Turow, Scott

(US, 1949– )

Turow's work is several cuts above your usual legal thriller. If you like lots of plot twists dependent on legal niceties, you won't be disappointed in Presumed Innocent (1987) and The Burden of Proof (1990), as Turow draws on his experience as a partner in a Chicago law firm. But it's the moral and political intricacies which will really hook you. These are big, satisfying books (500-plus pages) which are easy to read because Turow's ear for dialogue is so sharp. Where John Grisham gives you fast-paced action, Turow's strength is the slow pressure of the accumulation of plot detail which becomes just as nail-biting. The approach is oblique and sophisticated; the truth is seen from multiple viewpoints and only gradually, if at all, uncovered. The Laws of Our Fathers (1996) unravels thirty years of American history, asking if the 1960s had any lasting impact.

Tom Wolfe, T. Coraghessan Boyle  RV