This book was far from being a “thriller”. I could not wait to get to the end and almost gave up. The story line was confusing and disjointed and consisted mostly of notes that the main character was writing as he searched for a missing lawyer who had allegedly stolen 5 million dollars.

This was my first and last Turow book. I am trying hard to think of anything good to say about it. The writing was shabby and Turow could not seem to stay on track. He went down more rabbit holes than I can count. The characters were shallow. The plot was completely without even one virtue or redeeming point. Not one single character was good and moral, and even the “hero”, if thats what you want to call him, was corrupt and dark.

Now I know why I used to love Turow. His stories are so finely weaved. The characters are all interesting and complicated and flawed. This one is no different. One down and out lawyer's first person account of a mystery within his firm. A mystery he was supposed to solve or not solve. Mac Malloy is an ex cop, ex drunk, ex husband and a middling lawyer. As he takes on the mystery of his missing partner and nearly 6 million missing bucks, he dictates his story into a tape recorder. What we get is his take on everyone in his life and not the good stuff. There are not many likable characters, especially the narrator. His dialogue with himself is cliche' and his behavior is abhorrent. His only redeeming quality is his hunger to find the truth despite the long odds. Still, you have to root for him. Is this his shot at redemption? Or his excuse to pack it in.

I hated this drivel. It was so long and uninteresting. With an absolute dud of an ending.

A complicated story about a recovering alcoholic ex-cop, now a lawyer in a large firm, who is asked by his firm to investigate the mysterious disappearance of another partner in the firm at the same time as more than $ 5 million goes missing from a client escrow account. Turow obviously knows his way around law firms and their peculiarities. He also can build a very intricate plot and have it hang together quite well. The negatives are the constant introspection by the protagonist and weak, occasionally gross, sex scenes. If you like the genre, it's pretty good, with some interesting plot twists.

I don't see much connection beteen the books. This one wasn't as great.

A DEADLY FUNNY SCOTT TUROW:

No Rusty. No Nat. No Sandy. Yikes!!
But this is a complex, beautifully plotted dissection of how a mega-law firm deals with theft, betrayal and murder within its own ranks. It’s actually a sardonic comedy. And Scott Turow is a peerless narrator and insightful observer.
A must read!!

Fascinating story about the human character and all its flaws. While the plot revolves around missing money, gambling, and the inner workings of corporate law firms beholden to their masters, the true essence of the story is an imperfect man living with his demons and how he chooses to deal with them. Great insight into the Catholic mind set, guilt, marriage, love, and children, and the late 20th century corporate world.

PLEADING GUILTY

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILSt
(Print: 6/7/1993; 978-0374234577; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; 1st ed. 386 pages; unabridged.)
(Digital: Yes.)
*Audio: 6/1/2010; 12:34:57; 978-16094119809; Hachette Audio; unabridged; 11 parts.
(Film: Not that I know of).

SERIES:
Kindle County Series-Book 3

CHARACTERS: (not comprehensive)
McCormick (Mack) Malloy--Gage & Griswell lawyer
Emilia Bruccia (Brushie)- Gage & Griswell lawyer
Robert (Bert) Kamin— Gage & Griswell missing lawyer
Martin Gold-Managing partner of the Gage & Griswell law firm
Wash Thale- Gage & Griswell lawyer
Carl Pagnucci- Gage & Griswell lawyer
Archie-missing bookie
Toots Nuccio—Lawyer to a crime family
Gino (Pigeyes) Dimonte- Detective
Jake Eiger—TransNational lawyer

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
Still in Kindle County, we have a new cast of characters, alluding only once to Sandy Stern of previous casts.
The format of this one may be more clear in print, it was a little confusing in narration—There were frequent letter injections, maybe like the way reports are written.
Analogies in Scott’s books are often hard to imagine—sometimes because they require more time to consider than one really has while listening to a narration, sometimes because there's not much familiarity with the subject being compared against.
I do enjoy Scotts use of terms I am unfamiliar with or of which I am unfamiliar with the employed usage.
I like Scott's plots, but not how the tone runs to the crass and vulgar so frequently.
I’d hoped that Book 2 of this series was an anomaly in its devotion to sex, since book 1 had been fairly tame, but no—this third book is carrying on the tradition of the 2nd, and taking it even further.
These are interesting characters in an interesting situations, I think I may I prefer a main character I can admire though.
The explanations of law firms, banking, and gambling are interesting.

AUTHOR:t
Scott Frederick Turow 4/12/1949. According to Wikipedia, Scott “is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 11 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.[2] Films have been based on several of his books.”

NARRATOR: t
Robert Petkoff. According to Wikipedia, Robert “is an American stage actor known for his work in Shakespearean productions and more recently on the New York City musical theater stage. Petkoff has performed on Broadway, the West End, regional theatre, and done work in film and television. Petkoff was featured as "Perchik" in the Tony award-nominated 2004 revival cast of Fiddler on the Roof but is perhaps best known for his role as "Tateh" in the 2009 revival of Ragtime on Broadway.[1] Petkoff has also provided the voices for over two dozen audiobooks, winning awards for his reading of Michael Koryta's So Cold the River. Married to actress Susan Wands, Petkoff has lived in New York City for the last twenty years, and often performs in benefit concerts for theater-district-related charities.”

