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Summary: It's never too late
Review: Turow tackles the death penalty in his latest legal thriller. A complicated issue, which typically polarizes any group of people, is handled beautifully by Turow. He assembles a cast of interesting but real characters. Arthur Raven is given the challenge of handling convicted murderer Rommy Gandolph's final appeal prior to his upcoming execution. He enlists the reluctant assistance of shamed former judge Gillian Sullivan in his attempts at exonorating Rommy. Prosecuting attorney Muriel Wynn and detective Larry Starczek attempt to re-prove their case as they oppose every attempt Arthur makes to uncover new evidence. Simple, right? Far from a formula thriller, Turow's story becomes more complex the further you get into it. The characters are real people, not written with Hollywood in mind (my personal pet peeve) with plenty of flaws who make plenty of mistakes. Are all their errors reversible? Turow supplies us with the legal definition of reversible error, but in writing this book explores other kinds of errors as well. Compelling reading, highly recommended.
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Summary: Good review for reader
Review: The individual who read Reversible Errors did an excellent job. His character voices added significantly to my enjoyment of the book. The story itself is only worth 3 1/2 or 4 stars, but the reader increased my enjoyment of the book so i offer a solid recommendation.
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Summary: CBS is making this into a minseries
Review: FYI: If you are a fan of "Reversible Errors", CBS will be making this into a 4-hour miniseries to air sometime in 2004. William H. Macy has been signed to play the lead Arthur Raven and Tom Selleck will play against type and play the detective Larry Starczek.
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Summary: The Master of the Legal Thriller Stays at the Top
Review: Scott Turow delivers another powerful tale of legal - and human -suspense in REVERSIBLE ERRORS, which traces the 1991 conviction and 2001 appeals of a triple-homicide convict on death row. As with all of his fiction, Turow weaves a compelling tale not only of legal twists, but also personal relationships. There are several potentially "reversible errors" at play in this novel: the prosecuting attorney and the detective on the case revisit an old affair years later; the court-appointed defense attorney and an older judge who resigned in disgrace from the bench start an unlikely romance that reward both of them greatly, and the death row inmate gets his pleas of innocence heard in federal court through the sometimes-questionable testimony of another inmate now dying of cancer. There are a whole host of characters trying to "solve" not only this ghastly triple homicide from years earlier - but also the reasons for the own personal failures in love and life. And Turow, unlike some of his rapid-publishing contemporaries, never fails to dig deep. He paints in grays and reminds the reader of real life, and its limitations - how you can strive for something but fear being hurt; how you can believe in the truth but be ground down by cynicism; how there really are no Hollywood endings for most of us. A fascinating and memorable cast of characters once again. This was just as good as THE LAWS OF OUR FATHERS (and echoed that book's dual time line) and PERSONAL INJURIES. The ending - to both the murder investigation and the personal relationships - will leave you satisfied, without at all seeming contrived. I eagerly look forward to Turow's next novel!
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Summary: What a Sad World
Review: This is the first Scott Turow book I've read, and while I marveled at his ability to write (he has a wonderful way with words), I was amazed at how bleak the world of Scott Turow is. The book is populated with truly unattractive characters...I cannot remember a single really positive one. Reading, one feels sorry for many of the characters, but one is hard-pressed to find a character to really root for--the pages, the scenes, the characters are all filled with cynicism and hopelessness.
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Summary: Zzzzzzzz
Review: This is a tedious book that never seems to take off, populated with characters I had a hard time identifying with. It rockets back and forth over a ten year time span and spawns sub plots and minor characters that confuse more than enlighten.Read his early stuff, it was really good.
