The Burden of Proof

2.75 maybe. It could have plea bargained up to 3 stars but took its chances with my reaction. Had I not read Turow's Personal Injuries just before it, my expectations would have been lower. I found it difficult to like anyone in this book. Sandy Stern was close to likable some of the time. Maybe Marta was likable.

There's no law requiring characters to be likable, of course, but that's just the problem. If we stick to the law it's all just about justice. And about who is good and who is less good and who gets what they deserve. I deserved better.

The sex seemed like a mechanical attempt to humanize the characters and to give them some depth. It didn't.

Killing off Dixon in the end and marrying off Sandy read as an attempt to parcel out show more some justice in a way that allows us to know the story in now over. If it weren't for Person Injuries, I'd give up on Turow. Instead I will risk another. show less

Digital audiobook narrated by John Bedford Lloyd
3.5***

After the international success of Presumed Innocent Turow turns his attention to the defense attorney in that first effort and centers the action on Alejandro “Sandy” Stern. It opens with a shock – on returning from a business trip, Sandy discovers his beloved wife dead in their car in the garage, an apparent suicide. As he struggles to deal with this loss, he turns to his adult children, and becomes enmeshed in their problems as well as those of his brother-in-law.

This is a complicated legal mess, involving securities / commodities trading, that frankly lost me in its complexity. But I really loved how Turow wrote Sandy and his relationships with these various characters. show more Sandy struggles between his professional demeanor and responsibilities, and his personal relationships. It’s a messy situation (or three), and I sometimes struggled to keep things straight.

This is really more character-driven than most legal thrillers. But the plot complexities, however puzzling to me, were also what kept me interested and engaged and wondering and guessing right to the end … which is a stunner.

John Bedford Lloyd does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. He maintains a good pace and I really liked the way he interpreted Sandy. show less

I expected more thrill than I got from this second entry in Turow’s Kindle County Legal Thriller series. The first book, Presumed Innocent, was full of suspense. This one, not so much. The material was there - a questionable suicide, the disappearance of a near million dollar estate, unethical securities trading, some seriously dysfunctional family dynamics – but the overdone philosophical musings really bogged things down. It did keep me interested enough to finish but not enough that I want to pick up the next book.

This is my second book by Scott Turow, and I am beginning to see that his writing style is unique, at least to me. His stories seem to be more about people's relationships and emotions rather than the mysteries of the story. But he also seems to be good with plot twists, and this one had me guessing all the way - guessing wrong, in most cases.

Not one to throw around star ratings, I found myself completely engrossed in this account of the life of Lawyer Alejandro Stern, a fictional gentlemen who encounters events beyond his comprehension in his extended family. Thorough, intelligent, and even handed, he is forced to apply all his legal skills and principles to resolving the complex issues involving his family after an apparent suicide of his long time wife, whose mysterious affairs begun to unfold. While grieving for the loss of the only woman he has ever loved, he finds himself aroused as new romantic situations present themselves amidst the chaos of facing the trauma of his new situation where new surprises unfold before him.

A fantastic book, probably my favorite of Turow's. This is one of the first books I remember in the "legal" genre, and it's a solid, enjoyable read.

Turow has upped his game since the first book in the series. This has a more standard structure. Two mysteries, one professional and one personal, that tie together in the end. Legal and finance mixed together gives the setting some spice.