Reviews

Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow

hystericalfiction's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

A complete waste of my time and money.

alykat_reads's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.0

I don't need my fiction books to be 100% believable, but this was just a jumbled mess. 
I love the unreliable narrator Mack; never quite sure what moves he's planning next or if he even knows his next steps. However, the POV of him dictating all this in real time just didn't make sense. At the end, I can see at that point why he would; but up until that time, it doesn't make sense he would record it all.

He also caught way too many 'lucky breaks'. His client Toots just happens to know who is going after Bert and Kam/Orleans, and Mack can just 'cash in' his favor and just like that everything is fine and dandy, case closed????

A few coincidences are fine, but this was just too many to remain believable.
There were a lot of characters and at times it was somewhat hard to keep track of who was who and what role they played in this whole thing.

The ending was pretty stupid.. ofc Mack is going to run when he's got 5.6 mil. The 'double crossing' of Brushy saying she could get him to return the money, but then she'd throw him to the wolves to get arrested, just seemed like unnecessary drama thrown in. Ain't no way she wouldn't have run away with him to live a cozy, laid back island life; especially when its portrayed like she's the one who has feelings for him and he doesn't reciprocate.

I think this is only my second book of Turow's I've ever read, but sprinkling in random 'big' words wherever just comes across as trying too hard.. especially when you've got a cop we constantly refer to as Pigeyes and Mack makes some really dumb decisions sometimes so it seems highly unlikely he'd use those terms when dictating his story. 

raquelschneider's review

medium-paced

3.5

chazbot72's review against another edition

2.0

This was just bad. Constant drifting around and babbling about this and that instead of sticking to the story. I struggled to get through. Such a shame. I enjoyed Turow's first two books.

katemoxie's review

1.0

Gave up on page 212 of 386. It was the pits. If this had been my first Scott Turow book it would've been my last.

catmomcarolyn's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

Boring 

happyglowlucky's review

4.0

"Mack Malloy is a partner in one of Kindle County's top law firms. An ex-cop who joined the firm on a wave of enthusiasm and optimism, he now feels himself to be on the way down, and possibly out. Bert Kamin, gifted, erratic and combative, is one of the firm's star litigators and he has disappeared"

This is the third book in the Kindle County Legal Thriller series, and I really enjoyed it. It was engaging, and kept me turning pages, because it was driving me a bit batty that I didn't know what had happened to Bert Kamin. The ending was unexpected, which I like! That's how a mystery/thrilled book should be - you shouldn't be able to guess the ending. Well-written, and would recommend to anyone.

baearthur's review

1.0

The main character in this book is entirely unlikable.

jjfsf's review

2.0

Swing and a miss. Turow’s fist two books were excellent so what a disappointment this one was. Difficult to finish, not a single likable character and over the top annoying first person narration.

martyfried's review against another edition

3.0

I was a bit disappointed in this book, as I liked the last book I read by the author a lot more. This one was strange in some ways. The main character, a low-level partner in a law firm, seems like he's pretty smart and capable, but he kind of whines a lot about his hardships - mostly caused by drinking too much, but I suppose it started out from being an honest cop pushed into doing something dishonest, then getting caught and later being pushed to testify against his partner.

He complains about his love life, about being out of shape, about being underpaid, etc. Possible spoiler here...

Spoiler

But when he gets a chance to have a relationship with someone he likes, another lawyer, he can't seem to handle it and eventually ruins things. And when he gets a chance to be a success and do the right thing, he balks. In the end, he seems to lose by getting what he thinks he wants.