Book Review - Innocent by Scott Turow

Synopsis:  In 2008, 22 years after the events of the earlier book, former lawyer Rusty Sabich, now a Kindle County, Ill., chief appellate judge, is again suspected of murdering a woman close to him. His wife, Barbara, has died in her bed of what appear to be natural causes, yet Rusty comes under scrutiny from his old nemesis, acting prosecuting attorney Tommy Molto, who unsuccessfully prosecuted him for killing his mistress decades earlier. Tommy's chief deputy, Jim Brand, is suspicious because Rusty chose to keep Barbara's death a secret, even from their son, Nat, for almost an entire day, which could have allowed traces of poison to disappear. Rusty's candidacy for a higher court in an imminent election; his recent clandestine affair with his attractive law clerk, Anna Vostic; and a breach of judicial ethics complicate matters further.

First Line:  "A man is sitting on a bed."

Random Quote:  "Brand was right.  They had a job to do.  But it was a peril.  The joke was thinking you were ever really in charge of your life.  You pressed your oar down into the water to direct the canoe, but it was the current that shot you through the rapids.  You just hung on and hoped not to hit a rock or a whirlpool."

Review:  The beauty of Presumed Innocent for me wasn't so much in the unexpected denouement (although that was wonderful), but rather in Turow's ability to make me read page after page about characters I didn't really like. Rusty Sabitch and his philandering ways just doesn't rank high on my list of literary characters I feel sorry for - he so patently got himself into a bad situation and yet still rises above it, the ever-golden boy riding the flames to success. The best character in Presumed Innocent is Sandy Stern in all his cutthroat elegance. Still I read it and enjoyed it and have read everything Turow has written since and have enjoyed them, too, so I was excited to read the latest, Innocent, a many years later sequel to the book that made Turow's career.

Courtroom - Image by srqpix via FlickIn the new book everyone has aged and moved along in their careers. Rusty is turning 60, a judge, still married to Barbara. Their son, Nat, is finishing law school and Tommy Molto is Acting Prosecuting Attorney, but married now with a new baby. Time has touched everyone, the author included, except perhaps for Rusty Sabitch who still seems to stroll through his life receiving accolades as his due. The tragedy of Rusty is, of course, that his impulses have led him to a life of surface achievement and deep unhappiness in the places it matters - love and family connections. Reaching out one more time for love in all the wrong places, Rusty sets into motion a chain of events that will haunt his family forever, much as the ghost of the first book haunts every page of this one.

This is not an edge-of-your-seat page turner. It's more a measured consideration of the choices people make and make again, even when they know the results will be deadly. Turow elegantly captures the intricate melancholy of regret, of second guessing, of coming to the end of the line. He is always thoughtful, always engaging, always worth the time.

FTC Disclosure:  San Leandro Public Library

Rating:  Purple

Reading Challenges:  RIP V