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Loading... Personal Injuriesby Scott Turow
Amazon.com Amazon.com Audiobook Review (ISBN 0374281947, Hardcover)Veteran actor Ken Howard gives a solid performance narrating this exceptional legal thriller by genre master Scott Turow. Howard handles the complex plot deftly, easily relating the story of a defense attorney caught up in a sting operation targeting crooked judges. "Rumors of funny business had lingered ... in my more innocent moments I liked to discount them, believing that cronyism, not cash, explained the obvious favoritism." The story offers intriguing legal and moral ambiguities and surprising twists, but the strength of the characters is what sets this thriller apart. Howard underscores these well-evolved personalities without calling attention to himself. Turow has taken his writing to a higher level, and the sturdy narration supports his efforts admirably. (Running time: 15 hours, 9 cassettes) --George LaneyAmazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0446608602, Mass Market Paperback)Scott Turow has always pushed himself beyond the expectations of readers and critics. In Presumed Innocent (1987), he introduced fictional Kindle County and ushered in the era that spawned such mega-authors as John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, and David Baldacci. In Personal Injuries, Turow continues to innovate on legal fiction, but his achievement this time is not gained through clever plot twists (though there are several) or intense legal action (though there is much of that too). The achievement of mastery this time is via exquisitely drawn, Faulknerian characters--attorney Robbie Feaver, agent Evon Miller, U.S. Attorney Stan Sennett, and Justice Brendan Tuohey--whose lives become the driving mystery at the core of the book.The novel begins with Robbie Feaver seeking counsel from the narrator, attorney George Mason. For years, Feaver has been bribing several judges in the Common Law Claims Division to win favorable judgments. Now that U.S. Attorney Stan Sennett has uncovered Feaver's dirty little secret, he wants to use Feaver to get at the man he believes to be at the center of all the legal corruption in the metropolitan area, Brendan Tuohey, Presiding Judge of Common Law Claims and heir apparent to the Chief Justice of Kindle County Superior Court. With Mason as an advisor, Robbie assists Sennett and his team of FBI undercover agents in crafting a massive sting operation that involves an FBI-manufactured lawyer named "James McManis," a cast of fictional clients, and "Evon Miller"--a deep cover agent (and former Olympic athlete)--who poses as Robbie's paralegal and paramour.With a skill rarely found in genre fiction, Turow composes his narrative with variations on several recurring themes. The novel ripples with paranoia as the FBI enshrouds the legal community of Kindle County in a web of tapped phones, concealed cameras, and wired spies. At the center of indirection sit Robbie and Evon. The pair dance through an elegant game of erotically-charged hide and seek: Robbie the practiced liar and former actor, and Evon, the agent whose whole life must remain a fiction if she is to survive. At their best, legal thrillers leave readers confronting the core of their values and perceptions of legal and moral rectitude. Personal Injuries is the legal thriller at its very best. --Patrick O'KelleyAmazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0375408258, Audio Cassette)Read by Ken HowardNine Cassettes, 14 1/2 Hours Robbie Feaver (pronounced Favor) is a successful personal injury lawyer, with a burgeoning practice, a way with the ladies, and a beautiful wife he loves--who is dying of an irreversible illness. He also has a secret bank account where he occasionally deposits funds which make their way into the pockets of the judges who decide Robbie's cases. Robbie is apprehended, and, in exchange for leniency, agress to wear a wire tap as he continues to try to fix decisions. The FBI agent assigned to supervise him goes by the alias of Evon Miller. She is stocky, lonely, uncomfortable in her skin, and impervious to Robbie's charms. And she carries secrets of her own. As the law tightens its net, Robbie's and Evon's stories converge thrillingly and, ultimately, tragically. Turow shows us new sides to Kindle County, the world of greed and human failing he has made immortal in Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, and The Laws of Our Fathers. He also shows us enduring love and quiet, enexpected heroism. Personal Injuries is Turow's most reverberant, most moving novel--a powerful drama of individuals trying to escape their character. Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0375408215, Audio Cassette)Read by Joe MantegnaFour Cassettes, 6 Hours Robbie Feaver (pronounced Favor) is a successful personal injury lawyer, with a burgeoning practice, a way with the ladies, and a beautiful wife he loves--who is dying of an irreversible illness. He also has a secret bank account where he occasionally deposits funds which make their way into the pockets of the judges who decide Robbie's cases. Robbie is apprehended, and, in exchange for leniency, agress to wear a wire tap as he continues to try to fix decisions. The FBI agent assigned to supervise him goes by the alias of Evon Miller. She is stocky, lonely, uncomfortable in her skin, and impervious to Robbie's charms. And she carries secrets of her own. As the law tightens its net, Robbie's and Evon's stories converge thrillingly and, ultimately, tragically. Turow shows us new sides to Kindle County, the world of greed and human failing he has made immortal in Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, and The Laws of Our Fathers. He also shows us enduring love and quiet, enexpected heroism. Personal Injuries is Turow's most reverberant, most moving novel--a powerful drama of individuals trying to escape their character. (retrieved from Amazon Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:35:51 -0400) |
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