Helen Laser’s unpretentious girl-next-door voice captures the edgy personality of P.I. Clarice “Pinky” Granum in Turow’s 12th book in his Kindle County series. In a twist on the #MeToo theme, Chief of Police Lucia Gomez is accused of soliciting sex from male officers in exchange for promotions. Gomez hires attorney Rik Dudek, who relies on his tenacious investigator, Pinky. She is the granddaughter of the celebrated attorney Sandy Stern, who is now retired but whom Pinky relies on for advice. Laser masterfully performs the male and female characters, conveying dispositions good and evil. Turow provides dramatic courtroom scenes interspersed with romance, police procedures, and tense investigating, which lead to a pulse-pounding ending. Listeners are in for a totally engaging experience. E.Q. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

07/04/2022

Fledgling PI Clarice “Pinky” Granum, the narrator of bestseller Turow’s disappointing 12th legal thriller bordering Illinois’s fictitious Kindle County (after 2020’s The Last Trial), works for attorney Rik Dudek. Pinky, the granddaughter of series regular Sandy Stern, who retired in The Last Trial, is assisting Rik on the case of a client, Highland Isle police chief Lucia Gomez-Barrera. Three male subordinates have accused Gomez-Barrera of offering them promotions in return for sex. With criminal charges still being considered, the local Police and Fire Commission has moved ahead with disciplinary hearings that could result in Gomez-Barrera’s termination. Pinky’s digging into the chief’s accusers coincides with her growing fascination with a hunky neighbor’s eccentric and reclusive habits. The central plot doesn’t compel, despite its connection to a murder midway through the book, and the unconventional Pinky—a former drug addict and police academy flameout with a pierced nose—comes across as more of a stereotype than a real person. Even devoted Turow fans will hope this is the last they see of Pinky. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman. (Sept.)

"In this meticulously devised courtroom drama, rich with character detail, Turow again demonstrates what he does best: roll out a complex, keenly observed legal case yet save a boatload of surprises for its ending. And make it personal."—New York Times on The Last Trial

"Since Presumed Innocent rocked the publishing world, Scott Turow has cemented his status as a writer with few peers in any genre. Now the master is back with a brilliant courtroom chess match that shows us the human quotient in all its rot and virtue. The Last Trial is a first-class legal thriller."—David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Scott Turow set the gold standard for the modern legal thriller . . . A valedictory-tinged work."—Wall Street Journal on The Last Trial

"One of the major writers in America."—NPR

"No one tells this sort of story better than Turow. No one has illuminated the human side of the legal profession with such precision and care. The Last Trial is Scott Turow at his best and most ambitious. He has elevated the genre once again."—Washington Post

"This is thriller writing of the highest order, at once a brilliant character study and superb exploration of the nature, and relative merits, of the truth."—Providence Journal on The Last Trial

One of the major writers in America.

Helen Laser’s unpretentious girl-next-door voice captures the edgy personality of P. I. Clarice “Pinky” Granum…Laser masterfully performs the male and female characters, conveying dispositions good and evil…Listeners are in for a totally engaging experience. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

Since Presumed Innocent rocked the publishing world, Scott Turow has cemented his status as a writer with few peers in any genre. Now the master is back with a brilliant courtroom chess match that shows us the human quotient in all its rot and virtue. The Last Trial is a first-class legal thriller.

This is thriller writing of the highest order, at once a brilliant character study and superb exploration of the nature, and relative merits, of the truth.

Readers will be drawn into Suspect’s narrative and their expectations challenged at each successive development in the case.”

Turow’s a writer rather than just a plotter, as he demonstrates with his winning portrait of the protagonist of Suspect…More than earns its payoff.”

Scott Turow set the gold standard for the modern legal thriller . . . A valedictory-tinged work.

In this meticulously devised courtroom drama, rich with character detail, Turow again demonstrates what he does best: roll out a complex, keenly observed legal case yet save a boatload of surprises for its ending. And make it personal.

No one tells this sort of story better than Turow. No one has illuminated the human side of the legal profession with such precision and care. The Last Trial is Scott Turow at his best and most ambitious. He has elevated the genre once again.

Helen Laser’s unpretentious girl-next-door voice captures the edgy personality of P.I. Clarice “Pinky” Granum in Turow’s 12th book in his Kindle County series. In a twist on the #MeToo theme, Chief of Police Lucia Gomez is accused of soliciting sex from male officers in exchange for promotions. Gomez hires attorney Rik Dudek, who relies on his tenacious investigator, Pinky. She is the granddaughter of the celebrated attorney Sandy Stern, who is now retired but whom Pinky relies on for advice. Laser masterfully performs the male and female characters, conveying dispositions good and evil. Turow provides dramatic courtroom scenes interspersed with romance, police procedures, and tense investigating, which lead to a pulse-pounding ending. Listeners are in for a totally engaging experience. E.Q. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

2022-07-27
A private eye aids a police chief whose knickers may be in a twist.

In Highland Isle, Chief Lucia “Lucy” Gomez is accused of forcing a subordinate to have sex with her in exchange for his promotion to sergeant before his retirement. Unfortunately for the chief, there is a lurid photograph. But wait, she says, it must be Photoshopped. That can't be her. Well, we'll see about that. She's a “good police chief,” an attorney says. “But power corrupts. And she's turned her officers into her pool boys.” If a civil hearing determines that she’s been “bringing home guys who were under [her] command,” those knickers are well and truly twisted. Doing research on her behalf is the narrator, Clarice "Pinky" Granum, a 33-year-old ace investigator who works for the chief's lawyer, Rik Dudek. Gomez is a strong character, but she’s nothing like Pinky, the granddaughter of Sandy Stern, who has been a recurring character in Turow’s novels. Sandy is now in his mid-80s and in assisted living, where Pinky comes to visit. Pinky is a bisexual “inked-up chick” with a nail in her nose, and her ex-girlfriend is a “lumbersexual” cop named Tonya. Sandy is cool with all that as long as Pinky takes out the nail and wears long sleeves when necessary. She's very athletic, was once a police cadet, and is happy to be a “queerdo.” And wouldn't you know, she lives next door to a guy she calls The Weird One, or TWO, who she becomes convinced is a spy. Anyway, she’s skeptical about the chief forcing sex on a guy. “She's a woman, Boss. Men still hate it when a female does what she wants with her body. These dudes' stories make no sense." And then a witness named Blanco dies, raising the stakes. Did the chief have him whacked? Or maybe it was TWO, who is a Hmong guy named Koob, or a superrich ex-cop real estate mogul nicknamed the Ritz. Pinky and her colorful cohorts are the book's main appeal, but readers wanting gunplay won’t be disappointed.

Turow clearly had fun writing this one, and his fans will have fun reading it.