Scott Turow: Reversible Errors

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
May 25, 2009

I don’t seem to settle on a favorite type of book, so this time it’s a legal thriller. I’d read Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow years ago, and I was a little surprised to find Turow’s Reversible Errors on my to-read bookshelf recently. It has a sticker on the back identifying it as an “Amazon.com Bargain Book.” It must have caught my eye once. Well, fortunately it was a good read!

I’ve read a few complex novels with dozens of characters and multiple story lines, where I sure wished the book included a summary of the significant characters. (Some Neil Stephenson novels come to mind.) Well, Reversible Errors has only one story and only a handful of characters, but they are all listed just ahead of page 1. So there’s no excuse for forgetting who Genevieve is! Actually there is one character missing from the list. I wondered why for quite a while.

In summary, Rommy Gandolph was sentenced to death for a triple murder in 1991, and in 2001 he is making his very last appeal. Arthur Raven has been court-appointed to represent Gandolph, and Gillian Sullivan, the judge in the 1991 trial, gets involved, but not in that role. On the other side, Muriel Wynn, the prosecutor in 1991, and Larry Starczek, the detective who arrested Gandolph in 1991, come back to defend the original conviction.

As the story unfolds, Erno Erdai, another convict who knew Gandolph in 1991, comes forward at the last minute and asserts Gandolph is innocent. But do you believe someone like Erdai? The story takes us step by step through revelations from the various characters that help us learn what actually happened on that Fourth of July night in 1991 when three people were murdered. It’s a good story with a reasonable (albeit not “thrilling”) ending.

But wait, that’s perhaps less than half of the excitement and tension in Reversible Errors. The observant reader might have noted I listed two male/female pairs above – Arthur and Gillian on the defense side, and Muriel and Larry on the prosecuting side. Aha, will there be chemistry between them? Arthur has always been sort of geeky and unsuccessful in relating with women. Gillian has personal problems that have kept her out of relationships. Muriel and Larry have been hot for each other for years, but Muriel has ambitions and married a man that will help her succeed. And Larry has a faithful and overly patient wife. Did they or will they make the right choices?

The attraction between Arthur and Gillian, and Muriel and Larry, builds as the story goes on, and often overshadows the fate of poor Gandolph. Eventually we reach two emotional climaxes, each quite different in style and outcome. And then their lives go on, either on new paths or on the same old paths. You’ll have to read the book to see if Gandolph’s life goes on.

It’s a good story. The characters are well developed and act out their roles as you’d expect. You get to think like a cop, and like a lawyer, and like a prosecutor, and sometimes like a judge. I’ll read more Turow novels if they come my way. (And now I’m going to quickly read Angels and Demons while it’s still timely! It’s been sitting on my to-read shelf for quite a while.)

John Grisham: The Associate

Kyle McAvoy is the top law student at Yale at the beginning of John Grisham’s new book, The Associate. As he is ready to graduate, an unpleasant episode from his drunken undergraduate years surfaces. Although Kyle’s involvement was more embarrassing than criminal, he would like to keep it buried.

So Kyle succumbs to blackmail and accepts a job in New York at the world’s largest law firm. His mission? To worm his way onto the biggest lawsuit of the times, and steal privileged client information.

The background story is of Kyle and other young associates grinding through long hours of tedium, generating unconscionable hours of billable time, at outrageously high salaries. Boredom and burnout are at astronomical levels among associate lawyers trying to make partner. But Grisham does not make the job of Partner at a large law firm sound much better. I think we finally see why he writes novels instead of practicing law.

The foreground story is much more exciting. Can Kyle find a way out of his predicament? If he does what the bad guys want, can he avoid getting caught, disbarred, and maybe sent to prison? If he refuses, will he be disgraced, disbarred, and become an embarrassment to his family? Or is there a third way?

The first two choices would lead to short boring books. So naturally there is a third way. Kyle is feeling his way through the minefields. We learn his partial plans as fast as he thinks of them. He doesn’t know where his ideas will lead, and neither do we. But the longer he can avoid a full ethical breach, the longer he can keep his options open.

As I read The Associate I found myself thinking that full and open honesty up front sounds like the path of least resistance in the long run. But by not taking that route, Kyle McAvoy took us for a good ride. Grisham still delivers a great story, and this one is above his average.

Patrick F. McManus: The Blight Way

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
April 23, 2009

After Nate reviewed Avalanche, another Sheriff Bo Tully mystery, I decided to read a Patrick McManus book. The Blight Way is set in Blight County, Idaho, with the action shifting between Blight City and the small town of Famine. As the story commences, Batim Scragg, a rancher more likely to be on the wrong side of the law, calls the county sheriff, Bo Tully, to inform him there is a dead body draped on one of his pasture fences. Bo picks up his dad, Pap, the former county sheriff, and the two of them drive up to Famine to investigate.

