A Book Review: Innocent by Scott Turow

Scott Turow's Innocent. This is a sequel to his breakout hit Presumed Innocent. Rusty Sabich is now a judge. Not bad for someone who was tried for murder. He wakes up and finds his wife next to him, dead. It is assumed that she died from heart failure. Over in the District Attorney’s office, there is some suspicion about her death. The chief deputy, Jim Brand, isn’t convinced and he starts to dig. His boss is Tommy Molto who tried Rusty previously and he is a bit hesitant – of course. But Jim digs up enough circumstantial evidence that Tommy has to proceed. And so once again Rusty is tried for murder.

After finishing the book, I read some reviews over at the New York Times. Now I read Presumed Innocent years ago so my memory of the details is very faint and I totally forgot the fact that Barbara Sabich played a “diabolical role” in her husband’s trial. The point of the New York Times being that there must be a leap of faith when reading this book. Of course, if like me you barely remember much about the first book other than the fact that it was a fun book to read, such a necessary leap of faith will never even cross your mind.

The twists and turns kept me riveted. In fact, I spent most of a weekend finishing up the book – something I seldom do now a days. I tried my best to think of possible outcomes: maybe Rusty did kill his wife, maybe someone is trying to set him up for the murder, etc etc? It was great fun; however . . .

I initially thought the conclusion to the book was awesome. You do get the final answer, but now that I’m writing this review, I’m thinking: a certain person failed to act properly. Anyways, I guess I shouldn’t give away the ending and ten years from now I might totally forget why I just wrote that statement, but at this moment right now, I’m not sure the book is as well thought out as it should have been.

So yes, a fun book to read.  It'll have you turning the pages, but in the end I think there is a flaw.  Of course, perhaps that is a mystery that Scott Turow wanted folks to uncover on their own.