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This book was such a huge disappointment. I was hooked by it's predecessor (Presumed Innocent) but here I think Scott Turrow simply got carried away and tried to write an epic in the manner of Gone With The Wind or Buddenbrooks, nothing wrong with that, but if you're attempting to write a thriller then your book needs to thrill. Burden of Proof does not do that. The central character cogitates at every available opportunity and stultifies the story. Lots and lots of introspective passages with well-constructed sentences do not add to the book.
I think the author was trying to produce the effect of a long running Spanish telenova, replete with lots of flashbacks between the protagonist and his wife. Alejandro Stern is just too ponderous to be of much interest. His grandiloquent manner of speaking begins to grate after a while.
The scene in which he discovers his dead wife had herpes is unintentionally funny and the scene in which his son Peter inspects him for herpes would have been funny were it not so laden with formality.
This is a very self-indulgent novel. I think Scott Turrow, after the success of Presumed Innocent, decided to impress his fans with his literary prowess and ultimately failed to deliver. This book is worth reading for aspiring writers because it gives you some guideline of what not to do if you are writing thrillers.
1) Don't be politically correct with dialogue. There is a passage where the protagonist's brother-in-law remonstrates with two FBI agents because they want him to come down town whilst getting ready to go to his sister's funeral. In his exasperation he calls them: 'You crummy so and so's!"... Really
2) If your characters ruminate at every possible opportunity you ruin the story.
3) Lengthy characters with well-constructed sentences do not add to the quality of a thriller. Maybe, an epic, but not a thriller.
All in all, this is a book where the author simply let himself go. I feel he should have had more respect for the money paying reader.
I think the author was trying to produce the effect of a long running Spanish telenova, replete with lots of flashbacks between the protagonist and his wife. Alejandro Stern is just too ponderous to be of much interest. His grandiloquent manner of speaking begins to grate after a while.
The scene in which he discovers his dead wife had herpes is unintentionally funny and the scene in which his son Peter inspects him for herpes would have been funny were it not so laden with formality.
This is a very self-indulgent novel. I think Scott Turrow, after the success of Presumed Innocent, decided to impress his fans with his literary prowess and ultimately failed to deliver. This book is worth reading for aspiring writers because it gives you some guideline of what not to do if you are writing thrillers.
1) Don't be politically correct with dialogue. There is a passage where the protagonist's brother-in-law remonstrates with two FBI agents because they want him to come down town whilst getting ready to go to his sister's funeral. In his exasperation he calls them: 'You crummy so and so's!"... Really
2) If your characters ruminate at every possible opportunity you ruin the story.
3) Lengthy characters with well-constructed sentences do not add to the quality of a thriller. Maybe, an epic, but not a thriller.
All in all, this is a book where the author simply let himself go. I feel he should have had more respect for the money paying reader.