As the story unfolds, we meet each of the quirky members of the sheriff’s department, a couple ranchers, some of the unusual citizens of Famine, and we find a couple more bodies. All the victims appear to be from Los Angeles, which suggests a drug connection. But Famine, Idaho seems an unlikely hot spot for drug dealings or killings. There are just enough incidents and clues to clear up this quandary by the end of the story.

The Blight Way is not a complex mystery. A lot of the interest is in getting to know the characters. Bo Tully, in addition being the sheriff, is a fairly competent artist. He has dated pretty much every unmarried woman in town, and he is always on the lookout for newcomers. (Watch out Susan Parker, the new medical examiner up from Boise!) Pap has a different style, but he isn’t much different.

The other draw to this book and Patrick McManus in general is the wry humor. I did chuckle a few times as I read the book, “’I hear it’s better to stay lost than to have Blight County Search and Rescue find you,’ Pap said.” Well, I guess you had to be there.

In summary, the story line is interesting and comes to a reasonable but not surprising conclusion; the characters are interesting although not captivating; and the book is sort of humorous. It is a good, easy recreational read, but it’s not a book to keep on my shelf to read again in the future.

Janet Evanovich: Plum Lovin'

A few years ago I picked up Three Plums in One, a volume that contained Janet Evanovich’s first three Stephanie Plum novels. I enjoyed them, although I was careful to set it aside between each novel and read something else. I did not want to get burned out. I keep telling myself that someday I’ll start moving forward again from Four to Score.

But in the meantime I ran across Plum Lovin’, a “Between the Numbers” story. It is 164 pages of Valentine’s Day fluff – and thoroughly enjoyable.

For those of you who don’t know, Stephanie Plum stumbled into the job of bounty hunter when she couldn’t find other work. She’s not tough enough for the job, but she is determined and foolish enough. And she develops friends who are tough enough to bail her out of trouble.

In Plum Lovin’, a strange guy named Diesel shows up in Stephanie’s apartment. I’m pretty sure Diesel has been around before, but since I never got past Three to Get Deadly, I can’t say when. In any case Diesel seems to be some sort of disciplinarian in a sub-culture of people with paranormal abilities. He’s trying to find Bernie Beamer, who tends to give hives to people near him when he’s upset. At the moment, he’s upset about problems in his marriage and blames Annie Hart.

Annie is a self-proclaimed relationship expert committed to helping five clients (who don’t happen to know that they are clients) find happiness – or true love – by Valentine’s Day. Annie is also on Stephanie’s list, wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Diesel has Annie hidden away while he searches for Bernie. But he had to promise to help her with her clients so she would stay hidden. If Stephanie will take care of Annie’s clients, Diesel will give Annie to Stephanie when he’s done dealing with Bernie. But in the mean time, there are also some serious bad guys after Annie. (Remember? She’s connected to an armed robbery and assault situation.) To further complicate the story, one of Annie’s clients is Stephanie’s sister’s live in boy friend.

Now if you don’t see the potential for humor in this set-up, you need to stay away from Janet Evanovich’s novels.

Plum Lovin’ is light, easy, and fun. It has no redeeming social value – my kind of book. It won’t last much longer than a TV movie. So stick a bag of popcorn in the microwave and take an evening off.

Joseph Finder: Killer Instinct

I like Joseph Finder because he writes about the corporate world. Although it’s not quite the same corporate world I remember. I found a copy of Killer Instinct on a discount table and bought it.

We meet Jason Steadman, a district sales manager for Entronics, a company that makes flat screen TVs of all sizes. He likes what he does, and is good at it. He has reached a plateau in his career and seems reasonably content. But his wife was raised in an “old but gone money” family, and would like some of the better things back in her life. So when a VP of Sales position opens up, she pushes him to try for it.

Jason meets Kurt Semco, an ex-Special Forces guy, driving a tow truck. One thing leads to another and Jason gets Kurt a job in corporate security, mainly because they need a good pitcher on the company softball team.

Kurt adopts Jason as his new best buddy, and will do anything for him. The problem is with how far “anything” goes. At first Kurt uses his Special Forces contacts to get Jason some inside information to help him close important deals. And, interestingly, at the same time some important deals for Jason’s main competitors for the VP job fall through at the last minute.

Kent “Gordy” Gordon is the Senior VP over the entire sales division. If, well actually when, Jason gets the VP job, he reports to Gordy. And Gordy is a jerk. A lot of the book deals with Jason trying to be true to his own beliefs while dealing with Gordy’s demands.

Jason enjoys the perks and salary of his new role, but begins to realize that he got where he is with more help than he wants from Kurt. But he is still tempted to use Kurt’s help on key deals. Ultimately he understands that Kurt is way out of bounds and needs to be stopped. But Kurt is much worse as an enemy than as a friend. The plot thickens....

Jason is mostly a likeable character. That’s not always a given with Finder’s books. Kurt is a little over the top in his abilities and resources. He seems a bit too omnipotent. That helps the plot line, but at a cost in believability.

Killer Instinct takes a business cliché and pushes it to a literal definition. The result is not pretty from the perspective of working for Entronics. But for the reader, the result is a fast paced thriller set in corporate America.