Presumed Guilty

Quite simply in my opinion this is a masterpiece - one of the best legal thrillers I have read , but a book that covers so much more than a murder trial as it provides a deep and empathetic analysis of family relationships and their changing dynamics, how to deal with the sudden shock of learning your beloved partner is not quite who you thought she was, should loyalty trump telling the truth, the power of friendship and how it affects you when the relationship ends, the importance of community and family and the pros and cons of ageing perhaps not so gracefully.

In other words this is a slow burner of a book that deals with so many aspects of life today and the issues that arise whilst still providing a forensic analysis of a long and fascinating murder trial in which former prosecutor and now judge Rusty Sabich, despite all his misgivings, ends up acting as defence council to his partner's adopted son, caused of murdering his girlfriend.

You need to be patient but you will be fully rewarded as the prose is lush and well chosen and the characters well developed in all their strengths and foibles.

This sounds as if it might be the end for Rusty but maybe he will ride again and as for the author - Mr Turow is still at the top of his game.

This will be an early contender for legal thriller of the year for 2025.

A wonderful book.

That was long but worth every one of the 544 pages.

This is what you call a proper legal thriller. Whilst some people may not revel in the legal prose, I devoured it as a massive fan of this genre. With about 75% of the book covering the trial of Aaron, Rusty's de facto step-son, charged with the murder of his enigmatic on-off girlfriend Mae, this is definitely one for the purists.

The great thing about Turow's writing is how much you learn about the law and court proceedings - hearsay evidence, inadmissible evidence, leading questions - all whilst following a brilliant story. You feel educated as well as entertained.

Fantastic novel and a massive 5 stars

Presumed Innocent was one of the first ‘legal’ thrillers I remember reading (either that, or The Firm) and remains a standout for me. I’ve read a few Scott Turow novels since although not the direct sequel to that book Innocent and enjoyed them well enough. I’ve tended to read John Grisham more regularly since those breakout novels and, after the disappointment of the recent TV adaptation of the original Presumed Innocent and also the recentish sequel Grisham wrote to his own blockbuster The Firm, I was interested, if slightly wary to see how this sequel to Turow’s novel would work.
Rusty Sabich has got old – if not in exact real time, at least in a general relation to the first novel: so this is the author writing a current day piece where Sabich, now a retired judge and settled down with soon-to-be-wife Bea and her adopted early twenties son Aaron.
When Aaron, on probation for drug offences, goes missing after a camping trip with his girlfriend, things don’t look good. When he’s arrested for her murder, Rusty is forced into taking on the one role in the courtroom he hasn’t yet had to in his seventy something years. He’s been a prosecutor, an accused, a judge – now he’s going to have to take on the role of defence lawyer.
This was a long book – clocking in at well over 500 pages – and takes a leisurely approach in getting going. I don’t see that as a bad thing, merely point out this is as much character driven as it is plot.
The majority of the book takes places once the courtroom proceedings start and there isn’t too much ‘additional’ action: no secondary plots or detailed descriptions of chasing down evidence outside the trial – again, I don’t see this as a bad thing: I’d prefer an unapologetic legal thriller over an action novel with legal decoration.
It also tends to stay away from certain tropes of the accused being as difficult to deal with as the facts: Aaron here is an apparently decent kid who’s made mistakes in the past but is neither obnoxious nor ‘high maintenance’, or massive and (too often unrealistic) swings in discovery. That may make it feel a little undramatic for some, and the detailed prose necessitates quite a bit of repetition of facts throughout the case, but I enjoyed the author’s writing style and was very happy to go along with it.
While knowing next to nothing about ‘real life’ court cases, it read to me at least as authentic compared to many works of fiction – at times the statements in court were almost like transcripts (and if that means a lot of like, sentences like, that like read this way then I guess it’s how a lot of folk speak these days).
The ending may be a little too abrupt for some, and wasn’t a huge surprise to me, but again – I didn’t have a problem with that: I enjoyed the ride along the way and it even made me think I need to check out its’ predecessor to see what exactly happened between Presumed Innocent and Presumed Guilty…