Saturday, May 09, 2009

The laws of our fathers - Scott Turow

I finished up reading another book. It was The laws of our fathers by Scott Turow.

As usual it was set in the fictional Kindle County in the midwest in 1995. It's the story of a female judge who has a case involving a number of people she knew well in 1970 in San Francisco. By a series of events all of the principals from 1970 end up back in the courtroom in the 1995 murder case.

One part which was OK is that the enigmatic Tommy Molto gets some more screen time as the prosecutor. Of course with all of the shenanigans among the principals it's an uphill battle for him. Like all of the Kindle County books there's a very active romantic scene for all of the main lawyers and judges. I wonder if it's like that in real life for the legal professionals.

Other than that it was not a great book. It was hard to follow as it kept flashing back to 1970 and the radical scene in San Francisco, trying to tie it to the 1995 court case. I found the 1970 sections more interesting as the 1995 parts just kind of dragged out. The main characters, the judge Sonny and the successful syndicated columnist Seth, just aren't very likable. They are too hung up on themselves, with constant annoying self analysis. In the other books the characters just live with their circumstances and their shortcomings and they move forward.

Most of the Turow stuff I've read so far has been pretty good. This one was a disappointment. The Turow fans wouldn't miss much by skipping this effort. That will be it for the fiction reading for a little bit. I've got some nonfiction to read next.

No comments: