The novel is told by George Mason, a respected lawyer hired by Robbie Feaver, a successful and flamboyant personal injury lawyer. The IRS had discovered Feaver's second account, a secret account, where he deposited some of his settlement check to avoid paying tax on that income. Feaver is facing a long prison term and forfeiture that would financially ruin him, but the US Attorney has offered Feaver a deal that would avoid substantial time and allow him to keep much of his wealth--if he worked with the feds in an investigation of the bribing of Judges who presided over personal injury cases. Mason helps negotiate the agreement and is needed to observe Feaver's role in the investigation. The third main character is Evon Miller, an undercover FBI agent who poses as Feaver's paralegal so that there is no suspicion of why she is always in his office or accompanying him to meetings. While not planned, Feaver's reputation as a womanizer and Miller being an attractive woman further allays any questions about her constant presence. A subplot of the novel is Feaver's attempts to get personally close with her.
Feaver had earlier bribed the four suspected Judges but the Judges had different ways of taking the bribes all presenting different challenges to proof. The novel tells both of the logistics of undercover investigations including phone and office wiretaps, Feaver wearing a wire during certain interactions as well as the legal and ethical issues. There is nuance to the novel, there is some sympathy for some of the Judges in how they were drawn into the bribery and there is negative judgment on some of the tactics by law enforcement. And the plot has plenty of suspense to keep the reader engaged all the way

The fifth volume in Turow's Kindle County returns the series to the excellent form of the first two volumes, Presumed Innocent and The Burden of Proof. The story of an FBI sting operation investigating judicial malfeasance features shocking plot twists all the way to the final few pages, and as usual Turow's characters are surprisingly well drawn. Turow's faults are still evident as well, especially lengthy passages of exposition and description (the first time we visit any room there will be a descriptive note of every single item of furniture along with any mementos or pictures that might be present) that slow the plot unnecessarily.

I have read this on and off for a couple of months, in between more compelling books. Certainly not my favorite Scott Turow, far to long and detailed about legal corruption with the added sadness of ALS as a back story. Intrigue and corruption abound.

I had hopes that this book would be better than the one I just read – I was still charged from the plot turn and rather hopeful to read a true page turner. Nope – didn't happen. This book did not hold my interest. It was overly descriptive, slow and drawn out. It was actually painful to read. I continued through the book hoping as Pleading Guilty, it would suddenly be good – it never happened. I would not recommend this book.

Meh. Too many words to just get to an ending I didn't even really like. I liked Robbie (sometimes) Rainey (sad) and Evon ok but the rest not so much. Maybe the next Turow book I have on my shelf will be better.

Publisher's Description: To Robbie Feaver the law is all about making a play-to a client, a jury, or a judge. But when the flashy, womanizing, multimillion-dollar personal injury lawyer is caught offering bribes, he's forced to wear a wire. Even as the besieged attorney looks after his ailing wife, Feaver must also make tapes that will hurl his friends, his enemies, his city, and a particular FBI undercover agent into a crisis of conscience and law. Now Robbie Feaver is making the play of his life.

Un libro di una noia mortale, ne avevo letti altri sul mondo degli avvocati ma questo veramente è da bocciare su tutta la linea. La storia in sé sarebbe anche interessante ma è sviluppata male a mio parere.
Un avvocato viene sorpreso, a seguito di un'indagine dell'Fbi, a passare mazzette a giudici corrotti per avere successo con le sue cause e incassare indennizzi da capogiro. Scoperto, non ha altra soluzione se non quella di collaborare per smascherare tutta la rete che vede a capo pezzi grossi del forum americano.

Più di 400 pagine con pochissimi dialoghi, dove il protagonista è un egocentrico maschilista che non sa fare altro che vantarsi della sua auto da migliaia di dollari e delle sue conquiste amorose. È affiancato da un agente donna che, oltre ad essere perennemente sotto copertura, deve fare i conti con la sua sessualità. La sua facciata da dura iron-woman non dura nemmeno due pagine che già tutto il suo mondo è capovolto dall'avvocato corrotto si, ma sempre brillante e seducente. E come se non bastasse, di tutti gli altri personaggi della task-force non ce n'è uno che abbia un minimo di spessore. Quello che molto spesso dovrebbe venire fuori dai rapporti interpersonali vengono affidati a monologhi lunghi capitoli interi. Un piattume che era molto che non mi ricapitava. Gli ultimi capitoli li ho quasi sorvolati. Bocciato su tutta la linea.

Why are there so few one-star ratings? If I really dislike a book I would normally abandon it at page 50 at the latest. And never rate it at all. In this case I had to continue reading it for the very silly reason that I did not bring along enough books to my vacation (and the book store of the village has closed down.)

