Presumed Innocent [Paperback]

Scott Turow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

Now available in trade paperback, "Presumed Innocent" brings to life our worst nightmare: that of an ordinary citizen facing conviction for the most terrible of crimes. Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is transformed from accuser to accused when he is handed an explosive case--that of the brutal murder of a woman who happens to be his former lover.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chicago defense attorney Turow, formerly a U.S. prosecutor, capitalizes on his intimate knowledge of the courtroom in an impressive first novel that matches Anatomy of a Murder in its intensity and verisimilitude. With the calculating genius of a good lawyer (and writer), Turow, author of the nonfiction One L, draws the reader into a grittily realistic portrait of big city political corruption that climaxes with a dramatic murder trial in which every dark twist of legal statute and human nature is convincingly revealed. The novel's present tense puts the reader firmly in the mind of narrator Rusty Sabich, a married prosecuting attorney whose affair with a colleague comes back to haunt him after she is brutally raped and murdered. Sabich's professional and personal lives begin to mingle painfully when he becomes the accused. His is a gripping and provocative dilemma: "Sitting in court, I actually forget who is on trial at certain moments. . . . And once we get back to the office, I can be a lawyer again, attacking the books, making notes and memos." Turow's ability to forge the reader's identification with the protagonist, his insightful characterizations of Sabich's legal colleagues and the overwhelming sense he conveys of being present in the courtroom are his most brilliant and satisfying contributions to what may become a literary crime classic. 125,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; movie rights to Sidney Pollack; Literary Guild dual selection; author tour.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A grabber to the end… a mystery, a law-courtroom drama, a suspense story and more." —Cincinnati Post

 

"Replac[es] the usual array of cardboard motives with full-blooded, complex passions." —Newsweek

 

"This one will keep you up at nights, engrossed and charged with adrenaline." —People

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446676446
• ISBN-13: 978-0446676441
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.2 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (414 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Turow was born in Chicago in 1949. He graduated with high honors from Amherst College in 1970, receiving a fellowship to Stanford University Creative Writing Center which he attended from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1975 Turow taught creative writing at Stanford. In 1975, he entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors in 1978. From 1978 to 1986, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, serving as lead prosecutor in several high-visibility federal trials investigating corruption in the Illinois judiciary. In 1995, in a major pro bono legal effort he won a reversal in the murder conviction of a man who had spent 11 years in prison, many of them on death row, for a crime another man confessed to.

Today, he is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal an international law firm, where his practice centers on white-collar criminal litigation and involves representation of individuals and companies in all phases of criminal matters. Turow lives outside Chicago

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

251 of 263 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "I'm consumed by longing and regret." May 4, 2010

By E. Bukowsky HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Back in 1987, Scott Turow's "Presumed Innocent" created a sensation. It had all of the elements that fans of legal thrillers adore: murder, adultery, courtroom pyrotechnics, and a final twist that knocked everyone's socks off. In "Innocent," it is 2007 when Turow rejoins Rusty Sabich, who is now sixty years old and has risen to become Chief Judge of the Third District Appellate Court in Kindle County. He is hoping to run for the State Supreme Court in the near future. Unfortunately, his personal life has been far less successful than his career.

Turow keeps us off balance by going back and forth in time, changing points of view, and withholding key bits of information so that he can spring a few surprises in the final chapters. "Innocent" is an intense story of how people nurse deep-seated resentments that fester for years and do inestimable damage; of family members who are afraid to tell one another the truth; of infidelity and betrayal; and ultimately, of love and redemption. Turow's courtroom scenes are mesmerizing, and he makes the complex proceedings accessible and fascinating, even for those who know little about criminal procedure.

One quibble is that Rusty's behavior does not always ring true. He is supposedly an intelligent and self-disciplined individual who has learned something from his past mistakes, but his actions in this novel are too naďve, foolish, and self-destructive to be believed. In addition, there is a bit of contrivance in the way the author sews up the threads of his narrative. Still, Turow knows how to grab our attention and hold it, and he maintains a high level of suspense throughout this intricate tale.... The sharply written and sometimes earthy dialogue as well as Turow's entertaining and often dryly humorous prose keep things moving along quickly. "Innocent," as its predecessor did more than two decades ago, demonstrates how difficult it is to mete out perfect justice in an imperfect world where so many people lie to themselves and others. Read more ›

118 of 130 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Twenty five Years Later May 8, 2010

By Mystery Addict

Format:Hardcover

Its been almost 25 years since the ending of Presumed Innocent made it one of my ten best reads, a feeling reinforced by the Harrison Ford movie. A lot has changed in that time. I for one am now in my early 50's a and the main character Rusty has just turned 60. My view of life has changed dramatically while Rusty's world not so much. The familiarity of the continuing characters including Molto & Stern gave a comfortable ease back into the plot and new characters Nathan & Anna have depth and color. I would have liked to see more of Rustys wife though. Turow's use of a changing timeline and variable character viewpoints tended to be confusing and a cleaner way of telling the story might have helped. The story evolves into part Grishamess coutroom drama, part Law & Order, part Lifetime and part social commentary on family life in America. I am not sure in which of the genres (if any)the author was trying to write but he fails to stand out in any. That being said, I am still thankfull to Turow for the sequel and all in all an OK read.

