This is told in the first person by "Pinky" who is Sandy Stern's granddaughter. I have read the first two in the series where Sandy was a main charactThis is told in the first person by "Pinky" who is Sandy Stern's granddaughter. I have read the first two in the series where Sandy was a main character, but have now read this one out of order. I think this is a series that can be read out of order, but this makes me anxious to go back and read the earlier installments.
Pinky got her name from her father who thought her real name, Clarice, didn't fit. Further, Clarice was the name of his mother-in-law who he didn't like. So she became Pinky forever. Pinky is unusual, to say the least. Even today, many police brass have no taste for people like me, inked from neck to ankle and with a magenta Mohawk (and a blue undercut on one side). She also has a nail in her nose. She is a PI working for a lawyer, Rik. They are preparing for trial representing the female Chief of Police who has been accused of sexual harrassment by three male staff.
While they are preparing for trial, out of the blue Pinky announces that her next door neighbor is weird. You've got to like a woman with a magenta mohawk and a nail in her nose suggesting anyone else is weird. And I was happy to follow her lead through this novel.
It is fine to read now, but I think it is likely to become dated, perhaps even very soon. There are references to COVID and 2nd shots which I think is less likely to be appreciated in even 5 years. I enjoyed my time with it anyway and is certainly worthy of a very high 3 stars. ...more
I admit to having only skimmed the Goodreads description of this. I just knew I wanted to read another by Scott Turow. His plots are good, characterizI admit to having only skimmed the Goodreads description of this. I just knew I wanted to read another by Scott Turow. His plots are good, characterizations of his main characters close to fully-fleshed, and the writing well above average. As to this latter, I smiled when I thought of writing that here. One of the great things about reading digitally is the easy access to a dictionary. I play some word games online and am always on the lookout. It isn't often I come across such words as arcana, protea, japery, anomie. (Yes, it's the 6-letter game that has become challenging. I didn't write down the 7- and 8-letter words I looked up.)
Anyway, this opens when Alejandro (Sandy) Stern arrives home from a short trip to Chicago to discover his wife has killed herself with carbon monoxide poisoning. This isn't a spoiler - it is the first page or two. From there family relationships become front and center, including that of his brother-in-law Dixon Hartnell. Dixon is a bigger than life character who built his futures trading business from the ground up. We know he cheats on his wife, but how much cheating in business has he done? This, in fact, is what the government wants to know and why Sandy Stern is his lawyer.
I especially liked the back story on Sandy Stern. Born in Argentina, Stern was an immigrant who automatically became a US citizen upon honorable discharge from the army. He was one of those immigrants who still became weak with sentiment—and gratitude—on the Fourth of July. What an idea this country was! Parts of this is dated. Stern has a car phone, but this is before cell phones. Stern learns something about his wife's medical condition and must make discreet inquiries from his neighbor who is an MD. Oh, Sandy, if only there had been an internet! There are computers, but copies of documents are stored on microfiche. I was OK with all of that, but perhaps those of a more recent generation would be less interested.
I think this is a series that need not be read in order. This is number 2. There are references to earlier cases, but only one of those cases actually happened in the first of the series, and its result isn't revealed. I'm not positive these characters will appear in subsequent installments, though it's possible some of the minor characters will populate them. I will be reading more, that's for sure. As much as I might praise this one, I can't bring myself to give it 5-stars, though it's certainly in the top 10% of my 4-star reads.
Sometimes I find the Goodreads descriptions so infuriating. I know it isn't their fault. The descriptions, for the most part, come from the publishersSometimes I find the Goodreads descriptions so infuriating. I know it isn't their fault. The descriptions, for the most part, come from the publishers. I'm too lazy to go figure out how to not tell readers what happens about 1/3 in and not just 'sort of' spoilerish. In any case, knowing who would end up accused did have me paying a mite closer attention, so I guess knowing that wasn't all bad.
I admit that I have aged enough that I could have done with fewer explicit sex scenes which I'd put in the category of gratuitous. There aren't enough of them, however, to have cut this from 430 pages to even 375. Yeah, I've aged that much.
It has been years since I read Scott Turow and I wondered if this was going to be a reread. I decided not because absolutely nothing, not one word, seemed famliar. And I was very happy being in front of this legal thriller. The courtroom scenes and the pre- and post-trial lawyer/client discussions had my undivided attention. (Except once, when the word venire caught my eye and I knew it would play immediately in an online word game.)
There were clues that had me pretty sure I knew who the perpetrator was, but because I am so often wrong about such things, I would not have placed any bets on my being right. I was right after all, and that was satisfying, but it didn't spoil the novel for me. This is a very good 4-stars and that, for me, is high praise in the genre....more
Elizabeth (Alaska)
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