Suspect

It's been some time since I read anything by Scott Turow and I was expecting a court room heavy drama. There is court room scenes, and there IS a legal case at the heart of this, but it's much more a novel set outside. Clarice ‘Pinky’ Granum is the protagonist in the tale - young, punky, and a lot of other things I'm assuming the author is, not, but I really liked the character and the way she is written throughout the book. And that, at its' heart is what the story is: a character driven piece. It doesn't' have the twisty turny plot points I recall from early Turow books, but that's no bad thing. What it does have is a slow burn, relatively small-scale (in the sense that the stakes for the protagonist are more of a personal development/ achievement nature rather than life-or-death-or-life-imprisonment one and, as a change of pace I appreciated the book for that.
I often find novels by successful and middle aged plus authors cringy when they attempt to replicate 'modern youth (or younger adult) vocabulary and ideologies in their dialogue from or attitudes of their characters, but I found this very readable and non-jarring.
The ending (no spoilers) felt a slightly different thing to the rest of the book but I was fine with that and overall I found this a really good read, - enough so that I'm going to go back and read some of the Turow books I've missed on the strength of it.

Scott Turow is a master of his trade and I have devoured everyone of his books. This again visits Kindle County and the main character is Clarice ‘Pinky’ Granum, the grand daughter of Sandy Stern the lawyer depicted so brilliantly in so many of his previous books.

She is a fascinating character with great strengths as well as foibles and weaknesses and I liked her immensely.

The plot was complex and convoluted and sometimes confused and dragged a bit but as always everything was resolved perfectly.

I held back one star simply because nobody does court scenes better than Turow and there are hardly any, but I still really enjoyed it.

Scott Turow at his finest. I have enjoyed reading many of his books in the past and Suspect does not disappoint. The beginning is a little slow but once the pace gets going there was no putting this one down. Great for a holiday read and perfect for a gift.

For as long as Lucia Gomez has been the police chief in the city of Highland Isle, near Kindle County, she has known that any woman in law enforcement must walk a precarious line between authority and camaraderie to gain respect. She has maintained a spotless reputation--until now. Three male police officers have accused her of soliciting sex in exchange for promotions to higher ranks. With few people left who she can trust, Chief Gomez turns to an old friend, Rik Dudek, to act as her attorney in the federal grand jury investigation, insisting to Rik that the accusations against her are part of an ugly smear campaign designed to destroy her career and empower her enemies--both outside the police force and within..

“Suspect” by Scott Turow - one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and I was lucky enough to receive an arc!! Scott Turow - for anyone who doesn’t know - is John Grisham on crack (in a good way!!). His books always bring that spice that I feel Grisham lacks with his. And don’t get it twisted - I’m a big Grisham fan; I love me a good legal thriller. But throw some of that Turow spice in there, along with the legal shenanigans and I’m sold. Fast paced and plenty of action, I’ve never read a dull Turow book to date. Just read it, you’ll thank me for it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Suspect (by Scott Turow) is a fast-flowing suspense/thriller/crime story of Pinky Granum, her lawyer boss Rik Dudek and their client, Lucy Gomez, Chief of Highland Isle’s Police Department who is on trial for soliciting sex in exchange for supporting three male staff members’ promotions. The charges against her, the Chief maintains, are an attempt to tarnish her reputation and get her sacked.

Pinky is Rik Dudek’s unconventional private investigator with a drug-fueled history and anail through her nose. Rik’s isn’t quite in the same league as Pinky’s lawyer grandfather until the Chief Lucia Gomez’s high profile case comes along.

Just as the case attracts Rik’s and then Pinky’s attention, an intriguing neighbor, Koob, moves into Pinky’s building. Being a work in progress private investigator, Pinky sees the unusually secretive Koob as a worthy subject for investigation and eventually she makes a link between him and ‘The Ritz’, the town’s top-level property tycoon, crook, drug-dealer, ex-cop, and ex-partner of Lucy Gomez.

Lucy Gomez’ trial proceeds and two of the three litigants are exposed as liars. The third though, Blanco, proves more resilient to cross-examination and the evidence linking him to Lucy, a lurid photo, is compelling. The case suddenly collapses when Blanco’s dead body is found in a near-empty apartment. Pinky is allowed in on the case because she has gathered damning information from Koob against The Ritz. As the FBI move in on The Ritz, Lucy Gomez goes missing. And because this is a suspense as well as a thriller, I should stop there.

I’ve enjoyed all of Turow’s books so far and this one did not disappoint although at times I thought there was too much ‘Pinky introspection’ and perhaps luck/intuition played too great a part in the investigation meaning the reader was less capable of beating the writer to the end. Nonetheless the story was well constructed and well written, the main characters were reasonably well developed and their relationships were suitably inter-twined to generate some intrigue. The high-tempo ending was certainly satisfying.

I’m a big fan of Scott Turow and this was a highly entertaining read.

Lucia Gomez, police chief in the city of Highland Isle has been accused by three male police officers of soliciting sex in return for giving them promotions to higher ranks. Lucia has maintained a spotless record until this point.

She turns to her friend Rik Dudek as her attorney and the only person she feels she can trust. His PI, Clarice ‘Pinky’ Granum, is the most amazing character bring the whole story to life along with the many twists and turns. This is fast paced, plenty of action and quite a few surprises.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Swift Press and Scott Turow for my ARC of Suspect in return for my honest review.

Highly recommended.