COMPLEX CHARACTERS AND NON-FORMULAIC PLOT
Darkly intriguing plot which breaks from the traditional thriller formula. Populated with interesting, colorful characters who are neither good nor evil, but human - with real human flaws. Great use of language more than makes up for the frequent backstory dumps. A bold and highly satisfying ending. Great read!

This may be the worst book I’ve ever read. I gave it 2 stars because of the humorous parts about law firm politics and partners. The good stops there. Much of the book reads as I imagine a trashy romance novel reads. The author seems fixated on sex anyway. The plot varies between unlikely and ho-hum. The writing was not particularly good. And the protagonist is a loser who engenders no empathy or sympathy (was that the point?). Read the reviews - I should have. There are far too many good books to read to waste your time with this one.

I am SHOCKED that this book has a rating of 3.71. It is one of the worst books I've ever read. The only thing that keeps it from being the absolute worst is that the premise of the book was interesting (before it was ruined with stilted writing and an all-too-obvious attempt to use as many big words as possible in a failed effort to make the author seem smarter than he is) and I am personally obsessed with trying to see if I can figure out who actually "did it." It's also the first time I have ever wished I bought the abridged version of an audio book. To top it off, I'll never buy another audio book read by this guy. He makes me want to rip the CD player out of my car.

Oh my gosh! My first Scott Turow novel and WOW. Awesome book! His incredible metaphors [the absolute BEST part] make you hoot out loud with laughter or nod your head in total agreement with the philosophical bent few have the guts to express aloud. He takes a down-on-his-luck and almost at times pitiable hero and still makes you want to root for him...makes you want to know him. Mr. Turow has the acerbic wit of Nelson DeMille's John Corey novels, and I will for sure be reading his other novels. Mr. Turow's, not Mr. DeMille's.

This was just ok for me. I was so blown away by the other two I read that I was expecting more.

The story does take place within a law firm, although it is not particularly focused on legal principles. Calling it a thriller is definitely a misnomer, as there is precious little action. What it does have is a lot of internal reflection about how unfair life is and how morality can be defined or immorality excused, along with a fair amount of raunchiness. All the financial complexities took some inventiveness, but overall I was not impressed.

From Follett: Returning to the now-renowned locale of Kindle County, Scott Turow gives us Mack Malloy, ex-cop, not-quite-ex-drunk, and partner-on-the-wane in one of the country's most high-powered law firms. A longtime ally of the wayward, Mack is on the trail of a colleague, his firm's star litigator, who has vanished with more than five million dollars of a client's money. Mack will descend into the enthralling and ominous heart of a city...taking you with him on his final, desperate, and courageous crusade to reinvent himself from the depths of his own shattered soul.

About the book:
Mack Malloy is a partner in one of Kindle County's top law firms. An ex-cop who joined the firm on a wave of enthusiasm and optimism, he now feels himself to be on the way down, and possibly out. Bert Kamin, gifted, erratic and combative, is one of the firm's star litigators and he has disappeared.

My Review
I love legal thrillers as a rule. I just find it all very interesting to follow a case through to the end. However, in this case, I didn't enjoy it all that much. The story starts by giving some background on Mack, who is a mixed up guy and kind of bumbles his way through this case. In other words, he's not really supposed to solve it, but he does. I was a little disappointed in some of his actions along the way, but I guess that was supposed to make the storyline exciting. Even so, there are a few surprises but not that "I can't believe that just happened" kind of surprises. I would have loved to see more twists and more exciting sub-plots.

While the characters were pretty well-developed, the storyline was all over the place. The writer made the characters believable, and they really fit my impressions of big corporate law firms (haha!). The storylines however, did not seem cohesive. There was way too much going on! It was really very annoying.

The ending was a little unexpected (I really thought Mack would respond differently) but I guess that's where it was heading anyway. It took me a LONG time to read this book and that also frustrated me! LOL!

Overall, I just wasn't impressed. Would I read another book by this author... maybe, but it won't be a priority.

Another great Scott Turow book. Everything he writes is first class.

The best thing about this mystery isn't the plot switches but the lively characterization of the narrator, Mack Malloy. He was witty, cagey, funny, and smart.

Entertaining, engaging summer read!

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series.

This one contains some surprising moments of insight and wisdom, but overall, stumbles bc of both too much introspection of the narrator, and the sense that you don’t know him, despite spending too much time in his head. Overall, disappointing and overlong. However, I’m going to give the fourth book a shot.

I'm pretty certain I've read this book before... and it wasn't any better the second time around. Turow has a great way of describing scenes, making his characters believable, but the story just didn't work for me. I'm hoping it's just an "off" book, and the next Kindle County thriller will pull me back in.