Personal Injuries

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST YET!
Review: Turow provides a timely and believable plot, and unforgettable characters. This is a must read for anyone who loves great dialogue. If John Travolta reads this book, he'll make the movie with Jodie Foster.

Rating:
Summary: Full of Unexpected and Interesting Surprises for Lawyers
Review: This novel made me feel like I was back in law school. Although not all of the plot turns on legal niceties, the bulk of it does. You could almost use this novel as part of a criminal procedure course. I have never read a book quite like it. Nonlawyers may not find all that as interesting as lawyers do. But if you ever wanted to know what it might be like inside a big-time corruption investigation, this is the book for you. Be prepared though not to like many of the characters, which is probably the case in a corruption situation. I was impressed by the lengths that Turow went to make this realistic, rather than easy. On the other hand, you may find the going slow in the beginning. I did not get to the point where I could not put the book down until around page 314. On the other hand, Turow kept my head turning with plot twists. I can almost always figure out murder mysteries somewhere in the middle of the book, but this book left hit me with twists that literally left my jaw dropping. This is an intellectual tour de force, to have created such a complex plot that hangs together. I hope a movie is made from the book, because it would be a better genre for this story than a novel is. If you wonder why I am not giving you examples of some of the neat plot twists, it is because that would spoil the story for you. This is the most original legal thriller I have ever read by a long margin. If you like light reading for your legal thrillers, though, you should probably avoid this book. END

Rating:
Summary: Turow's Best Book, Definitely Not Grisham
Review: The law is an important backdrop to this book, but Turow is not a legal "suspense" writer and does not write trite fiction in the same sense as Grisham. When Turow is very good, as he is in this book, he is superb. If you appreciate a craftsman who can people a world with contradictory and complex motives, like le Carre, then you should read this book. Turow's books include, in order of preference: Personal Injuries, Pleading Guilty, Presumed Innocent, Burden of Proof, The Laws of Our Fathers, ONE-L[ONG WHINE].

Rating:
Summary: Wake me up when its over
Review: I thought that this might be a pretty good book, but I was wrong! I kept trying to continue reading further, but decided that it would be an exercise in masochisim to do so. It was simply boring, rambling on and on about nothing - boring characters and dull material. As well, the narration style was very awkward. At any rate, I am thankful that it was only a library book, because I wouldn't have been impressed had I paid money for it.

Rating:
Summary: Never Captured My Interest!
Review: As most other readers who reviewed this book negatively, I am a Scott Turow fan. I'll be careful before I buy his next. Neither the dialogue nor the plot "hooked" me. I abandoned this colossal bore about half through. There are too many books on my "read" list to waste time on such a slow-moving story with unlikable characters.

Rating:
Summary: Shows that a literary thriller can sell
Review: The publishers of Turow keep calling him a thriller writer - probably afraid that if they don't, they'll loose readers. But the truth is, he's a good writer, period, just one who happened to kick off his career with rather a good thriller plot. Since then there's been lots of good writing, and relatively little in the way of thriller-type storytelling. But people (like me) go on buying his stuff regardless. Why? Because the combination of strong writing and a good story is a lot more satisfying than you get from most regular thriller fare. Good writing just brings things ALIVE, and makes the reader more willing to follow the author into areas that aren't essential to the plot. That's Turow's great lesson to the publishing world: quality writing sells. Thank you, Scott!

Rating:
Summary: Corruption in Law!
Review: Interesting,difficult style,disturbing topic and an insiders view of our Courts? Should be mandatory reading for Law Students,Lawyers,and certainly Judges. As for the rest of us,great food for thought,but not as enjoyable as previously enjoyable Torows'

Rating:
Summary: Turow just gets better
Review: Don't compare Turow with Grisham! Turow is, to me, an excellent character writer. If you like John Le Carre more than Ian Fleming, or Len Deighton more than Tom Clancy, or John Irving more than Harold Robbins then you will like Scott Turow much more than John Grisham. This is a wonderful story with truly interesting characters.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was two thirds through the book and still waiting for it to get interesting. I was quite disappointed as I am a Turow fan and have very much enjoyed his previous works.

Rating:
Summary: Dull
Review: I wish I had read these review before I attempted to read the book. I struggled to get involved, but after 300 dull boring pages of nothing happending but a lot of "wearing a wire to listen to corrupt people who know how not to incriminate themselves", I read the ending and called it quits. I've read and enjoyed all Turow's books; but not this one.