Re: RARA-AVIS: Reading Scott Turow?

From: Mark Sullivan ( AnonymeInc@WEBTV.NET)
Date: 22 Jan 2000


Presumed Innocent is Turow's first fiction. He previously wrote an autobiographical book about law school, called One L if I remember correctly. Not to put too fine a point on it, I thought Presumed Innocent sucked. I thought the characters were cardboard, which left the plot. However, I didn't even have the plot to enjoy after the stilted dialog shone a spotlight on a crucial clue, so I knew whodunnit very early on. Somehow I made it through, but have never read anything else by him. As a matter of fact, the major reason I never read Grisham is because when I first noticed his books they were blurbed, Best legal thriller since Presumed Innocent -- damning with faint praise in my book.

About the only legal thriller writer I have consistently enjoyed is Walter Walker. All of his books are worth reading, but I particularly liked The Two Dude Defense and Rules of the Knife Fight. Unlike most other legal thrillers I have read, his books are not padded, do not employ stock characters and can be pretty hardboiled.

Mark

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