The Last Trial (Kindle County Legal Thriller, #11)

by Scott Turow

whatever the frequent frustrations of practicing law, the plain truth is that Mr. Alejandro Stern has adored it:

whatever the frequent frustrations of practicing law, the plain truth is that Mr. Alejandro Stern has adored it:

All he can offer in response is candor: This is the life I needed to live. At eighty-five, he is certain that without it, he never would have known himself.

All he can offer in response is candor: This is the life I needed to live. At eighty-five, he is certain that without it, he never would have known himself.

typing on his laptop with the passion of a concert pianist.

typing on his laptop with the passion of a concert pianist.

pilasters

schadenfreude

AUSA

Finally, he found himself sharing with her a hard-learned lesson: In life there are those who get away with things and others who don’t.

Get Away withthings

He wanted to encourage her to treat him like a Spartan elder and drop him on a mountainside. Yet perhaps the worst part of all was facing the fact that he was not courageous enough to do that willingly.

Courage

we describe treatment response as a bell curve. At the far end, there are always patients who exceed expectations. Why? Will alone cannot subdue disease, Sandy. But wanting to live and having a reason to do so—every oncologist will tell you that it matters, even though no one can tell you why. You, Sandy, you are the kind of patient who lives, who wins the battle far, far longer than most.’

Will To live

the state seems to Stern like a giant penal colony for America’s elderly, where the residents—like characters in a famous play—have been blinded by the sun and do not realize they are actually in hell.

My Home has been fort Myers for fifty years.I enjoy the alligators and swamps.

Stern suddenly sees a strobing flash of green, impossibly brief.

I Have seen the green flash from a Naples beach

In the end, all guilty clients have one thing in common: At the moment of completing the crime, each was convinced against all reason they would not get caught.

In the end, all guilty clients have one thing in common: At the moment of completing the crime, each was convinced against all reason they would not get caught.

The wisdom is enduring that if a man had a talent for making good decisions, he wouldn’t be on trial in federal court for serious felonies.

The wisdom is enduring that if a man had a talent for making good decisions, he wouldn’t be on trial in federal court for serious felonies.

venire

goyishe

Laughter, it turns out, is the soul of liberty.

Laughter, it turns out, is the soul of liberty.

The law is erected on many fictions and perhaps the falsest one of all is that humans, in the end, are rational. Without doubt, our life—so far as we can tell—is one of cause and effect. That is what science depends on. But our most intimate decisions are rarely based on the kinds of calculations of pluses and minuses Jeremy Bentham, or the free-market economists for that matter, have wanted to believe in. We are fundamentally emotional creatures. In the most consequential matters, we answer faithfully to the heart’s cry, not the law’s.

The law is erected on many fictions and perhaps the falsest one of all is that humans, in the end, are rational. Without doubt, our life—so far as we can tell—is one of cause and effect. That is what science depends on. But our most intimate decisions are rarely based on the kinds of calculations of pluses and minuses Jeremy Bentham, or the free-market economists for that matter, have wanted to believe in. We are fundamentally emotional creatures. In the most consequential matters, we answer faithfully to the heart’s cry, not the law’s.

But in the end, Pinky, we must heed the response of a revered philosopher—I forget his name—who was famously asked by a student if he believed life was fair.” “What did he say?” Stern stubs out the cigar, tightening his grip somewhat on Pinky’s soft fingers. “He answered, ‘Compared to what?’”

But in the end, Pinky, we must heed the response of a revered philosopher—I forget his name—who was famously asked by a student if he believed life was fair.” “What did he say?” Stern stubs out the cigar, tightening his grip somewhat on Pinky’s soft fingers. “He answered, ‘Compared to what?’”