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Summary: No great Turow book, but a legal thriller w/real thrills
Review: The imminent execution of a thief turned accused murderer provides an unlikely connection for the mismatched characters in "Reversible Errors". Convicted for a triple homicide occuring on July 4, 1991, Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph has one last chance to avoid the needle, a "Habeas Corpus" proceeding that will cast doubt on the conviction. In an appellate trial 10 years later, Gandolph remains the perfect defendant - unlikable, not all there, but not incompetent enough to have gotten off on a "technicality". His one hope: he was convicted in "Kindle County", the fictional land of Scott Turow novels, where nothing is what you expected it to be, where people are the sum of incomplete, failed lives, and their resentment causes them to act against the grain. If you've read "Presumed Innocent", "Burden of Proof" or "Pleading Guilty", you'll be both disappointed and also entertained by "Errors" which pulls enough of the magic of Turow's other books to set this one apart from the single-dimensional hole of standard "legal-thrillers", while reminding you how much better this story could have been. True to form, Turow's cast of unfinished people are dissatisfied characters who become more defined and multi-dimensional the clearer their incompleteness becomes. We meet Arthur Raven, Rommy's feckless appeals attorney; Gillian Sullivan, the judge who tried his case, recently released for serving time on bribery; Muriel Wynn, Rommy's prosecutor; and Larry Starczek, the detective who arrested him long after most fellow detectives gave up. Turow wastes little time before telling us what's wrong with his characters - Raven is a successful corporate attorney prematurely enfeebled to middle-age by a life caring for his schizophrenic sister, and a failure at love. Sullivan, a beautiful and accomplished prosecutor became a dope addict on the bench - a flaw hidden by her bribery conviction; Wynn and Starczek had been sleeping together in that fateful and steamy summer of 1991. Knowing that their relationship can't last, they pull out all the stops on Rommy's case, knowing that the trial will be the only thing keeping them together. A decade later, when Raven forces them to revisit the case, they are married, but not to each other. Having to look back at their younger selves only reminds the two of what could have been, which fuels the resentment that may ultimately save Rommy Gandolph, or speed him to his execution. Our characters have so many gripes, you wonder whether the title "Reversible Errors" may say more about their lives than Gandolph's trial. It's a story full of twists, and fun characters - one bound to make it a story you'll want to hang onto. Still, it's not a great Turow story. While a sweeping epic, Turow's work shines when creating high-drama in a compact story centered around a single character, like Mack Molloy in "Pleading Guilty" or Rusty Sabich in "Presumed Innocent". Though Turow excels in finding uncommon depth in supporting characters, you always know who his star is, and you never stop caring where both the star and the story are going. In "Errors", you're not sure who the story is about. While opening with Raven, the story quickly relegates him to a critical but supporting role as Gandolph's attorney. Turow tries to rehabilitate him halfway - introducing us to his mentally disturbed and disturbing sister, and having him fall in love with the wounded (former) judge Sullivan. But neither he nor Sullivan have any connection to the case in 1991 - they've made no errors in that case that can now be reversed. Instead, the story soon belongs to Starczek and Muriel, who go back to the original trial, desperately trying to find where they went wrong with the case and each other. Once the story introduces us to the younger Muriel and Starczek, without doing the same for Gillian or Arthur, both Judge and attorney lose pace with detective and prosecutor, and never regain it. That's a shame, since Arthur had the makings of a great Turow character - accomplished and resentful. Also, the story begins by splitting the narrative between the investigation in 1991 and the present-day appeal, a form of prose-as-time travel which allows for some neat irony (we meet a possible murder witness in 1991 who, a chapter and decade later, is now imprisoned for a violent felony) that the book quickly junks by never repeating. The story is also a mystery, but you're likely to keep asking yourself about a single piece of evidence which (surprise) becomes the linchpin of the entire case. Nevertheless, this is on many levels a great story. As a "Kindle County" story, Turow revisits many of the stories or legends of that famous non-existent town for his fans, like the dreaded "Night Saints" (a sinister gang turned guerilla army - we first learn of them in "Presumed Innocent", only to find that Starczek braved them as well), the noble Alejandro "Sandy" Stern (the courtly defense attorney of that first book and the hero of "Burden of Proof") and even Trans-National Airlines (the airline bilked out of millions in "Presumed Innocent"). Dan Lipranzer and Ray Horgan also have cameo appearances. So do Tommy Molto and "Painless" Kumagai, the prosecutor and police pathologist who were disgraced at the end of "Presumed Innocent" yet seemed to have kept their jobs. But above all, "Errors" is that rare legal thriller that does more than pay lip-service to the law - the characters here don't shy away from courtrooms and never fail to thrill.