DEDICATION:t
“For seven years now, my colleagues at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal--lawyers and non-lawyers alike, but especially my partners--have provided me with unflagging support in a variety of circumstances which have occasionally surprised us all. Only I know better than they how little the law firm described in the following pages either resembles our firm or shares its atmosphere of sustained decency. In gratitude for their comradeship, their kindness--and their tolerance--this novel is affectionately dedicated to the many persons at Sonnenschien to whom my deepest thanks are due.”

GENRE:t
Fiction, Literature

LOCATIONS:t
(fictitious) Kindle County, Midwest, Pico Luan
t
SUBJECTS:t
Lawyers, white collar crime, banking

SAMPLE QUOTATION:t
From Chapter 1
“The Management Oversight Committee of our firm, known among the partnership simply as "the Committee," meets each Monday at 3:00 p.m. Over coffee and chocolate brioche, these three hotshots, the heads of the firm's litigation, transnational and regulatory departments, decide what's what at Gage & Griswell for another week. Not bad guys really, able lawyers, heady business types looking out for the greatest good for the greatest number at G&G, but since I came here eighteen years ago the Committee and their austere powers, freely delegated under the partnership agreement, have tended to scare me silly. I'm forty-nine, a former copper on the street, a big man with a brave front and a good Irish routine, but in the last few years I've heard many discouraging words from these three. My points have been cut, my office moved to something smaller, my hours and billing described as far too low. Arriving this afternoon. I steadied myself, as ever for the worst.
"Mack," said Martin Gold, our managing partner, "Mack, we need your help. Something serious." He's a sizable man, Martin, a wrestler at the U. three decades ago, a middleweight with a chest broad as a map of America. He has a dark, shrewd face, a little like those Mongol warriors of Ghenghis Khan's, and the venerable look of somebody who's mixed it up with life. He is, no question, the best lawyer I know.
The other two, Carl Pagnucci and Wash Thale, were eating at the walnut conference table, an antique Continental origin with the big heavy look of a cuckoo clock. Martin invited me to share the brioche, but I took only coffee. With these guys, I needed to be quick.
"This isn't about you," said Carl, making a stark appraisal of my apprehensions.
"Who?" I asked.
"Bert," said Martin.
For going on two weeks, my partner Bert Kamin has not appeared at the office. No mail from him, no calls. In the case of your average baseline human being who has worked at Gage & Griswell during my time, say anyone from Leotis Griswell to the Polish gal who cleans the cans, this would be cause for concern. Not so clearly Bert. Bert is a kind of temperamental adolescent, big and brooding, who enjoys the combat of the courtroom. You need a lawyer who will cross-examin opposing party's CEO and claw out his intestines in the fashion of certain large cats, Bert's your guy. On the other hand, if you want someone who will come to work, fill out his time sheets, or treat his secretary as if he recollected that slavery is dead, then you might think about somebody else. After a month or two on trial, Bert is liable to take an absolute powder. Once he turned up at a fantasy camp run by Trappers, our major league baseball team. Another time he was gambling in Monte Carlo. With his dark moods, scowls, and hallway tantrums, his macho stunts and episodic schedule, Bert has survived at Gage & Griswell largely through the sufferance of Martin, who is a champion of tolerance and seems to enjoy the odd ducks like Bert. Or, for that matter, me.”

RATING:t
3 stars. I reserve 4 & 5 stars for books I highly recommend--This could be higher than 3 but not quite 4 for reasons mentioned above.

STARTED-FINISHEDt
9/10/2021 – 9/23/2021

A humdrum lawyer is asked by his partners to find out where Bert is because they believe he is responsible for 5.6 Million of a client's escrow account has disappeared to a fictitious corporation none of them have heard of. Malloy is now awake and on a roll, scheming all the slick ways to get to the bottom of it but spills some lawyer client privileges to another female lawyer he is intimately interested in. Is this a misstep for him, and will he become the star lawyer to fool them all? Turrow is really quite good at entangling a wild tale, I'm not sure is really believable. But the rid...

Yeah. This book did not thrill me. I liked the cover art. I generally like Scott Turow. I hated--let me be clear--hated the narrative voice. It seemed sloppy, tired, drafty (as in 2nd draft). While I know that this was intended to be an epistolary letters-to-no-one narration, it still didn't work for me. I have read many, many books with this premise, and, in general, I like the style. While I can't quite put my finger on exactly why it didn't work here, there is no question in my mind that it didn't work here. At least not for me, and as this is my review, that's what counts.

The plot line was OK. I suppose the biggest actual surprise was the sideline romantic interest of Bert, but I really couldn't have cared less. Waaaay too big a deal was made of his sexuality. Do intelligent, urban lawyers actually still give even half a damn about it? I have a hard time believing that they do.

I'll still read more Turow, but give this one a miss.

Turrow is an excellent writer of stories about lawyers. He is one. This is about a smart man of about 45, afflicted by alcohol, who faces a dilemma related to honor. It's a good read delving into the human condition in ways we find illuminating, but you have to pay attention. There are no courtroom scenes, but you'll find some high and mighty speeches just the same.

Mack Malloy, a junior if respected partner in a prestigious law firm discovers malpractice. Mack is a man beaten down with divorce, recovering from excessive alcohol use, with a do-nothing son who feels more or less at the end of things. He sees a glimpse of a better day, but it's distant, and then an opportunity knocks. He's a guy we like and hope for as he finds his way through to a suitable end. I became involved and enjoyed this well-written story.