سنوات طويلة بعنوان (البريء) من معرض الرياض الفائت، جريمة قتل بشعة تذهب ضحيتها محامية جميلة ويتهم بالجريمة زميلها وحبيبها السابق، يضعنا سكوت تورو على حافة الترقب، ما الذي حدث؟ هل ارتكب رستي سابيتش الجريمة فعلاً؟ أم هو بريء وهناك مؤامرة ضده، استطاع تورو إبقائي في الظلام حتى الصفحة الأخيرة.

Well, here we go. Not a book I hate but a book that I couldn't get into. I would ordinarily go with 2 stars on a "I don't love and I don't hate it' book but for a couple of reasons I lift this one to 3. First the book did interest me at first and the author's writing is good. The 'voice" of the story telling character was at least at first interesting. Secondly there was a problem that might not effect other readers.

Now what didn't I care for...what killed my interest? I think there were a couple of problems for me here. First there are parts of the story that I find stultifying. I suppose to give what was going on in the book that first drove me to causing this large hole in the drywall next to my chair with my head would/will be a spoiler so I'll put it under a "spoiler tag".

When our hero was telling his psychiatrist about his obsessive love/infatuation with the victim it went on, and on, and on, and on, and on........and on. It was so long that I was just about ready to discard the book....or possibly just go screaming into the night.

There's also another problem at least for me.

I saw the movie. While the movie isn't as deep a story nor quite the same, it's still the same story and when things begin to roll and fall into place it's impossible not to see where everything is going. I assume that if you don't have that handicap the story flows much better.

So, I wasn't thrilled. I don't know if I'll try another. The synopsis of the next book in this series leads me to believe it will  also default to interpersonal angst instead of being a court room mystery/drama. I'll decide later.

So, 3 stars.

DNF @ 14% - 2/15/25

A re-read for me.

Excellent narration. Really no troubles there.

So a cheating husband, who is a powerful prosecuting attorney – his mistress ends up dead – mistress thought she was going to sleep her way to the top and out of any situation she got into. Not really a fan of the storyline. There were lots of characters in this and definitely had troubles, keeping which prosecutor or police officer straight throughout the narration.

I listened because I want to watch the show on Apple TV, going to think about that for a bit after listening to the book. Not so sure that I am still interested.

Definitely better reads out there.

The cheating husband and the story going out on a note talking about searching for everlasting Hope through the want and desire of his mistress. That really kind of put it over the top for me.

Brilliant. A classic. Read it. The movie was very faithful to the novel, so if you've seen it, the ending's blown for you.

If you haven't seen the movie you're very lucky to have one of the best mysteries ever written waiting for you.

I read this years ago and really liked it, mainly because the writing was so interesting and I didn't guess the twist ending ahead of time. That's a big plus in any book of this kind for me.

A solid plot with extraordinary twists. I have read this before and will read it again.

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Even if it was saddled with a typical denouement. Still excellent.

Rusty Sabich, chief prosecutor of Kindle County finds himself in hot water when Carolyn Polhemus, a recent lover and current colleague winds up murdered. Rusty gets the case, and before he knows what hits him, he ends up thrown into the ring and being tried for her murder.

Sandy Stern, hot shot defense attorney presents a solid case, and Rusty goes from the prosecution side to the defense side.

For me, this was a solid read, just a little slow for a legal thriller than I would've liked. I found myself figuring out the ending, and didn't connect with the main characters as much as I would've liked. I think this may be one where I enjoy the movie more than the book.

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.