For some reason, I found this book difficult to read. Mr. Turow has a peculiar way of wording sentences (some of them, not all of them), such that some sentences I find myself reading 2 or 3 times, and still not understanding what he is saying. As in PRESUMED INNOCENT, there is much insight into interpersonal relationships, and he will frequently (when introducing a new character) go back into a somewhat detailed description of past history with that character. His introspection into Sandy’s relationship with his wife Clara (who commits suicide at the very beginning of the book) is deep and subtle, and full of those sentences that I have to re-read. I find particularly interesting, his interaction with his son Peter. It is strained, and the two obviously do not relate to each other that well. Yet, Sandy (partially) confides in Peter when he discovers a record of a lab test that Clara had done, that shows she had Herpes. I found jarring the incident between Sandy and Fiona Cawley, the wife of the philandering doctor who lived next door, and who was apparently the source of the late Clara’s herpes infection. Sandy made a clumsy pass at Fiona, and this IMHO is totally out of character for him. Sandy visits Sonia (Sonny) Klonsky at their (Sonia and her husband) cabin, on business. Sonia’s child persuades Sandy to get into the hot tub with him while Sonia is taking a nap (she is pregnant). Later, Sandy starts to have romantic feelings toward Sonia. Helen figures this out, and they break up. Sandy figures out that Dixon is guilty, and tells him he will most likely go to prison. Dixon as given Sandy his safe to keep for him. Sonia serves Sandy with a subpoena for the contents of the safe. When Sandy tells Dixon he must surrender the safe’s contents, Dixon refuses, and later (apparently) steals the safe back from Sandy. Sandy threatens to resign as Dixon’s attorney. Later, Sandy persuades one of his criminal clients to assist him in stealing back the safe from Dixon’s house. They break in and find the safe, which is open. Sandy’s sister (Silvia- Dixon’s wife) comes home and Sandy explains what is going on. In the safe is an account agreement for Wunderkind Associates, the dummy company, through which Dixon has been laundering his money. The signature on the bottom of the agreement is that of Stern’s daughter, Katherine Stern (whose husband John works for Dixon). Meanwhile, Silvia tells Sandy that Dixon had herpes a few years before, and now Sandy knows that Dixon had been Clara’s lover. Sandy goes to visit son Peter, and finds that a government agent is there. After the agent leaves, Peter confesses that he has been the informant all along. He was trying to save Kate’s husband John, who had been doing the “trading ahead” and had lost $250,000 doing it. The plan was to put the blame on Dixon. Sandy’s temporary infatuation with Sonia/Sonny ends, as she appears happy once again with her husband. Near book’s end, Sandy gets a call from Helen at 3 am to come immediately. She has been having sex with Dixon, who died in the act. Sandy arranges with a detective friend of his (who owes him a favor) to move the body to Sandy’s office. This not only protects the reputation of Helen, but also saves heartache for Sandy’s sister Silvia, who is Dixon’s wife. Sandy ends up marrying Helen.
This book did not have the interest for me that his first book (PRESUMED INNOCENT) did, perhaps because the crime was insider trading, rather than murder. The inter-family interactions were absorbing and well-done, but sometimes hard to follow. I give this book a 6, compared to the 8 I gave PRESUMED INNOCENT.