It started quite promising actually. A lawyer tells the tale about the 90s “when the dot has not yet been introduced to the com”. About a client called Feaver. A first person singular story. Only it is Feaver who is the main character and our narrator speaks about things happening that he cannot possibly know.

“Yet I’ve imagined it in the same detail as so much else I’ve described but never witnessed.” He says at the very end. But why? There are rules in storytelling. And a lawyer should know that you do not break rules. Unless you are James Joyce.

So there go two stars flying out of the window.

Now what is it about? They get Feaver for some tax issues and he agrees to become an informer. Turns out he had bribed judges. Also, he practices law but never received his liscence. A fraud. And then the book goes on and on with our hero fully wired to get the bad judges to admit their crime. For good measure Turow puts an undercover agent at his side. Who turns out to be a lesbian and her story is described endlessly and utterly boringly. The main reason for her existence seems to be that Turow wants to establish that Feaver is actually not a bad guy at all. Or as one of the dozens of admirers put it in the praise section of the book: not one dimensional. (Among the praising people is one of my heroes, John Mortimer, which saddened me immensely.)

And then Feaver has a wife dying of ALS. If I had some sympathy left for the book I might have found the scenes with her well done. As it is I’ve found them repulsive. Especially the very last one.


There is some kind of action going on for about 20 pages at page 400 or so.

It is not that I dislike thrillers or legal thrillers. On the contrary. I have read more than 20 Grishams and have never bean disappointed. They are one-dimensional? Yes. But honest works of well crafted fiction. This is just humbug.

Scott Turow é excelente falando sobre direito. Muitas propinas, falsidade ideológica. Aqui a gente vê de tudo. Até assassinato acontece em pleno júri. Demorei bastante porque é um livro com muitos termos jurídicos e li em inglês. Mas foi bom demais.

Seeking mysteries I happened upon this work and having read Presumed Innocent long ago, and 4-5 years ago I had read a well written non-fiction documentary by Turow of a noted miscarriage of justice. So I decided to give it a try.
The story starts off with what portends to be an intersting plot. But then for the technically picky reader like me (scientist) it becomes contrived nonsense. For example, the author asks us to believe the anti-hero, a crooked personal injury attorney, has been practicing law for decades taking insurance companies to the cleaners, GET THIS, without a license to practice law. Progressing from details like this the book descends in the end to utterly contrived nonsense.
I asked a couple of lawyer friends who are Turow fans whhat they thought of it and they said "great." Go figure.

This is possibly one of the least deserved five star ratings that I have given in my Goodreads review Career, which has been a reasonable number of years. One star is due to the fact that I ended the book with tears. Some of you may know that when a book provokes tears, it gets an extra star and maybe even five stars.

I experienced this book in the audible format. I have read other books by this author, and am kindly disposed to seeing him as a good writer and storyteller. This book does not change those thoughts for me. I struggled through possibly the first half of this book thinking that it was , maybe three stars. And then I remembered some thing that I once learned about some books, but have evidently forgotten. Lots of good books spend a whole lot of time at the beginning, setting the scene and giving you information that will help you appreciate the second half of the book. I remember having this experience with some books in the past and not really appreciating it until I finally got through the entire book. That happened to me in spades with this book.

You will spend a lot of time in this book getting to know a couple of characters. You might be tempted to call them lovers although the man is married, and the woman is a lesbian. They are each fascinating. The fact that they are characters created by a writer might make you wonder if they could ever be real people. I kind of think they couldn’t be, but that didn’t keep me from being fully drawn into each character.

The main character is extraordinarily complex. He might play a leadership role in the tendency in the last couple of decades for the main characters in crime novels to be a strange mixture of good and bad. Or maybe it is just that fictional characters who have a mix of good and bad characteristics are particularly fascinating to me.

I stuck with this novel, partly, because that is easier to do with an audible book for me, then with a print book. I also had enough experience with the author, to be willing to give him more than a fair chance to intrigue me. This might even be the kind of book that you might enjoy even more the second time, when you know the ending and you can watch it develop in the skillful hands of the author. That might make the first half of the book more interesting even to me. But I have to say that the somewhat surprising end allows a lot of things to come to what seem to be very reasonable conclusions. I have to say that being manipulated by a full writer and storyteller can wind up being a mostly positive experience. You can even learn some things about yourself and your view of the world in the process.

A solid four, and I would add this to the books that I would like to reread in the future. Two competing thoughts are battling within me. One, it's typical Turow that he'd focus on sideways conversations and colorful and personal descriptions to drive the story. I can see how it works, though it's a bit tedious for my tastes at several point. But two, those last two or three chapters are solid gold, when the pieces come together. I may consider myself an impatient reader currently, but I'd like to revisit this maybe late 2024, when I've finished the Turow books in my inventory. This is certainly no Presumed Innocent but I'd like to give it another shot at the five star echelon.