The Last Trial
Scott Turow
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
The Last Trial
Scott Turow
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Turow has done his homework, and his incremental presentation of the evidence not only illuminates the legal issues involved, but it also offers a thorough, digestible account of the steps — research, development, testing — by which a newly created drug is brought to market. Turow is particularly good at integrating this arcane material into a dramatic narrative. Readers of The Last Trial will find themselves both entertained and painlessly educated.
... true-to-form, pleasingly substantial.
Turow makes the most complicated legal matters understandable and even exciting.
Not everyone will relish the...fixation on legal and verbal minutiae, but the meticulousness is essential to Turow’s distinctive, addictive fusion of the cerebral and the melodramatic. The novel features death, grief, revenge, rage, international fame, vast wealth, breathtaking deceit, attempted murder and illicit passion (Pafko’s wife, lover and ex-lover are in court), all filtered à la classical tragedy through the formality of the five-act trial.
Turow has established the gold standard for legal thrillers for decades, and he delivers another bar-raising example of his talent here, with his signature absorbing legal details, cerebral suspense, and fascinatingly flawed characters all on full view..
Turow is also a practicing lawyer with experience in tax fraud and corruption litigation, as well as criminal law, and it shows. Readers have come to expect a high degree of verisimilitude in his fiction, and The Last Trial is no exception to the rule.
The twisty plot leaves the question of Palko’s guilt unsettled until the very end. While this entry lacks the gut punches of the author’s best books, it’s still a page-turner that makes a trial centered on fraud and insider trading fascinating. Turow remains in a class of his own in conveying the subtleties of criminal defense work while also entertaining his readers..
With its bland prosecutors, frequent focus on technical details like 'double-blind clinical trials,' and lack of real surprises, the novel likely will disappoint some fans of legal thrillers. But this smoothly efficient book gains timely depth through its discussion of thorny moral issues raised by a drug that can extend a cancer sufferer's life expectancy at the risk of suddenly ending it. A strongly felt, if not terribly gripping, sendoff for a Turow favorite nearly 35 years after his appearance in Presumed Innocent..