Audiobook. Book 3+, narration 4 stars.

The first book in this series remains the best.

Lawyer Mack Malley is an ex-cop and a reformed alcoholic on his way down in his legal firm. When 5.6 million dollars disappear from the firm's trust account along with a fellow lawyer, Mack is tasked with running down the money and the errant attorney. The ending will surprise.

I love Scott Turow's legal thriller books and have read most if not all of them. I love the lawyer-speak and thought process, the legal maneuvers and plot twists. The reader never knows completely whats going on or what is going to happen until the very end. Characters are very well written and fleshed out.

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.

I am dumbfounded as to why some readers call this book "terrible." My educated guess is that they're used to Harlequin Romances, or pulp fiction written by 3rd-string comic book authors. This is the 3rd of the author's Kindle County crime mystery novels. The protagonist is a corporate lawyer who's pushing his 50th birthday, and asking himself the big existential questions about his meaningless existence. Then money and a partner turn up missing at his firm, and he's sent on a mission to close, metaphorically speaking, the watertight doors. Lots of surprises, twists & turns in a cake marbled with angst. If you're accepting of the fact that in real life there aren't any storybook endings, snuggle up with a brandy and a shaggy dog, and let the games begin. My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Very interesting book! I was expecting more of a courtroom type drama, but this story didn’t disappoint. What an ending!

This is the 3rd Scott Turow novel in his Kindle County series and the venue shifts from a criminal justice focus in the first two novels to the politics and finance of a big city law firm representing top corporate clients
As in his other novels, Turow makes his characters come alive, it's as if he is writing about people you know. The narrator, Mack, is a former cop and recovering alcoholic who is a partner at Gage and Crisell who is in a downward professional spiral while navigates custody issues with his ex-wife. In the first chapter we meet the three managing partners who ask Mack to undertake a delicate task of finding the firm's litigator who has apparently absconded with millions of dollars that belong with the firm's major client. As Mack starts his investigation he describes the main characters and their affluent lives in more detail as he also describes the others in the investigation, the missing litigator, the young woman partner who is somewhat an ally of Mack while she deals with the double standard of gender and sexual politics and a member of the law firm's support staff who is entrenched into the law firm's establishment as much as any lawyer and who may hold keys to finding the missing money. Turow also describes those outside the law firm, from a mob connected lawyer who Mack is representing in a bar disciplinary hearing to Mack's former partner on the police force who has reason to hate Mack and try to divert a related investigation to pinning a crime on Mack.

There are also great plot twists that compliment the complex and realistic characters. My trouble with this novel is that it lacks a moral compass. No character consistently behaves honorably, the few instances where a character does the right thing it is sadly for the wrong reason. All are greedy, all are watching out for themselves and the ending left me at a loss looking for a silver lining in the moral character of any character, the woman partner I suppose comes the closest

Again, in some ways this was a good read; alive characters, fast paced and predictable plot but at the end of the day, a story about greedy lawyers in a greedy law firm

I'm a big fan of Scott Turow. I love the way he writes.

Turow uses deep first person to deftly navigate the emotional inner life of his main character, Mack Molloy, even though the story is told via a dictated account. The story follows Mack, an ex-cop, almost ex-drunk, and partner at one of Kindle County's top law firms. He's charged by the partners to find a missing litigator who disappeared at the same time as $5.6 million.

Mack is not very likeable for a main character and his crude turns of phrase are at times off-putting. I became quite frustrated with his antics and the stupid mistakes he made at times. It's Turow's style of writing that kept me reading and kept me engaged.

The twist left me feeling disappointed, even though it was foreshadowed, consistent with the protagonist's character, and I could see it coming. I'd hoped for redemption.

Overall, I didn't find this a satisfying read. The main character wasn't likeable although he was real and well-drawn, his behaviour was at times cringe-worthy, and the ending left me feeling disappointed, despite it being consistent with the story and the character.

I enjoy Scott Turow's writing, but this story didn't appeal to me as much as his other books. It's probably a matter of personal taste.

Disappointing even for a stream of consciousness work.

"Prenderò il denaro e fuggirò, oppure lo restituirò. Meglio avere una possibilità di scelta che la schiavitù della causa ed effetto. Risale tutto ad Agostino. Abbiamo scelto il Bene. O il Male. E ne paghiamo il prezzo".
È il primo libro di Scott Turow che leggo… e che delusione! Già partivo dal preconcetto che non mi piacciono i legal thriller (non mi è mai piaciuta l'avvocatura), se poi ci mettiamo che questo romanzo è molto ma molto lento e, per giunta, senza la pur minima traccia di azione… il danno è fatto!
Mi fermo qui, è inutile andare avanti con la recensione.
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Right from the start I had a feeling this was an attempt to make this book like the 30's-40's film noir type style and it just didn't work. Detective turned lawyer turned detective. This book had everything to make it noir from the sex, the shady characters, money, tuxedos, dirty cops, non-stereotypical femme fatale, the single stick-by-your-man-no-matter-how-much-he-hurts-you gal (traditionally in noir it's the detective's secretary, not in this story- but she is there), and the long descriptions, and yet, there are none of the rainy streets and characters walking out from the steam of the city (other than the image on the cover - ha!).

The one thing it did have that I didn't like was the character of the son - he served no purpose.

So this was ok to pass the time, but I don't recommend.

The plot was a good one but the delivery was, to me, a bit flawed. The book began with all the pace and excitement of a snail trying to complete a dot-to-dot picture. As the story developed the pace became a little faster but it was only the last quarter of the book where I wanted to finish it just to see the development. The machinations left a bit to be desired as they did not always seem very clear, but the most disconcerting thing about the style was that the story was supposed to be as told to a tape recorder. Beginning in the past tense the narrative suddenly switched to the present, as events were presented in the chapters, which tended to alter the rhythm. But I shall read more of Scott Turow's books.