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 the author, but they are one in the same) My final complaint with the book is that around 1/3 of the way into it I thought, "He'd better not end it that way," and sure enough he draws this winding course just to bring things back to a terribly cliched, Law & Order ending, though without any of the talent or ability of the television writers.