99 of 109 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars innocent, scott turow May 4, 2010

By Alla S. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In "Innocent," Scott Turow presents a sequel to his 1987 debut novel, "Presumed Innocent." Judge Rusty Sabich is accused of murder once again--but this time it is of his wife Barbara. The story is mostly told in flashbacks, from Spring 2007 when Barbara was still alive, to Fall 2008 when she mysteriously passes and Spring 2009 when court proceedings are well underway.

In Spring 2007, Judge Rusty Sabich is a happily married man, who sympathizes with his bipolar wife Barbara and shy, law-school graduate son Nat. His world is turned upside down after he starts an extra-marital affair with his former law-clerk, Anna, who is young enough to be his daughter. Complicating matters is that Judge Sabich's election to the Supreme State Court is coming up, and news of his affair can cost him not only his wife, but his career.

Fast forward a year, and Anna has broken up with Judge Rusty Sabich. Instead, she starts dating his love-struck son Nat---but is terrified of word slipping out about her past relationship with his father.

And then the unthinkable happens--Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his wife Barbara when he doesn't react properly to her failure to get up. Instead of calling medical services, he spends twenty-four hours at her bedside in a trance-like state. By the time Barbara is finally seen, she's no longer alive. By this time, even his son Nat has trouble figuring out if Rusty is guilty or not.

Meanwhile Rusty's old nemesis from "Presumed Innocent," acting prosecuting attorney Tommy Molto, assisted by his fiery chief deputy Jim Brand, sees his chance to finally get back at Rusty by gathering enough evidence against him to bring the case to trial. A legal-thriller type court battle ensues, and takes up much of the book....

This is my first Turow book, but I thought it was a solid plot. I like court-type legal thrillers that focus on the drama of trial and strong characters. This book fits this category. We get a detailed set-up, with each chapter being told from the point of view of different characters, and their various secrets. Read more ›

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The case of Kindle County vs. Rusty Sabich November 24, 2002

By Lawrance M. Bernabo HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I still pick up my battered paperback copy of "Presumed Innocent" from time to time and reread my favorite scenes, which probably speaks to the worth of Scott Turow's novel as much as anything. But ultimately I think the strength of this novel is that it works well on both parts of the law & order equation, that is to say, both in the courtroom in terms of the legal drama as well as outside where the detective elements come into play. At heart "Presumed Innocent" is a basic horror story, about a man who may be convicted for a crime he did not do. However, the twist here is that we are not sure if we believe our narrator, Rusty Sabich, once the fair-haired chief deputy prosecutor in the Kindle County D.A.'s office.

Rusty Sabich's boss, Raymond Horgan, is in a dogfight for the election with Nico Della Guardia, a former lieutenant. When one of their colleagues, Carolyn Polhemus, is found brutally murdered, Horgan gives Sabich the job. What Horgan does not know is that Sabich and Polhemus had been involved in an affair, which ended badly. Only Sabich's wife, Barbara, knows about the affair, and she has as much trouble dealing with her husband's obsession over the dead woman as she did with the affair. Sabich begins the investigation but there are no suspects, no leads, and no hope of finding the killer. But when Horgan loses the election, Sabich is stunned to find himself the new administrations one and only suspect for the Polhemus murder.

The fact that Sabich was a prosecutor becomes a key part of the legal dilemma in which our narrator finds himself.... On the one hand he can piece together the prosecution's case based, but on the other hand Sabich is well aware of how what he does in defending himself can add to his legal problems, especially since without proof of the affair the prosecution is lacking a motive to tie the circumstantial evidence together. This last bit is crucial to the novel's dynamic because we have our own reasonable doubt about Sabich's innocent. Even if we do not know that Agatha Christie had a first-person narrator be the murderer in one of her classic mystery novels, we have to entertain doubts about Sabich: his finger print is found on a glass in the apartment, there was a phone call from his house to Polhemus that night, etc. Sabich has reasonable explanations, but there are too many of them for us not to think that something is wrong here.

Sabich, along with his friend Detective Lipranzer, is pursuing some ideas as to who would want to murder Polhemus and frame him for the crime. But in the courtroom it is defense attorney Sandy Stern who carries the legal burden of Sabich's defense; provided he can get his client to stop acting like an attorney during the trial. But then the presiding judge, Larren Lyttle, is perfectly willing to give Sabich every courtesy. Lyttle is a defendant's judge, who is most insistent that jurors in his courtroom presume the innocence of defendants. That is the good news. The bad news is that Sabich learns Lyttle might be deeply involved in his alternative theory of the case. In other words, the judge is a potential loose cannon.

For me the strength of "Presumed Innocent" remains what happens in the courtroom. Stern's cross-examination of the coroner, "Painless" Kumagai is a wonderful set piece. It is the sort of scene that makes you realize how few novels set in courtroom ever manage to come up with really first-rate scenes. But what makes this novel so compelling is how well it keeps us guessing as to not only whether or not Sabich did the murder, but also whether or not he will be convicted of the crime. Even when one of those questions is resolved, the other remains unresolved until the final chapters of the book.

Scott Turow has not written a novel as good as "Presumed Innocent," and it seems unlikely he ever will. This is not because of his lack of talent (certainly he has not flooded the market with his novels unlike Grisham), but simply because he may have committed the unpardonable sin of writing his greatest book first (as Richard Adams did with "Watership Down"). I could live with such a curse. Read more ›