A great twist in legal suspense. Another book where you think you have it figured out and then it throws you into a completely different place.

Good character development, plot, and story telling. A good read.

Unbelievably well written. Impossible to guess the outcome with so much intrigue I was giddy. Outstanding

Very interesting ending.

Actual rating 1.5 stars

I probably would have abandoned this book I had not been listening to an audiobook I purchased. I also kept listening because this is in a series although it seems that the setting is what ties the books together. The plot was good, but writing the main character as a hard boiled detective didn’t land well. I found the protagonist’s attitude toward women, gays and people of color offensive.

This was a bad book - boring plot with characters that not only weren't endearing, but other than Brushy, made me wish they would come to an early demise - even his teenage kid! The author's writing was pompous and prolonged at the expense of plot or character development. While the beginning seemed to have promise it devolved into drudgery I wish I had given up at page 50.

The only redeeming factor for me as a retired Chief Operating Officer of a large law firm, was the description of life at a blue-chip firm. The descriptions of the compensation process, lawyer committees, billing and accounting practices, marketing and ethical issues were pretty humorous and cynically accurate in a number of cases. This benefit, however, did not overcome what I regarded as a loss of time I won't get back.

This was characteristic of the first two Kindle County books in that there were a lot of plot reverses, each one seeming to revive a potential conclusion that a previous reversal had seemed to rule out. In this case, I pretty well guessed the final outcome early on although mostly I was surprised by how it got there. Also like others in the series, this book has quality writing and believable if somewhat static characters.

Scott Turow's books just aren't for me. This is the 2nd I've read and the 1st in 20 years. Unlike Robert Ludlum books which are complex but leave me feeling smarter for having read, Turow's books make me wonder why I invested the time to read. The plot of this one is actually good but page after page of relentless descriptions of both the personality and character flaws of, not only our protagonist but every major character and many minor characters leads me to slog through the pages - not a page turner by any stretch of the imagination. A random 50 page sample of the book would contain approximately 37 pages of story development and 13 pages of character flaws.

Another well written legal mystery with lots of interesting characters and stunning plot twists. Mack Malloy is a mediocre lawyer, ex-cop and recovering alcoholic who works for one of the most prestigious law firms in fictitious Kindle County (which is the setting for most of Turow's novels). One of the firm's lawyers has mysteriously disappeared and evidence suggests that, in the process, he may have stolen $5.6 million from the firm's largest account. The partners of the firm want to keep a lid on that information and request Malloy to track down the errant lawyer and the stolen money before their largest client learns of the theft.

I was between reading material when i came across this book. It is not a bad book, however ... There is a difference between descriptive writing and simply adding up word count. The book goes into way too many details about the main char. it rounds him out nicely and gives him three dimensional quality but at the expense of distracting the reader. The author goes off into tangents that has nothing at all to do with the main story line, taking the readers mind off of the details of the story.

There's no denying that Turow is a tremendous rhetorician. And I usually enjoy reading the words of a tremendous rhetorician...As long as they don't get in the way of getting to what HAPPENS.

This one could slice 30-40% of the words, and I'd at least consider it decent. But it's telling when the only thing you like about a story is the very thing that kept you from really enjoying it. I read somewhere where Turow was referred to as a "bard," and that alone is worth a star or two. His words really do sing. But only certain foods taste good when you drench them in honey.

Whatever he drowned in this honey, I could barely taste.

too verbose