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18th out of 3,394 books
—
7,820 voters
Presumed Innocent (Kindle County Legal Thriller #1)
by
Scott Turow
Scott Turow's #1 runaway bestseller comes to theaters everywhere as a major motion picture from Warner Bros., starring Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, and Bonnie Bedelia, directed by Alan Pakula, best known for his award-winning work in "Klute".
Paperback, 421 pages
Published
April 5th 2010
by Warner Books Inc
(first published December 31st 1986)
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3 ½ stars. Some parts very good, I was eager to know what would happen. Other parts average.
STORY BRIEF:
Married prosecutor Rusty is accused of murdering his former lover. The first third of the book is what happens prior to the indictment. The last two-thirds is primarily the trial. It’s told in first person by Rusty.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This did not have the typical bad guy killer. I liked the unusual plot and motivations. I saw the movie several years ago and I remembered who did it, which was t...more
STORY BRIEF:
Married prosecutor Rusty is accused of murdering his former lover. The first third of the book is what happens prior to the indictment. The last two-thirds is primarily the trial. It’s told in first person by Rusty.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This did not have the typical bad guy killer. I liked the unusual plot and motivations. I saw the movie several years ago and I remembered who did it, which was t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
4 likes · like · see review
Voted #5 of 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of America (www.mysterywriters.org) and see also World Magazine January 12/19, 2008, pg. 27).
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Found this at a used book sale for $1. Remembered that it was brilliant and I wanted to read it again with the murderer in mind, but that I had a severe caution on it. Decided to buy and read it once more and then sell it.
However, living in Rusty Sabich's head was so smutty and disgusting and icky that I just couldn't...more
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Found this at a used book sale for $1. Remembered that it was brilliant and I wanted to read it again with the murderer in mind, but that I had a severe caution on it. Decided to buy and read it once more and then sell it.
However, living in Rusty Sabich's head was so smutty and disgusting and icky that I just couldn't...more
1 like · like · see review
As a disclaimer, I should start with the fact that I don't generally go in for the mystery/thriller genre. This is a competently executed procedural with the typical caveat that the author sometimes seems a bit too intent on showing off all of his careful research on the topic. The plot has several twists, some far less predictable than others, but almost all of them rely on withholding information from the audience instead of putting previously available information together in a new way. Not m...more
Audiobook Version:
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting too old for certain things or I just need to stop reading legal mysteries (this is no thriller)- taking busman's holidays. I hated this book. So much so that I stopped listening to it long before it ended. When an author needs to use unnecessary shock and awe to the point of overkill in order to beef up a mundane story line, to me it says that the story telling skills are lacking. It was bad enough I had to have a blow by blow description of...more
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting too old for certain things or I just need to stop reading legal mysteries (this is no thriller)- taking busman's holidays. I hated this book. So much so that I stopped listening to it long before it ended. When an author needs to use unnecessary shock and awe to the point of overkill in order to beef up a mundane story line, to me it says that the story telling skills are lacking. It was bad enough I had to have a blow by blow description of...more
Ah, the beach... the worst place to run out of things to read. Fortunately there are still books left behind in hostels and B&B and most are beach reads. I bumped into this novel published in 1987. I knew there was a movie starring Harrison Ford, but I thought I'd give the novel a go.
It is always strange to go back and read not a classic per se, but a book that was meant to be contemporary in its time and fall back into life before technology. The end of the 80's, some computers, no wireless...more
It is always strange to go back and read not a classic per se, but a book that was meant to be contemporary in its time and fall back into life before technology. The end of the 80's, some computers, no wireless...more
1 like · like · see review
Presumed Innocent was one of my favorite books and the movie with Harrison Ford, also very good. So eagerly I began Scott Turow’s sequel, Innocent. It won't make my favorite book list.
Its 25 years later and attorney Rusty is still with his wife (if you didn’t read the first book I won’t say why I’m saying - really???? – that’s a stretch and as this story continues the stretch gets tighter and tighter.) Rusty just turned 60 with a party and all. And shortly after we read he still can’t keep his p...more
Its 25 years later and attorney Rusty is still with his wife (if you didn’t read the first book I won’t say why I’m saying - really???? – that’s a stretch and as this story continues the stretch gets tighter and tighter.) Rusty just turned 60 with a party and all. And shortly after we read he still can’t keep his p...more
Oct 16, 2011
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
I ultimately found this book disappointing given the high expectations I started with. Blurbs trumpeted this book as a "literary" novel of the kind "that transcend their genre" and claimed Turow was comparable to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Certainly the prose was stronger than what I expect from a popular thriller. It's told first person present tense and it often reads lyrically, with touches of an elegiacal tone. Our narrator is Chief Deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich. As the novel be...more
A renowned attorney in the DA's office is having an affair with a sex crimes attorney. When she turns up dead and it looks like rape, he is pinned as the murderer. The majority of the book takes place in the courtroom but it is by no means dull. You'll never guess who was the real killer!
