Personal Injuries

Starred review from October 4, 1999
Unlike most of his fellow lawyer-novelists, Turow has always been more interested in character than plot, and in Robbie Feaver, a lawyer on the make who ends up fighting for his life, he has created his richest and most compelling figure yet. For years, Robbie has been paying off judges and squirreling away part of the riches he earns as a highly successful trial lawyer. When the IRS happens upon the money trail, and a top prosecutor leans on him to turn state's evidence and finger some of the corrupt justices, Robbie calls on George Mason, veteran Kindle County lawyer, to represent him and win the best deal he can. A complicating element in the case is Evon Miller, Mormon-born FBI agent in deep undercover, who is assigned to watch Feaver and finds herself, against her better inclinations, drawn to him--for Feaver is a character of almost Shakespearean contradictions. A charming, brash womanizer who nevertheless shows superhuman reserves of love and patience to his dying wife at home, he is always several jumps ahead of the prosecutors, the FBI and the reader, winning sympathy, even admiration, where there should be none. This patient account is fascinatingly detailed in the ways of the law and the justice system, of how Robbie zeroes in on the biggest target of all, only to be trumped at the last moment. It is also a deeply understanding look, in its portrait of Evon, of the motives that drive a solitary woman into police work (Thomas Harris's Clarice seems shallow by comparison). There are some remarkable narrative strategies--Turow deftly alternates a first-person and omniscient-author point of view, for example--but readers will not be concerned with technical details, only with the rare revelation of a paradoxical personality so compelling he makes the very adroit plot almost superfluous. 750,000 first printing; $500,000 ad/promo; first serial to Playboy; BOMC main selection; QPB selection; 9-city author tour; paperback rights to Warner; simultaneous Random House audio.

August 1, 1999
Returning once again to Kindle County, Turow (The Laws of Our Fathers) offers his fifth meticulously plotted volume of contemporary legal intrigue. U.S. Attorney Stan Sennett has set his sights on a powerful group of corrupt judges, vowing to prosecute them at any cost. With the help of the FBI, he devises a set of legal traps designed to produce the evidence he needs to convict. The centerpiece of this subversion is Robbie Feaver, a Kindle County personal injury lawyer nabbed for tax evasion by Sennett. Turow constructs a maelstrom of dramatic confrontations abetted by the latest technology at the FBI's disposal and also manages to follow the disintegration of Feaver's personal life with a sympathetic eye. Densely packed and tightly constructed, this tangle of human relationships and legal machinations will have Turow fans burning the midnight oil. Recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/99.]--Nancy McNicol, Hagaman Memorial Lib., East Haven, CT

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 1999
In his latest effort, Turow, known for his suspenseful courtroom dramas, such as "Presumed Innocent" (1987) and "Burden of Proof" (1990), is a little off his game. Kindle County Superior Court is rumored to be corrupt until personal-injury lawyer Robbie Feaver gets caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar by U.S. Attorney Stan Sennett. In exchange for a reduced sentence, assurance his law partner will not be prosecuted, and extra time to care for his dying wife, Robbie agrees to help expose the corruption that leads all the way up the legal ladder to Chief Judge Brendan Tuohey, who just happens to be uncle to Robbie's law partner. What follows are elaborate plans to secure evidence against judges, lawyers, and bagmen. To that end, Sennett brings in the FBI, and undercover agent Evon Miller poses as Robbie's paralegal to keep tabs on him. What is set up as a possible situational romance never makes it past lukewarm friendship due to Evon's sexual identity crisis. And that leads to the basic flaw with this novel--there isn't a main character really worthy of empathy, though Turow comes closest with Robbie. Stan Sennett's quest for justice crosses over the line from passion to egotistical self-righteousness, Evon's identity crisis is distracting, and Robbie, though likable, isn't very credible as a cocky, lying, cheating, womanizing lawyer who is also supposedly so devoted to his dying wife, sick mother, and clueless law partner that he risks his life to help bring down Tuohey. Turow has a great command of plot and suspense, and the ending makes the read worthwhile; however, it is the lack of strong, believable characters that keeps this novel from being great. ((Reviewed July 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)