Scott Turow is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including IDENTICAL, INNOCENT, PRESUMED INNOCENT, and THE BURDEN OF PROOF, and two nonfiction books, including ONE L, about his experience as a law student. One is Evon Miller, a former F.B.I. Now after reading his latest, identical, I'm thinking maybe that first one really wasn't all that good either. After reading Presumed Innocent, I read all Turow's subsequent novels thinking, just maybe, he might write another as good as that first novel. Cass is pleads guilty to killing his girlfriend and is sentenced to 25 years in prison. Apparently not 100% the same and I did know this before reading this book. Scott Turow presents another page turner that I couldn't put down. They start with a parole hearing, with a man’s liberty at stake, in a low-ceilinged room with folding chairs and card tables. It´s not really a series. The best way I can fairly review this book is to tell you seven things that it is not. They are very close and even slept together when they were toddlers. or are they? Soliloquies are uttered by characters whose sudden urge to confess is not wholly explained. Their mother, Lidia, has kept dark secrets from the boys as they grew up. Since at this time Paul was running for mayor, and Hal was very rich, Hal sponsored an advertisement blitz, accusing Paul of "something". Who's your daddy?" The plot is not close to believable and I knew who the killer was very early, which is unusual for me since I don't try to "solve" the crime when I read. October 15th 2013 “Identical”, the title referring to twins who wind up impersonating each other, hardly an original thought, revolves around a 25-year-old murder for which one of the twins, Cass, pled guilty and served the long prison term. Interesting though. “I’m suspicioning it’s probably true,” he says of one theory. When it comes, it's like reaching the destination of a place you never wanted to be in the first place, but yet you can say, the long drive is over. Turow introduces us to many of the main characters, most of whom bear the names of Greek gods or variations on them. Raymond Horgan, whom we met as Kindle County’s chief prosecutor in “Presumed Innocent,” is the campaign’s lawyer, and he has views about campaign finance law. Turow, who kept his attorney day job, has had a third the number of bestsellers to Grisham in the intervening near quarter-century. The characters are the thing, more real and more vivid than people you actually know, with secrets and problems and relationships that the reader will understand better than her own. But the characters aren't the whole thing. Identical is also not a primer on DNA analysis or Greek mythology, however much it may read like one at times. We’d love your help. Hal wants answers, and his troops get cashed up, ask no questions and behave in some questionable and certainly morally corrupt dealings. Cass and Paul Gianis are identical twins. Scott Turow has written another convoluted mystery set in fictional Kindle County, somewhere in the Midwest. by Grand Central Publishing. He long ago proved that he is a fine stylist whose sly, grave sentences are merciless tools for probing a criminal justice system unequal to the task of sorting out responsibility for human frailty. Since at this time Paul was running for mayor, and Hal was very rich, Hal sponsored an advertisement blitz, accusing Paul of "something". Elsewhere, the narrative bounces among several characters’ perspectives, which gives it a jumpy and inconsistent quality, one heightened by questions about the twins’ identities. Scott Turow is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including IDENTICAL, INNOCENT, PRESUMED INNOCENT, and THE BURDEN OF PROOF, and two nonfiction books, including ONE L, about his experience as a law student. When “Identical” is dealing with those subjects, it is at its best. Jeremy Lawson/Courtesy of Grand Central Publishing, We Insist: A Timeline Of Protest Music In 2020, Scott Turow: Feeling 'The Power And The Glory', Favorite Books Of 2010: Scott Simon Picks Scott Turow's 'Innocent'. Zeus was afraid us humans would get too powerful so he sliced us right down the middle, and everybody spends their life looking for the matching piece.”, “You accept that it happened. I’m pretty sure, moreover, that there was more smiting than suing on Mount Olympus. As Turow explains in his author's note, he had the pleasure of consulting several experts for this book. Do you need to read the whole series to read this novel? So he has set himself new challenges, touching on areas of the law where he is less sure-footed and working with a classical template apparently meant to give his tale literary weight. I have enjoyed each of Scott Turow’s nine novels, starting with “Presumed Innocent.” He and John Grisham have had parallel careers for me. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects. However, there are so many very clever turns and twists (really clever) that I finished the book and actually enjoyed it. It has treats and shortcomings, like a trip to a city with a lot of different neighborhoods. I was a Scott Turow fan when 'Presumed Innocent' was released but I read his next novels with a set of mixed emotions. Plenty of readers will enjoy it, especially the ending, which is hard to see coming — in part because the author manages expectations well, in part because it's so implausible. The characters are the thing, more real and more vivid than people you actually know, with secrets and problems and relationships that the reader will understand better than her own. It is also not a farce of a legal thriller. His legal thrillers include Personal Injuries and The Burden of Proof. Their lives are intertwined and their closeness has disastrous results. Then again, a farce by nature is required to be humorous. In 1982, Cass’s girlfriend Dita Kronon (a nickname for Aphrodite), also a member of a Greek family, is murdered and Cass is strongly implicated in the crime. If I haven't made myself clear, this book is not Turow's best. Identical twins, where the majority of the people could not tell them apart, schemed & succeeded in deceiving everyone for over 25 years. I was disappointed in his last novel"Innocent" and am glad to see he is back to form with "Identical". Among the guests are her boyfriend, Cass Gianis; his identical twin, Paul; and their mother, Lidia. Turow hits a magical space between literary fiction and mystery. And, it would be very difficult for Paul to prove that he. Cass is about to be released from prison, having served a 25-year sentence for murdering his girlfriend. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Both are excellent storytellers – Turow is perhaps the better plot master, Grisham the better definer of character. John Grisham's Recommended Thriller Reading List. The prolific and beloved author John Grisham, known for his courtroom thrillers, is back this month with a new pageturner, A Time for Mercy,... To see what your friends thought of this book. “He’s an individual exercising his First Amendment rights,” Horgan says of the brother, Hal Kronon, who is preparing to take out ads restating his accusation. This afternoon I will have to attend PA plot addicts anonymous. Turow has a way of taking the reader for a long, long ride pointing out many semi-interesting things as he goes along. Much-practiced legal proceduralist Turow (Innocent, 2010, etc.) Scott Turow practiced law before turning his attention to fiction writing. But where le Carré found a second (or third, or fourth) wind when anti-terrorism replaced the Cold War, Turow appears to be coasting. Upon his release, brother Paul is running for mayor when the murder victim’s brother starts running negative ads saying Paul was involved with the old murder too. An ex-FBI agent (Evon) and a retired cop (Tim) resume investigating the old case and make a number of interesting discoveries that add suspense, particularly near the end, to the plot. “At least as long as there are five clowns on the Supreme Court who think that spending money is a form of unrestricted free speech.”. At the base of it is a pair of twins, one of whom goes to prison for murdering his then girlfriend. Turow hits a magical space between literary fiction and mystery. Turow is sharp as ever with dialogue, clever with legal arguments and positioning. In identical, he plays a written version of clue stacking up the suspects and dismissing them routinely until his has consumed many, many pages and not yet quite enough for a solution.