At first, the book starts out as brash, crude and offensive at times because of the 'cop talk' banter. It was too explicit for my tastes and I nearly put the book down for good. I am glad I hung in there becaus...more
At first, the book starts out as brash, crude and offensive at times because of the 'cop talk' banter. It was too explicit for my tastes and I nearly put the book down for good. I am glad I hung in there becaus...more
There are times when I read a paragraph again, not because I didn’t understand it but because the author uses language so beautifully. Scott Turow obviously delights in the use of the English language. Such delight would be wasted if he didn’t also come up aces in the plot and character department. He captured my attention from the start although not so much with the plot, at first, as with his acerbic descriptions of the characters. By the time I needed to figure out who did what, I knew who wa...more
I first read Presumed Innocent almost fifteen years ago. I'd been thinking of going to law school and Presumed Innocent is on the list of books that many law schools send you the summer before you begin studying. I remember thinking that the book spent more time on legal technicalities than the other thrillers that I'd read. Reading Presumed Innocent with an eye to joining the profession gave it a certain air as well.
Now after years as an entirely different sort of lawyer, the detective work, le...more
Now after years as an entirely different sort of lawyer, the detective work, le...more
Kindle County's chief deputy prosecutor, Rusty Sabich, has an impeccable reputation. He tries his best to be a good father to his son, Nathaniel, and a loving husband to his wife, Barbara. However, Carolyn Polhemus, a fellow attorney, changes all of that. Carolyn has been brutally murdered - and the timing couldn't be worse, just days before Rusty's boss, Raymond Horgan's last re-election campaign. Horgan, busy with his campaign, asks that Rusty head-up the murder investigation. What Horgan does...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Jan 26, 2012
Valerie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who enjoys legal thrillers, courtroom dramas, and psychological thrillers
A fantastic legal & psychological thriller filled with courtroom drama, politics, and mystery - all woven around the horror of a man being accused and tried for a crime he did not commit.
The narrator and protagonist, Rusty Sabich, is accused of murdering his co-worker and ex-lover, Carolyn Polhemus. Sabich is an emotionally fragile man, and bordering on obsessed.
One of the things that makes this book so compelling is that Turow masterfully twists the plot and keeps the readers guessing for...more
The narrator and protagonist, Rusty Sabich, is accused of murdering his co-worker and ex-lover, Carolyn Polhemus. Sabich is an emotionally fragile man, and bordering on obsessed.
One of the things that makes this book so compelling is that Turow masterfully twists the plot and keeps the readers guessing for...more
Do you feel a sense of indignation when a fictional character, innocent though he or she is is accused of wrongdoing ? I used to feel that as a child. A long time before I came to understand the tools writers use to tap into our psyches, I felt bristling indignation at the unfairness of it all. None of the collateral damage of a wrongly accused person registered on my mind, rather it was a very naive sense of fairness. The world is rough,unabashed and in many cases not a very nice place to be an...more
"Presumed Innocent" is a book that combines all of the aspects of a mystery novel with the aspects of a courtroom drama. At the start, Rusty Sabich is living a normal life. He has a fine job as a prosecuting attorney for Kindle County and is married with one son. Suddenly, something completely unexpected happens. Mr. Sabbich has been accused of murdering a fellow P.A. The trial has begun and Rusty's attorneys are hard at work solving the mystery. It hits the defense team that there is some chanc...more
Oct 03, 2010
Khaya
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
legal thriller fans
Shelves:
mysteriesthrillers
The best thing about this book, I think, was the clever gimmick of having the story narrated by a man accused of murder who, while giving you plenty of details about the event, manages to keep you guessing all the way through about whether or not he is innocent. Rusty Sabich, a leading prosecuting attorney, starts out investigating the murder of his former lover only to find himself in the role of alleged perpetrator. Rusty's tale abounds with red herrings and surprise twists. It also offers an...more
I have heard Scott Turow described as "the thinking man's John Grisham," and to the extent that the expression is a compliment, this debut novel justifies the praise. I had read two minor Turow novels before this one, so I was familiar with one of the minor characters (Turow sets his stories in the fictional Kindle County, and familiar faces pop up from book to book) and Turow's intriguing writing style: outside the courtroom, he tends to narrate in a poetic voice that employs an educated and pr...more
Presumed Innocent
I read the book Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow. This book is in the genre of mystery. The book is set in a Chicago like city but just in the southern part of Illinois. I have to be very vague in summarizing this book because knowing too much information will make the book unexciting in this book one of the prosecuting attorneys is murderer. One of the major problems in this book is that the people in charge of the investigation think they know who killed her but they could p...more
I read the book Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow. This book is in the genre of mystery. The book is set in a Chicago like city but just in the southern part of Illinois. I have to be very vague in summarizing this book because knowing too much information will make the book unexciting in this book one of the prosecuting attorneys is murderer. One of the major problems in this book is that the people in charge of the investigation think they know who killed her but they could p...more
The brutal murder of coworker, Carolyn Polhemus, has unnerved chief deputy prosecuting attorney, Rusty Sabich. Carolyn was a former lover, a woman who still preoccupied his thoughts, much to his shame. Rusty had confessed his adultery to his wife, and is trying hard to keep the marriage together for the sake of their son. His boss, Raymond Horgan, is in the midst of a campaign and wants Rusty in charge of Carolyn’s case, which puts him in an awkward position. But things go from awkward to shocki...more
On p. 180 is the funniest line I have read in a while. I laughed out loud for quite a while. I don’t remember it in the movie, which I saw about 20 years ago. It could be considered politically incorrect by the lefties out in Hollywood, so maybe that is why it wasn’t in the movie. It is unusual to see a movie and then 20 years later read the book upon which that movie was made. From what I remember of the movie, it follows the book faithfully. The book is superior in that it goes into great dept...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Some lawyers should become writers, others should not. Scott Turow falls squarely in the latter category. Once you realize that half this novel can be skipped, as it is useless exposition about characters the author fails to make sympathetic in the first place, it becomes a much shorter read. Combine that with the fact that half the character descriptions border on, if not delve fully into, racism, it may not be worth reading at all. (I'm sure Turow would say it's the character speaking and not...more
2 likes · like · see review
Well, my wife, who is much better at this than I, guessed the true murder suspect long before I did, but even so, I think I would have been impressed by the richly conceived characters and complex plot. Turow is a truly gifted writer who brought his expertise of prosecution and criminal trials to bear on this breakthrough book.
