Misstänkt (1987)

Book on CD performed by Edward Herrmann

From the book jacket: Rusty Sabich, Kindle County’s longtime chief deputy prosecutor, has been asked to investigate the rape and murder of one of his colleagues. Carolyn Polhemus was strong, sensuous, and magnetic; she was also clearly ambitious and quite possibly unscrupulous. Her murder has been an embarrassment to Rusty’s boss, Raymond Horgan, who is facing a serious challenge in the upcoming election and who looks to Rusty for a fast solution to the case that will help save him politically. What Horgan doesn’t know is that, only a few months before she was murdered, Carolyn Polhemus and Rusty Sabich were lovers.

My reactions
This is book # 1 in the Kindle County Legal Thriller series. It’s a fast-paced story with several twists and turns and lots of political and personal intrigue to keep the reader guessing and turning pages. I don’t go to many movies, but I did see this one, starring Harrison Ford as Rusty. So, I knew where things were headed going into the novel. Still, Turow’s tight writing gave me the sense of suspense and intrigue and impending doom that I expect from a mystery/thriller like this. final reveal is a bit of a stunner.

Edward Hermann did a marvelous job of narrating the audio. He set a good pace and kept the story moving. ( )

This is a wonderful recording. So sad that it was abridged. ( )

An eminent prosecutor, Rusty is tasked with finding out who murdered a woman who was also on the District Attorney's staff --who also happened to be Rusty's former lover. As time passes and things don't add up to find the killer, Rusty himself is arrested for the murder. With satisfying twists and turns, Turow heightens the suspense by drawing complex characters and introducing plenty of red herrings to keep readers guessing all along. ( )

At times I was drowning in detail, but the overall story line was good...plus the surprise ending? WOW! Definitely recommend for older teens and adult readers due to language and content. ( )

Presumed Innocent is quite an exceptional book, whilst the opening quarter outside of the courtroom where circumstances of the crime and the political atmosphere is set up is quite slow it becomes apparent as the story unfolds in the latter three quarters that the first quarter's detail and fleshing out of each character was very much needed.

Whilst there are the inevitable comparisons between John Grisham and Scott Turow as legal thriller writers with a specific focus on the courtroom drama aspect, I can't help but feel Turow's characters are more detailed. Most characters in this story are not just the straightforward type one finds in Grisham's books that are usually Good or Bad, Ethical or Unethical, but rather there's a realistic cloud of flaws that becomes apparent as the story develops with motivations for their actions varying.

I especially like the courtroom drama that reaches a peak around the three quarter mark at which point the book has gone from rather detail oriented to interesting to gripping such that one wishes to plough through and finish the story immediately to see where things go.

And boy do they go, there's a few twists and developments which you don't see coming that make it all the more interesting, and give new light to the first quarter where things seemed so obvious and straightforward.

A very enjoyable legal thriller. ( )