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Summary: Judging the Past, Present and Futrure
Review: Scott Turrow is a famous lawyer/best selling author. This book is fascinating since it is filled with plots and subplots and characters that are flawed, memorable and engaging. The current controversy about death row and the death penalty makes this book even more timely. The lead characters Larry, Muriel, Arthur and Gillian intertwine in a plot that leaves you guessing until the end. Perfect summer reading. Can't wait for the movie. What's so fascinating is Turrow's grasp at life and death and the present (where it all spirals together). Are you sure about your future, are you set in the past, do you yearn to create a new today. This is the kind of book that although it's a novel is excellent at spawning some soul searching about life and death and what you do for a living. Easy reading even if it's 400 pages-- you can finish it in a weekend or savor it for weeks. He tackles one of the major social issues of our time with vigor.
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Summary: A Terrific Book!!!
Review: This is the best book of this genre that I have read in some time. I loved Presumed Innocent. However, the books that followed it were not up to that standard and Mr. Turow had become an author that I had decided not to buy. This book was a gift and what a gift it turned out to be. I was truly sorry when I got to the end of the book because the story, its characters, the suprise twists and turns of the plot and the writing had been an exquisite experience that I just didn't want to end. If this is an indication of where this author's writing is heading, we will all have much to look forward to.
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Summary: Of Love, Duty and Compulsion
Review: Reversible Errors has a grand sweep, much like the great Russian novels of the 19th Century such as Crime and Punishment. The book is filled with passion, conflicts, and hopes . . . while grimness grows as the days until an execution dwindle. I found Reversible Errors to be the most eloquent anti-death penalty book I have read. It's even more moving than the evidence that many people on Death Row were innocent when DNA tests were first applied to the evidence. Our justice system is supposed to set free 20 guilty people rather than convict one innocent one. In death penalty cases, we probably aren't doing so well. Innocent people have been executed in many cases. Once that happens, there's little good we can do about it. As we judge, so shall we be judged. The criminal justice system isn't as neat and objective as television, movies and novels usually make it out to be. But naturally, most people who write about the system do so as nonparticipants. Mr. Turow writes from the vantage point of being both a top-flight lawyer, but also someone who works on death penalty appeals. It's clear that he writes from first-hand experience as to the poor defense work in many of these cases. I once helped defend a client who was accused of attempted murder. I came away from that experience feeling much like this book made me feel. In Reversible Errors, Arthur Raven, an earnest corporate attorney, is appointed by the court to handle a death penalty appeal. Like most, he views this assignment as undesirable and likely to end in frustration. His client has been convicted based on his own confession to a gruesome triple murder. Arthur's a man who hasn't found love, and assumes that he never will. His commitment to the law does show his love of fulfilling his sense of duty. The central irony of this story is that he will have to choose between that love of duty and his chance for happiness with convicted felon, the former judge in the case, Gillian Sullivan. What would you choose in that situation? The brilliantly plotted story shows how "neat" pictures of "who did what to whom" usually aren't so neat in reality. Arthur's hopes begin to rise, however, when a witness comes forward to exonerate his client, Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph, a penny-ante fence whose intelligence and education make it hard for him to help with his own defense. The prosecutor, Muriel Wynn, has her own complex agenda that keeps her from making it easy for Arthur, though. In part, she's blinded by affection for Larry Starczek whose commitment to her leaves all defendants in jeopardy. They're an unattractive pair to read about, but undoing the harm they have created makes for riveting reading. It's not the usual "all prosecutors and cops" are bad story. Instead, the story shows that judges, prosecutors, cops and defense attorneys are flawed, vulnerable people like us all who can be easily drawn away from the messy reality of the truth . . . like why the defendant ended up with soiled pants. If you don't like your stories realistic and graphic, you may not enjoy this book. Although the central theme is about our endless search for love and acceptance, Reversible Errors is certainly no classic love story. In fact, the romantic aspects are the least well written parts of the book. After you finish this book, think about times when you've judged a situation incorrectly . . . and lived to regret what you've said and done. How could you have handled the situations better? How can you reverse the error now?
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