I first read this murder-mystery cum legal thriller back in college. At the time I was blown away by the twists and turns and the "gotcha" ending. It made me a life-long Scott Turow fan. Coming back to re-read it 20 years later, I found the plot more straightforward than I had recalled but was newly impressed by the depth and subtelty of the characterizations and the quality of the language.
For those unfamiliar with it, "Presumed Innocent" is the story of Rusty Sabich, a Deputy Prosecuting Attor...more
For those unfamiliar with it, "Presumed Innocent" is the story of Rusty Sabich, a Deputy Prosecuting Attor...more
Dec 12, 2011
Denise
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Legal Thrillers
Shelves:
legal-thriller,
read-in-2011
Many people had recommended me to read Scott Turow's books because I love legal thrillers. I was able to finally read this book and now I just wish I had read it earlier than I did. I wish I had read this years ago because after reading recent legal thrillers I feel like this book for me didn't live up to all the hype and praise that surrounded it. Don't get me wrong it was written very well and it had some great twists and turns but I felt like it wasn't the best legal thriller I had read. I fe...more
Here's a heretical thought: better than Grisham. When you're talking lawyer books, most folks consider Grisham to be the measuring stick and I've read most of his novels. Aside from two or three ('A Time to Kill' comes to mind), they're all pretty much the same: easy reading with mostly credible plots. If Mr Grisham were to stretch himself and attempt literature, Mr. Turow could give him some pointers. Unlike his colleague, I didn't tire of the 'lawyer feeling guilty' shtick in this book or 'The...more
This was my second time reading this book. I read it back in the late 80s/early 90s when I was doing a lot of traveling and this was exactly the sort of book that could suck me in and make those cross-country flights tolerable. The second time was nearly as good as the first. I was a bit concerned that knowing whodunnit would detract from my reading pleasure, but I found that not to be the case. Knowing the ending actually freed me to enjoy more of the writing style and see how the plot was set...more
Apr 09, 2012
Robert
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Robert by:
Steve Billhardt
I read this while living in Watertown, MA. That would have been 1989-90. As I recall, Steve Billhardt recommended this to me. I picked it up and began reading it one morning. I was captivated. The day wore on and it occurred to me I wasn't going to have it completed before I had to go to work. I strongly considered blowing off work just to finish it. I didn't, but recall rushing home after closing the restaurant to finish this book off. It captivated me that much.
Later, the movie would be releas...more
Later, the movie would be releas...more
Chicago defense attorney Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering a colleague with whom he had an affair. As Rusty navigates the treacherous political landscape (his boss is up for re-election), he also helps prepare his own defense. I read this book because Turow just published another book with the same character. The courtroom drama was probably more engaging when it was published, before the explosion of legal thrillers. Through Rusty's experienced perspective, the reader gets a gritty and reali...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Did you suspect who the killer was? | 6 | 30 | Mar 04, 2013 08:10am | |
| SHOCKING ENDINGS: can you tell me a book that has a shocking ending? | 1 | 3 | Jan 28, 2013 02:05pm | |
| The Mystery, Crim...: Jan/Feb 2012 Group Read: Presumed Innocent | 72 | 121 | Mar 20, 2012 07:25am |
Scott F. Turow is an American author and a practicing lawyer. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies. Movies have been based on several of his books.
Series:
* Kindle County Legal Thriller
http://us.macmillan.com/author/scottt...
More about Scott Turow...
Series:
* Kindle County Legal Thriller
http://us.macmillan.com/author/scottt...
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Mar 20, 2012 10:43am
The words penis and c*ck are used, but not frequently....more
Mar 22, 2012 08:28am