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LIMITATIONS
by Scott Turow
Picador, February 2007
197 pages
16.99 GBP
ISBN: 033045000X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Given the impact Scott Turow made on legal thrillers with his debut fiction, PRESUMED INNOCENT, it seems odd to think of him as an old master, but that he is: an ever-reliable author guaranteed to hold the reader's attention through the legal complications he incorporates into usually gripping dramas. LIMITATIONS was originally published as a New York Times serial so perhaps coping with a different form may have altered the practising lawyer's approach to his writing and hence the overall effect.

Judge George Mason is the character from whose point of view the unfolding tale is seen. Rusty Sabich, someone devoted readers will remember meeting in PRESUMED INNOCENT, is also a player, although a minor one, in the tale.

George Mason is being uncharacteristically indecisive while considering a case. People v Jacob Warnovits et al. is the result of a gang rape. The four defendants had assaulted a 15-year-old girl, rendered drunk and unconscious, in 1999. The incident had been videotaped so there was no doubt it had occurred, but the victim, unsure of what had happened, had not reported the assault to police until the tape came to light years later and by that time the statute of limitations had expired. Now George, with his two fellow judges, must make a ruling.

Patrice, George's wife, is a cancer sufferer undergoing radiation therapy. Such a circumstance is enough to divert the judge's attention but in addition, George has been receiving threatening messages from someone his staff has designated #1 – George's number one fan.

As usual, Turow produces an involving tale with an excellent character study of the protagonist. The behind-the-scenes glimpse of what goes on in the offices of a judge is also fascinating, giving an insight, as it does, into a person with problems other than those encountered on the bench.

Nonetheless, I felt the tale was, somehow, lacking. Perhaps the brevity of the work was in some way to blame: the text occupies only 197 pages, the remainder comprising the opening extract of ORDINARY HEROES, Turow's previous work. The novel lacks, too, the complex structure normally found in the work of this author. I didn't feel the individual threads were sufficiently tightly knit but that the ancillary tales were more of a casual drape to clothe a skeleton.

While it is impossible for Scott Turow to write a bad book, I hope his next work will see a return to his novels' more usual style and structure.

Reviewed by Denise Pickles, November 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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