Presumed Innocent (1987)

Presumed Innocent is quite an exceptional book, whilst the opening quarter outside of the courtroom where circumstances of the crime and the political atmosphere is set up is quite slow it becomes apparent as the story unfolds in the latter three quarters that the first quarter's detail and fleshing out of each character was very much needed.

Whilst there are the inevitable comparisons between John Grisham and Scott Turow as legal thriller writers with a specific focus on the courtroom drama aspect, I can't help but feel Turow's characters are more detailed. Most characters in this story are not just the straightforward type one finds in Grisham's books that are usually Good or Bad, Ethical or Unethical, but rather there's a realistic cloud of flaws that becomes apparent as the story develops with motivations for their actions varying.

I especially like the courtroom drama that reaches a peak around the three quarter mark at which point the book has gone from rather detail oriented to interesting to gripping such that one wishes to plough through and finish the story immediately to see where things go.

And boy do they go, there's a few twists and developments which you don't see coming that make it all the more interesting, and give new light to the first quarter where things seemed so obvious and straightforward.

A very enjoyable legal thriller. ( )

Slogged halfway through then abandoned. Too crude and vulgar for my taste. Story must have been buried underneath gratuitousness but it never caught fire for me. ( )

3.5 stars ( )

Starts slow and it develops. The ending is great.
#5 of the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time by Mystery Writers of America ( )

I recently re-read this, and it's still wonderful. The writing is sharp and brooding, and the plotting is superb. ( )