Rating: 
Summary: Slimy lawyers propelled by unpredictable plot
Review: "Pleading Guilty" is a gritty story of a down-on-his-luck cop-turned-lawyer who is given an almost impossible assignment by his law firm. He has to find a missing law partner who has disappeared with over five million dollars. Although I didn't necessarily love this book, I have to give the author credit for writing a rather unpredictable plot. This is my first time reading a Scott Turow book so I don't know if certain aspects of this book that I didn't particularly care for are standard Turow or specific to the characters populating this novel. I'll have to read one of his other books to get a better idea about that and I probably will read more of his work in the future. In terms of a legal thriller, Mr. Turow writes rings around John Grisham. The characters all seemed rather seedy and sleazy backstabbers, but then they were mostly lawyers so that's fitting, I suppose. It made it difficult to root for anyone involved, but I still kept reading, just to find out what would happen. If you like books about sleazy lawyers with lots of interesting plot twists, "Pleading Guilty" is definitely worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Slimy lawyers propelled by unpredictable plot
Review: "Pleading Guilty" is a gritty story of a down-on-his-luck cop-turned-lawyer who is given an almost impossible assignment by his law firm. He has to find a missing law partner who has disappeared with over five million dollars. Although I didn't necessarily love this book, I have to give the author credit for writing a rather unpredictable plot. This is my first time reading a Scott Turow book so I don't know if certain aspects of this book that I didn't particularly care for are standard Turow or specific to the characters populating this novel. I'll have to read one of his other books to get a better idea about that and I probably will read more of his work in the future. In terms of a legal thriller, Mr. Turow writes rings around John Grisham. The characters all seemed rather seedy and sleazy backstabbers, but then they were mostly lawyers so that's fitting, I suppose. It made it difficult to root for anyone involved, but I still kept reading, just to find out what would happen. If you like books about sleazy lawyers with lots of interesting plot twists, "Pleading Guilty" is definitely worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Slimy lawyers propelled by unpredictable plot
Review: "Pleading Guilty" is a gritty story of a down-on-his-luck cop-turned-lawyer who is given an almost impossible assignment by his law firm. He has to find a missing law partner who has disappeared with over five million dollars. Although I didn't necessarily love this book, I have to give the author credit for writing a rather unpredictable plot. This is my first time reading a Scott Turow book so I don't know if certain aspects of this book that I didn't particularly care for are standard Turow or specific to the characters populating this novel. I'll have to read one of his other books to get a better idea about that and I probably will read more of his work in the future. In terms of a legal thriller, Mr. Turow writes rings around John Grisham. The characters all seemed rather seedy and sleazy backstabbers, but then they were mostly lawyers so that's fitting, I suppose. It made it difficult to root for anyone involved, but I still kept reading, just to find out what would happen. If you like books about sleazy lawyers with lots of interesting plot twists, "Pleading Guilty" is definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Shows the seamy side of the average joe
Review: A good, easy to follow mystery with an insiders look at heartless large law firm. I found the main character, Mac, to be depressing. Nothing ever seems to go right for him and he abuses every opportunity that he has, including the ultimate opportunity. This book has the best line ever written about the relationship between a law firm and the general counsel of a client corporation
Rating: 
Summary: Turow returns to top form.
Review: After the somewhat lackluster Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty is a page-turner with humor, well-developed characters, and a plot you would kill for. No contest - Pleading Guilty is great.
Rating:
Summary: A great legal thriller that also makes you laugh!
Review: An extremely well crafted legal drama/mystery. Turow has always developed his characters superbly, and his study of narrator Mack Malloy is masterful. Malloy is a deep and believable character, and his personality gives Turow even better opportunities than usual to exercise his wit--how often does a page turner legal thriller also have you rolling with laughter on several occasions? I highly recommend this book, and I second the notion that this is the perfect place to start if you're wondering if Scott Turow is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Turow turn at the lawyer's last chance for redemption story
Review: Each new Scott Turow novel convinces me that he is just not going to get to the heights he reached with "Presumed Innocent." The hero of "Pleading Guilty" is Mack Malloy, an ex-cop now burned out alcoholic lawyer who is given one of those hackneyed final chances at redemption when the Oversight Committee of his firm sends him on the trail of a missing colleague who has apparently ripped off $5.6 million from their biggest client. This is one of those stories where you go along for the ride because until the pieces fall into place you do not have any better idea as to what is going on that Malloy. There are some twists and turns at the end, but they are nothing really special and the question of whether or not Malloy comes out ahead in the end just does not really matter to the reader. "Pleading Guilty" is a novel to read to kill time; you would probably be happier going back and rereading "Presumed Innocent" or try Grisham's "Testament" for a better variation on the lawyer seeking redemption theme.
Rating:
Summary: Turow ranks among the greatest "legal thriller" writers!!
