Suspect

In Suspect, bestselling author Scott Turow revisits Kindle County, the setting of eleven previous novels. The story is related in a first-person narrative from Clarice "Pinky" Granum, the granddaughter of one of Turow's most beloved characters, esteemed defense attorney Sandy Stern. Now retired and residing in an assisted living facility, Sandy gave Pinky his Cadillac CTS which Pinky describes as "not the ride I would have picked for myself." Considering she is covered in tattoos, and sports a magenta mohawk with a blue undercut on one side and a nail in her nose, she "gets some looks" when she climbs out of the vehicle. Pinky has endured failure in her life, most notably a difficult relationship with her mother, a lost shot at Olympic glory in the half-pipe event, and her dismissal from the police academy following a positive drug test. To her credit, Pinky acknowledges her mistakes, including that she "screwed over" police detective Tonya Eo twelve years ago when it became clear that Tonya, "a nice person with a heart that had been pretty much unscarred until I stomped on it," wanted more than Pinky could give. But Pinky also embraces her uniqueness, refusing to pretend to be anything other than smart, tenacious, and unwaveringly loyal, even if not yet ready to settle down. She is a tireless and dedicated private investigator, a job she loves and is extremely good at, undoubtedly because of her insatiable curiosity. Her instincts are good, but not infallible and she sometimes takes reckless chances in her pursuit of answers. Fortunately, Tonya still has feelings for Pinky and, after so many years, is willing to provide assistance to the extent that she is able without crossing ethical boundaries.

Pinky describes her father, grandfather, and Rik Dudek, the attorney for whom she works, as the three most reliable people in her life. Rik runs a rather low-budget legal practice focused on domestic cases, DUIs, and the like. Rik is a former police officer and the chief of police, Lucia Gomez, is his old friend from high school and colleague. Suddenly, she finds herself the subject in an investigation when three male officers accuse her of quid pro quo sexual harassment -- demanding sexual favors in exchange for promotion. She adamantly denies the charges and retains Rik to represent her in the high-profile case that could result in the end of her tenure. Yes, all three men got promoted, but the Chief insists that the promotions were based on legitimate considerations such as job performance and seniority. She's enjoyed a stellar career, rising in the ranks on merit in a profession that proves challenging for women. A single woman with a grown daughter, Lucia is tough, principled, and undeniably powerful. She is also a woman and a woman of color who is at ease with her sexuality. And in law enforcement, perhaps more than any other profession, those qualities make her a threat to the fragile egos of some male subordinates, especially those with a proclivity toward bending the rules for their own benefit. As Pinky explains to Rik, "Men still hate it when a female does what she wants with her body. These dudes' stories make no sense. Yeah, okay, men can get raped or assaulted, but not usually when they're carrying a .38. . . . So how'd she force them?"

Pinky is assigned to gather admissible evidence supporting Lucia's innocence and decimating the officers' claims. Simultaneously, she becomes intrigued with her new next-door neighbor, who seems to be engaged in clandestine activities. As she tells Rik, the neighbor doesn't go to work, have visitors, speak to anyone in the building, pick up his mail, or even own a car. There have been no sounds emanating from his apartment for weeks, but he leaves every day at noon carrying a gym bag and returns with takeout food for dinner. Pinky just can't imagine what he is up to and, despite Rik's warning, becomes determined to find out. So she starts following him, but when he catches her, she makes up a story on the fly about wanting to meet him. She ends up getting involved with him, although they agree not to discuss their respective careers and clients.

Pinky delves into the allegations against Chief Gomez, who emphasizes that two of her accusers -- Primo DeGrassi and Walter Cornish -- worked narcotics together until she reassigned them and both have connections to "The Ritz," Moritz Vojczek. He is a former officer who owns the largest real estate brokerage and construction company, and also manages most of the apartment buildings in the city. He is now worth 300 million dollars, but he left the police force just shy of the date on which he would have been eligible to retire -- he knew that if he did not resign, the Chief would ensure he was fired because he was a dirty cop.

Turow is a master at crafting taut thrillers replete with surprising plot revelations and twists like those included in Suspect. No detail is irrelevant, as Turow takes readers on Pinky's investigative journey to discover both whether the Chief is telling the truth and if she has, in fact, been set up by The Ritz, as well as also why three officers would facilitate the scheme by lying about their interactions with her. At the same time, she learns why her neighbor has come to town and how his business pursuits intersect with the case against the Chief. Because of Turow's own prowess as a litigator, the technical aspects of the tale are not only accurate, but also cohesively woven into a suspenseful and fast-paced mystery that keeps readers guessing right up to the dramatically nerve-wracking conclusion. In his signature style, Turow illustrates the relevant legal principles and investigative procedures through the kind of meticulously-constructed scenes set in the courtroom for which Turow is beloved by readers. He also depicts consultations between Rik, Pinky, and their client, and Pinky sometimes blunders her way into significant discoveries, all of which propel the story forward.

As always, Turow's cast of characters is intriguing and believable, and the dialogue is crisp and witty. Pinky is resourceful and clever --Turow describes her as intuitive with "lightning flashes of bold and correct intuition." She learned a great deal from her grandfather while she worked as a paralegal in his law office and still calls on him for support and advice, because he loves her unconditionally, even if her personal life exasperates him. She is relatable and empathetic -- a young woman establishing herself in a career she enjoys, who understands her own boundaries and limitations. She wants to love and be loved, but not if it requires her to compromise her identity. Pinky serves as a testament to Turow's ability to bring to life characters that are multi-faceted, flawed, and utterly endearing. The accomplishment is even more impressive, given that Turow flawlessly and convincingly voices a thirty-three-year-old bisexual woman. Turow did not initially plan to bring Pinky back, but his readers loved her and Turow found her funny because she is "brash and impolite frequently," so he came up with the idea to make her the main character. It is the first time Turow has published a book in which the protagonist is not a lawyer, which added to the challenge of writing a novel in the voice of someone forty years younger than he is. Interestingly, he did not find drafting the story from a female perspective nearly as daunting, but was surprised he found himself writing it in first person. "Sometimes there are little miracles when you are writing and the fact that Pinky came to me in the way she did goes on that list," he says.

Equally compelling, Chief Gomez is a woman who plays by the rules, requiring the same level of excellence that she brings to the job from her officers. The daughter of immigrants, she has succeeded as a result of her own work ethic and determination. After high school, she served in the military in order to fund her college education. Turow says he wants readers to be sympathetic to her plight "because she is a self-created person" and the stakes for her are so high. She faces not just the loss of her career, but the potential shame of failing spectacularly in her home town. But in law enforcement, not every expectation of employees is memorialized in a rule, regulation, or procedure. It falls to Rik, litigating the biggest case of his career, to convince a three-member police commission that the male complainants are lying, and the Chief must not only be exonerated but permitted to retain her position. Sometimes justice lies in the margins -- the gray areas not neatly outlined in legal treatises, a point Turow deftly explores. The "sextortion" storyline includes "a lot of meditation about power and sexuality," a theme Turow examines thoughtfully through his characters, successfully flipping the genders in the #MeToo plot, and presenting the evaluation of the forensic evidence supporting and contradicting the allegations in a fascinating and understandable manner.

Turow delivers a riveting mystery that is engrossing, believable, contemporary, and thought-provoking. With Suspect, he demonstrates yet again why he is the acknowledged master of the modern legal thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for an electronic Advance Reader's Copy of the book, and to Grand Central Publishing and Novel Suspects for a physical copy.