Rating: 
Summary: Not bad.
Review: Although the book wasn't as enjoyable as some, it wasn't bad. The main character, Sandy Stern, is likable enough and still naive in many ways of the world. While trying to hunt down the reason behinds his wife's suicide, his brother-in-law comes to him for help in straightening out some financial trouble that he has gotten himself into. However, unless you are into finance, the market, and other areas such as these, most of the book will be dry and hard to get through. It was for me. The thing that kept me going was Sandy's continuing search to find out what was going on with his wife. As I said, the book didn't exactly have me glued to it, but it wasn't bad, either.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not a fast paced thriller
Review: I put off reading this book for some time because it looked like too much work. I've enjoyed many Grisham novels and wanted to try out some other legal thrillers and see what they were like. Turow is a good writer, without question, but he lacks, at least in this book, some of the flash or pizzaz I was hoping for after reading others. This novel is definitely not a page turning thriller, but it is a solid story.Some of the legal complications get hard to follow unless you have at least a minimal grasp of how financial markets work, but basic evil is usually pretty easy to spot so don't let the setting throw you off. Turow obviously works at his craft with some measure of pride, so I don't count the few words and/or concepts that are over my head get the better of me, the context makes the actions plain enough. So the real question is do I give this book a recommendation? Well, yes. It's an entertaining mystery/legal setting type book and while it doesn't read with the same speed and ease of some others, it's still worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not a fast paced thriller
Review: I put off reading this book for some time because it looked like too much work. I've enjoyed many Grisham novels and wanted to try out some other legal thrillers and see what they were like. Turow is a good writer, without question, but he lacks, at least in this book, some of the flash or pizzaz I was hoping for after reading others. This novel is definitely not a page turning thriller, but it is a solid story. Some of the legal complications get hard to follow unless you have at least a minimal grasp of how financial markets work, but basic evil is usually pretty easy to spot so don't let the setting throw you off. Turow obviously works at his craft with some measure of pride, so I don't count the few words and/or concepts that are over my head get the better of me, the context makes the actions plain enough. So the real question is do I give this book a recommendation? Well, yes. It's an entertaining mystery/legal setting type book and while it doesn't read with the same speed and ease of some others, it's still worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Average Follow Up
Review: I thought the author slipped a bit with this book, not as good as some of his others. He constructed a good book with a step-by-step progress to the end and he can weave in a sub plot of two. I just did not like some of the writing; I found it a bit forced or dry. Overall he always delivers a good story, I would read his work over many others. You do need to pay attention with his books, they are an easy ride - he wants to keep you involved to then need. He is good at this form of book and if you like him you will like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as presumed innocent
Review: In "Burden of Proof", lawyer and novelist Scott Turow returns the character of Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, the smooth-spoken, Argentine-Jewish defense attorney introduced in the earlier novel, "Presumed Innocent". In that earlier novel, Stern defended a prosecutor in a high-profile murder case. In "Burden", Stern now has all the questions. Just when his existence seemed routine enough, Stern returns home from a business trip to find his wife dead - an apparent suicide. Reeling from the loss, Stern must also confront a grand jury proceeding against his client and brother in law, Dixon Hartnell. A web of complex (and suspicious) financial transactions involving futures-trading on Kindle County market run by Hartnell has whet the interest of the US Attorney's office, itself run by a foe of Stern. Though Hartnell is the sort of guy who routinely seems to hover at the edge of indictment for something, the charges now offer the chance of landing the embattled broker in a federal lockup and, because Stern's son-in law works for Hartnell, threaten to tear at the fragile Stern family. Into this mix of family and legal problems, Turow throws in Stern's romancing of his enemy at the US Attorney's office and of a nearby neighbor, his suspicions harbored against a neighbor who may have had an affair with Stern's now dead wife, and the story of his own romance, years ago, with Clara Mittler-Stern. "Burden" has Scott Turow's great prose and obsessive character dissection, but it's not as enveloping a book as "Presumed Innocent". The sense of an underlying secret isn't as enticing as the murder investigation in the earlier book, and the characters don't grab you as well either. Most annoying is Stern whose silver-tongued erudition was cute when he was a supporting character in the older book. Dixon Hartnell would have been a more interesting choice of main character, but the plot makes that impossible. Turow dangles the names of characters from the first book just to get our attentions (ex-PA Ray Horgan almost becomes the defense lawyer for Stern's embattled son in-law; Rusty Sabich is referred in passing as "Judge Sabich"; the specter of the corrupt Mayor Augie Bolcarro seems to hang like a smog over Kindle County) but remains it's own book. Even the fictional choice of legal venue seems troublesome - exchanging the Kindle county court in "Presumed" with the anonymous Federal Court here. Kindle County, which seemed so real and unique in the older book seems just another mid-west city. The nivel concentrates instead on the byzantine relationships of its main characters, but after you've finished, you wonder why you should care. This is a pretty good novel, but it loses something and suffers in comparison to its prequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Scott Turow is an outstanding writer; no doubt about it. His character development is on a level way higher than Grisham. I like both writers but if you want something that goes deeper; go with Turow. Grisham has good plots but his characters are often weak. Turow has good plots and interesting characters. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was becuase I feel Turow goes a bit overboard with the verbiage and the reader gets the feeling he wants to show that he is the master of the dictionary.
Rating: 
Summary: Best book I've read in a while!
Review: There is no need to describe this book's plot in any way, shape or form--the book is just that _GREAT_! Any Scott Turow fan will fall instantly in love and read through every page like a maniac. I couldn't put this book down, and finished the massive 515 pages in 2 days. Just simply amazing.
- Delaney
Rating:
Summary: Deep and interesting read
Review: This book is not necessarily a great courtroom drama, but more of a character study with some mystery thrown in. Much better than Grisham.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep your dictionary close at hand
Review: This fiction lacks page to page suspense. The reader is taken into a Jewish family, where the main character, Stern, does not know anybody except his colorful, scheming, affluent brother in law. His son, daughters, son in law and especially his wife of decades are strangers to him. So are his close neighbors. Yet Stern is a successful lawyer, must have a reasonable amount of intelligence, one should hope. An unlikely situation, but entertaining enough. It seems like he really doesn't want to know what makes his family tick but stumbles into their secrets. Rude awakenings! That would be a better title, because the legal aspects of the book read like murky morass. I think the author failed his burden of proof to convince me, that this is a good novel. His style is tiresome to read, however the proof is there, that fiction has no limits, because it demands no burden of proof. Rude awakenings for fans of this author, I assume! Gerborg
Rating:
Summary: A well woven tale
Review: This is the second Turow novel I've read and I'm hooked. He's an excellent story teller and really knows how to take a plot through unexpected twists and turns. This book is solid evidence of his skills and I recommend it heartily. I know how popular Grisham is and I've enjoyed some of his writing, but I'd rate Turow as easily the better writer. This book has plenty to help me reach that conclusion: family and business deceit, awkward romantic liasons, legal and personal grudges and jealousies, securities fraud, etc. Try it, I'll bet you'll like it.
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