Title: Presumed Innocent Author: Scott Turow
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987
Genre/Pages: Fiction/431 pages
Source: library
Grade: B+
The sequel to this book, The Innocent has been recently released, and I really want to read it. But, I needed to reread Presumed Innocent because it has been over 20 years since my first read. I loved it the first time, but this time around I just enjoyed it.
Living in a Midwestern city, Rusty Sabich, Kindle County's chief deputy attorney, is approaching middle age, with a marriage and career stagnating until he begins a torrid affair with an ambitious and unscrupulous colleague, Carolyn Polhemus. However, after 4 months she breaks off with Rusty and he is devastated. She was using him as a stepping stone to achieve her goal of becoming Prosecuting Attorney. Only 6 months after the breakup, Carolyn has been found murdered, and Rusty has been put on the case. He doesn't tell his boss, Raymond Horgan, of his affair with Carolyn. Horgan is in the final days of his political campaign to remain Prosecuting Attorney, which he is clearly losing. He needs Rusty to find the killer quickly. Then, just when Horgan loses the election, incredibly, Rusty is accused of Carolyn's murder. The courtroom and the interacions between all the players are magnificent. I really enjoyed how Turow represented the two sides without prejudice, and he constantly kept me guessing who were the "bad guys".
I can imagine that any book that relies on plot surprises as much as this book does wouldn't quite hold up to as powerful a second reading. This was one of my dh's favorite books back in college!
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