Review: For some reason, John Grisham continues to be the hugest name in the "legal thriller" business, when that honor ought to be firmly in the grasp of Scott Turow. His books have more "meat on the bone," dabble in moral ambiguity more instead of having such clearly delineated good guys / bad guys, and are written in a more literate style. Grisham's characters are sketched in quickly and seldom grow and change. He's like the lawyer's version of Michael Crichton, all plot and no heart. By shear coincidence, this was really driven home to me when I first read THE PARTNER, by Grisham, which tells the story of a lawyer who steals a huge amount of money from his shady law partners and disappears with it. It's a fun STORY with many amusing touches, but never makes you truly care for the characters. I followed this read immediately with PLEADING GUILTY, which also dealt with some shady attorneys being ripped off big-time by one of their partners. The main character is Mack Malloy, an ex-cop turned lawyer, who is grappling with raising on his own a VERY troubled teenage boy and is also a recovering alcoholic right on the edge of no longer recovering. He's a smart attorney but not a terribly productive one for his firm, and he's given the job of tracking down his fellow partner who is suspected of raiding a company settlement fund of millions and disappearing. Mack begins to investigate, and he peels of layer after layer of secrets and surprises...off his firm, off their #1 client, off the local police force and even from his friend, the disappeared lawyer. Told in the first person, the character of Mack is flawed but totally engaging. And when I say "flawed," I don't mean a little. He's a hard guy to like, but his narrative style is so incisive and his sadness so profound, he gets our sympathy. He (meaning author Turow) is also a very astute observer of character and through his eyes, we get to know a lot of very interesting and varied people. This book really had me turning the pages. My only gripe is the conclusion. The plot gets twisted enough that when Mack finally gets to "reveal all" it takes a good long time to set us straight on what has happened and why. Turow also assumes that we care more than we do about a couple of the more minor characters in the book, and this slows the ending down a bit too. By no means do these minor flaws make this a book not worth reading though...I was sorry to leave Mack behind. Turow first came to real national attention with his stellar PRESUMED INNOCENT. But I've read several of his subsequent books, and they are all rock solid. Grisham is like a burger, fast and filling but not all that good for you. Turow, to me, is more like nice, slow steak dinner...satisfying and worth lingering over. Give him a try! ...
Rating:
Summary: Turow ranks among the greatest "legal thriller" writers!!
Review: For some reason, John Grisham continues to be the hugest name in the "legal thriller" business, when that honor ought to be firmly in the grasp of Scott Turow. His books have more "meat on the bone," dabble in moral ambiguity more instead of having such clearly delineated good guys / bad guys, and are written in a more literate style. Grisham's characters are sketched in quickly and seldom grow and change. He's like the lawyer's version of Michael Crichton, all plot and no heart. By shear coincidence, this was really driven home to me when I first read THE PARTNER, by Grisham, which tells the story of a lawyer who steals a huge amount of money from his shady law partners and disappears with it. It's a fun STORY with many amusing touches, but never makes you truly care for the characters. I followed this read immediately with PLEADING GUILTY, which also dealt with some shady attorneys being ripped off big-time by one of their partners. The main character is Mack Malloy, an ex-cop turned lawyer, who is grappling with raising on his own a VERY troubled teenage boy and is also a recovering alcoholic right on the edge of no longer recovering. He's a smart attorney but not a terribly productive one for his firm, and he's given the job of tracking down his fellow partner who is suspected of raiding a company settlement fund of millions and disappearing. Mack begins to investigate, and he peels of layer after layer of secrets and surprises...off his firm, off their #1 client, off the local police force and even from his friend, the disappeared lawyer. Told in the first person, the character of Mack is flawed but totally engaging. And when I say "flawed," I don't mean a little. He's a hard guy to like, but his narrative style is so incisive and his sadness so profound, he gets our sympathy. He (meaning author Turow) is also a very astute observer of character and through his eyes, we get to know a lot of very interesting and varied people. This book really had me turning the pages. My only gripe is the conclusion. The plot gets twisted enough that when Mack finally gets to "reveal all" it takes a good long time to set us straight on what has happened and why. Turow also assumes that we care more than we do about a couple of the more minor characters in the book, and this slows the ending down a bit too. By no means do these minor flaws make this a book not worth reading though...I was sorry to leave Mack behind. Turow first came to real national attention with his stellar PRESUMED INNOCENT. But I've read several of his subsequent books, and they are all rock solid. Grisham is like a burger, fast and filling but not all that good for you. Turow, to me, is more like nice, slow steak dinner...satisfying and worth lingering over. Give him a try! ...
Rating:
Summary: Ethics, ethics
Review: I confess, I heard the audio book version. It was pretty interesting, and well read by Stacey Keach. But I think Mack should have given the money back, in the end. He said he'd be drinking heavily again, even with his millions of dollars. I can see why: his conscience would never be clean. Well, it's only fiction, right? Diximus.
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