The Burden of Proof

By: Scott Turow

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Presumed Innocent was the fiction debut of the decade - a magnetic work of suspense that earned Turow acclaim for his unparalleled storytelling gifts. Now, in a brilliant follow-up, Scott Turow stakes his claim as an American master, in a mesmerizing novel of law, family and deceit.

Alejandro "Sandy" Stern - the brilliant defense lawyer from Presumed Innocent - comes home to discover that his wife of 30 years has committed suicide, leaving behind a web of mystery, money, and guilt. While Stern hunts for answers, he is caught up in the threatened Federal prosecution of his most powerful and troublesome client - his own brother-in-law. Now, after a life of success, Sandy Stern is a man in desperate need of many truths - about his family, his uncertain future, and the troubled legacy his wife left behind.

©1991 Scott Turow (P)2010 Hachette

First Turow book...

Good storyline but it was a long book. Probably could have a been a few chapters shorter. The narrator was excellent.

excellent

Though I listen to this out of order, it was still very entertaining. Really good material brought to life by a fine performance of Mr. Lloyd.

Not in the league of Innocent and Presumed Innocent

I came to this having become a fan of Turow through Innocent and Presumed Innocent. Sadly this one doesn't quite measure up: I found the story jumps around just a little too much, and the plot twists itself through enough loops to end up confusing and contrived by the end.

Not Nearly As good As Presumed Innocent

In "Burden of Proof", lawyer and novelist Scott Turow returns the character of Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, the smooth-spoken, Argentine-Jewish defense attorney introduced in the earlier novel, "Presumed Innocent". In that earlier novel, Stern defended a prosecutor in a high-profile murder case. In "Burden", Stern now has all the questions. Just when his existence seemed routine enough, Stern returns home from a business trip to find his wife dead - an apparent suicide. Reeling from the loss, Stern must also confront a grand jury proceeding against his client and brother in law, Dixon Hartnell. A web of complex (and suspicious) financial transactions involving futures-trading on Kindle County market run by Hartnell has whet the interest of the US Attorney's office, itself run by a foe of Stern. Though Hartnell is the sort of guy who routinely seems to hover at the edge of indictment for something, the charges now offer the chance of landing the embattled broker in a federal lockup and, because Stern's son-in law works for Hartnell, threaten to tear at the fragile Stern family. Into this mix of family and legal problems, Turow throws in Stern's romancing of his enemy at the US Attorney's office and of a nearby neighbor, his suspicions harbored against a neighbor who may have had an affair with Stern's now dead wife, and the story of his own romance, years ago, with Clara Mittler-Stern.
"Burden" has Scott Turow's great prose and obsessive character dissection, but it's not as enveloping a book as "Presumed Innocent". The sense of an underlying secret isn't as enticing as the murder investigation in the earlier book, and the characters don't grab you as well either. Most annoying is Stern whose silver-tongued erudition was cute when he was a supporting character in the older book. Dixon Hartnell would have been a more interesting choice of main character, but the plot makes that impossible. Turow dangles the names of characters from the first book just to get our attentions (ex-PA Ray Horgan almost becomes the defense lawyer for Stern's embattled son in-law; Rusty Sabich is referred in passing as "Judge Sabich"; the specter of the corrupt Mayor Augie Bolcarro seems to hang like a smog over Kindle County) but remains it's own book. Even the fictional choice of legal venue seems troublesome - exchanging the Kindle county court in "Presumed" with the anonymous Federal Court here. Kindle County, which seemed so real and unique in the older book seems just another mid-west city. The novel concentrates instead on the byzantine relationships of its main characters, but after you've finished, you wonder why you should care. This is a pretty good novel, but it loses something and suffers in comparison to its prequel.

John Bedford Lloyd was outstanding with the delivery of the story

Another wonderful story from Scott Turow

The story of Alejandro Stern is endlessly fascinating. After Presumed Innocent it was great to find him in another book.

Very Good but Not the Best

Alejandro "Sandy" Stern defended Kindle County deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabicch in Presumed Innocent, a great book that was made into an excellent film in 1990. Sandy returns in Burden of Proof and again proves to be an excellent legal representative if not quite as good a husband and father. There are two mysteries here. One concerns commodities trading at Maison Dixon, a brokerage firm owned by Sandy's brother-in-law. The other concerns Sandy's wife's suicide. The book is well plotted and certainly holds the reader's interest, but I didn't find it as engaging as the other books in Turow's Kindle County series, especially The Last Trial, which I read recently. John Bedford Lloyd was plainly chosen for his wonderful ability to voice Sandy Stern's rich Argentinian accent, but he's frankly nothing special on most of the other characters, especially the women. Scott Turow is a great writer and his legal acumen is spot on. I recommend this title, but, in my view, this is not his best work.

Was Expecting the Pace of Presumed Innocent

This book was not awful. I had just finished listening to Presumed Innocent and was looking forward to another fast-paced suspense. This one had lots of twists and turns but it was just too long - and I happen to enjoy long novels. It went on and on and never seemed to get to the ending. The reader was excellent and the story itself was interesting. It would have been better if made somewhat less 'stream of consciousness' on the part of Sandy. Worth the listen, just be prepared to take a while to get to the ending!

Turow still has it!

It's been A LONG TIME since I've read a book by Turow, so I really didn't know what to expect. I was very pleased with this book. It was much more than a legal drama. It detailed the drama going on in the life of the main character, whose life changes drastically in the opening paragraphs of this story. We're introduced to his family, friends and neighbors; all told interestingly. It's not necessarily high drama, but it is a "page turner". I've already lined up 2 more of Turow's books to follow.

Wordy

It was too detailed for me but hearing it instead of reading it was easier. Good story, excellent reader and presentation.

Great twists. Not quite as good as presumption

This good ultimately develops to be exciting and interesting. However the character development and psychology, while interesting, drags it down a bit. I thought the reader's voice was less pleasant than others I have heard.