Pleading Guilty (Mass Market Paperback)

by Scott Turow (Author) "The Management Oversight Committee of our firm, known among the partnership simply as "the Committee," meets each Monday at 3:00 p.m..." (more)
Key Phrases: settlement fund, firm income, signature form, Kam Roberts, Pico Luan, Jake Eiger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Murder, embezzlement, bookmaking, offshore banking, and the politics of a high-powered law firm supply varying shades of corruption as Turow ( Presumed Innocent ; The Burden of Proof ) returns to Kindle County in this wise, surefooted legal thriller. World-weary attorney Mack Malloy, 50-ish ex-cop and recovering alcoholic, is the protagonist and narrator. Despite humiliating annual pay cuts, Mack plods on at Gage & Griswell, nearing the end of his usefulness. When another partner in the firm disappears, along with several million dollars, Mack is assigned the difficult and potentially dangerous job of discreetly discovering his whereabouts. During a one-month time span, Mack dictates his account onto six tapes corresponding to the book's chapters. It is an engaging, street-wise narrative full of plain talk and homespun philosophy, as well as a candid account of the behind-the-scenes workings of a powerful law firm. Though every element of the novel is polished and professional, the charisma of Mack's narration is its triumph. Add that to a taut, twist-filled plot, expert pacing, colorful and well-rendered supporting characters, and an appealing whiff of larceny, and Turow surpasses Grisham hands down. 875,000 first printing; Franklin Library First Edition; BOMC and QPB main selection; paperback to Warner; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
Instead of cranking out clones of Presumed Innocent, Turow has preferred to take chances - first with The Burden of Proof, which dispensed with his whodunit plot, and now, even more radically, with a foulmouthed, alcoholic lawyer's account of his search for one of his missing partners - and the $5.6 million that vanished with him. If it weren't for the money - redirected from mega-client TransNational Air's accident settlement escrow to a nonexistent firm called Litiplex - nobody at Gage & Griswell would likely notice that their erratic star litigator Bert Kamin hadn't been in lately. As it is, the Management Oversight Committee - ageless Martin Gold, dried-up Wash Thale, and contrary Carl Pagnucci - is so fearful of scaring off TransNational that they press their fading ex-cop partner Mack McCormack, and not the police, into looking for Bert. Mack soon ties Bert in to a false credit card, a secret affair, a scheme to shave points off college basketball games, and a rapidly cooling corpse. As he doubles back to Gage & Griswell to follow Bert's trail, Mack runs afoul of Det. Gino (Pigeyes) Dimonte, the crooked cop his testimony once brought down, and has to enlist the unlikely help of ancient, deeply dishonest attorney Toots Nuccio to stay one jump ahead of his colleagues. Why? Because once Bert and the money have surfaced, separately, the most original phase of Turow's plot has just begun, as Mack struggles to figure out what to do with the cash, his increasingly divided loyalties, and the question of guilt while wandering among a knot of free-lance legal conspirators who change their allegiances more often than their underwear. In switching from Rusty Sabich and Sandy Stern to hard-bitten Mack Malloy, Turow's entering a much more crowded field, and neither Mack nor the byzantine plot he stumbles on is clearly superior to the competition from Grif Stockley, John T. Lescroart, or Clifford Irving. But his legion of fans surely won't miss the chance to see Turow as they've never seen him before. (Kirkus Reviews) --Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Vision; First Edition edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446365505
• ISBN-13: 978-0446365505
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #405,736 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great legal thriller that also makes you laugh!, January 29, 2000

By	Brian Reynolds (Hunt Valley, Maryland) - See all my reviews

An extremely well crafted legal drama/mystery. Turow has always developed his characters superbly, and his study of narrator Mack Malloy is masterful. Malloy is a deep and believable character, and his personality gives Turow even better opportunities than usual to exercise his wit--how often does a page turner legal thriller also have you rolling with laughter on several occasions? I highly recommend this book, and I second the notion that this is the perfect place to start if you're wondering if Scott Turow is for you.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Turow's bests......Read this one first, July 11, 1999

By	Kevin Waguespack (Houston) - See all my reviews

It's been several years since I've read this book, but I highly recommnend it. After reading a couple of the poor reviews (from the looks of the reviews, you either love it or hate it), I felt I had to throw in my two cents. This book is different than Turow's other loosely-connected trilogy and certainly one of the best. It's written in that first person, detective-type cadence that keeps the pages turning fast. If you're new to Turow, read Presumed Innocent and this one, the others are a notch below.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bitter, funny "legal mystery", February 23, 2000

By A Customer

I read and enjoyed the first two Turow novels (let's ignore 1L or whatever that law school book he wrote is called), but they are normal legal thrillers, although much more substantial than anything by Grisham (whom I also enjoy). But this book was a surprise and a delight to me. It's an hilarious dark comedy that has a nifty little whodunnit as a spine. If you are looking for a normal "hero comes through" book, this isn't it. But it is an acutely observed, bleak comedy of manners with what I found to be a very logical, but satisfactory, ending.