Publication
New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2022.
Collection
Call number
Fiction T
Physical description
439 p.; 24 cm
Status
Available
Call number
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Presumed Innocent and The Last Trial returns with a riveting legal thriller in which a reckless private detective is embroiled in a fraught police scandal. For as long as Lucia Gomez has been the police chief in the city of Highland Isle, near Kindle County, she has known that any woman in law enforcement must walk a precarious line between authority and camaraderie to gain respect. She has maintained a spotless reputation�??until now. Three male police officers have accused her of soliciting sex in exchange for promotions to higher ranks. With few people left who she can trust, Chief Gomez turns to an old friend, Rik Dudek, to act as her attorney in the federal grand jury investigation, insisting to Rik that the accusations against her are part of an ugly smear campaign designed to destroy her career and empower her enemies�??both outside the police force and within.. Clarice �??Pinky�?� Granum spent most of her youth experimenting with an impressive array of drugs and failing out of various professions, including the police academy. Pinky knows that in the eyes of most people, she's nothing but a screwup�??but she doesn't trust most people's opinions anyway. Moreover, she finally has a respectable-enough job as a licensed P.I. working for Rik on his roster of mostly minor cases, like workman's comp, DUIs and bar fights. Rik's shabby office and even shabbier cases are a far cry from the kinds of high-profile criminal matters Pinky became familiar with in the law office of her grandfather, Sandy Stern. But Rik and Pinky feel that Chief Gomez�??s case, which has attracted national attention, is their chance to break into the legal big leagues. Guided by her gut instinct and razor-sharp investigative skills, Pinky dives headfirst into a twisted scandal that will draw her into the deepest recesses of the city�??s criminal networks, as well as the human mind. But she will need every scrap of tenacity and courage to unravel the dark secrets those closest to her are deter… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member bfister
I have mixed feelings about this novel. The narrator, Pinky, is an intriguing character who sees herself as being socially odd but comfortable with herself and her choices, including enjoying casual sex but avoiding commitment. Her puzzling neighbor is also intriguing though some of the elements (such as his being Hmong - it's dropped in but doesn't seem to have shaped his character at all. His family relationships are equally contradictory: his wife is completely mad and out of control, but then seems not to be when he goes back to her but he says she is . . . it didn't add up to me.
The main plot concerns a personable and interesting police chief who does things so stupid it seemed another example to me of a character that is in part vividly drawn but also inconsistent. Would a smart and ambitious woman endanger herself the way she did? Well, make a case for it, but I was not convinced.
The pacing was fine up to the final scenes, which to me dragged around the technical aspects of getting the goods on a billionaire bad guy. (Another character inconsistency for me: he sure didn't act like a billionaire, but like a local hood who had a powerful but totally small-town empire.) Then the dramatic confrontation is filtered through our narrator watch it from afar, which diluted the suspense for me. At any rate, I didn't find the last few chapters especially effective. It may have been reader error.
My previous experience reading this author set my expectations high, so I may be being unduly harsh, but I was disappointed.
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didn't add up for me The main plot concerns a personable and interesting police chief who does things so stupid it seemed another example to me of a character that is in part vividly drawn but also inconsistent. Would a smart and ambitious woman endanger herself the way she did? Well, make a case for it, but I was not convinced.
The pacing was fine up to the final scenes, which to me dragged around the technical aspects of getting the goods on a billionaire bad guy. (Another character inconsistency for me: he sure didn't act like a billionaire, but like a local hood who had a powerful but totally small-town empire.) Then the dramatic confrontation is filtered through our narrator watch it from afar, which diluted the suspense for me. At any rate, I didn't find the last few chapters especially effective. It may have been reader error.
My previous experience reading this author set my expectations high, so I may be being unduly harsh, but I was disappointed.
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LibraryThing member CelticLibrarian
Legal drama and high stakes investigation into a scandal involving a police chief.
Lucia Gomez has just been forced to a hearing because 3 male police officers have accused her of forcing them to have intimate relations in order to be promoted within the Highland Isle PD. Her friend, attorney Rik
I do not remember having ever read a book by this author before, and certainly none of the Kindle Country series, so I had no preconceived notions going in and it seemed to work fine as a standalone. I enjoy good legal drama and this case was complicated with lots of interesting details and side schemes that gave the whole plot a lot more substance. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters who were quite contemporary and diverse. It did seem to be a little bit too long and slow moving at different points along the way, but the narrative flowed well and came to quite an abrupt conclusion that left some questions. I may check out a follow up to this one if only to find my answers if they will be forthcoming in another novel.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this e-book ARC to read and review.
Lucia Gomez has just been forced to a hearing because 3 male police officers have accused her of forcing them to have intimate relations in order to be promoted within the Highland Isle PD. Her friend, attorney Rik
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Dudek, is helping her navigate the federal grand jury investigation and Chief Gomez is insistent that these fake allegations are hiding part of a bigger issue within the community. Clarice "Pinky" Granum (granddaughter of Sandy Stern to those familiar with this series) is a bit of an outlier but she is working with Rik as they build a defense and response to the situation facing Chief Gomez. But, the accusations against the Chief are just the tip of an iceberg that is meant to cover up much more serious criminal activities.I do not remember having ever read a book by this author before, and certainly none of the Kindle Country series, so I had no preconceived notions going in and it seemed to work fine as a standalone. I enjoy good legal drama and this case was complicated with lots of interesting details and side schemes that gave the whole plot a lot more substance. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters who were quite contemporary and diverse. It did seem to be a little bit too long and slow moving at different points along the way, but the narrative flowed well and came to quite an abrupt conclusion that left some questions. I may check out a follow up to this one if only to find my answers if they will be forthcoming in another novel.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this e-book ARC to read and review.
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LibraryThing member JHSColloquium
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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Suspect, Scott Turow, author; Helen Laser, narrator
After listening to the first part of this book, I apologize, but I simply had to give up. I generally enjoy the writing of this author, but perhaps it is written for an audience far younger than I am, and far more “woke”, because I found the
For me, I am not interested in learning about a mystery that involves a fully tattooed, pink and blue haired, nose ringed lesbian investigator, who hates her mother, knows she is nothing, if not normal, but believes that her neighbor is the one with the problem and follows him inappropriately. I am simply too old to spend more time on a book that is out of my range of interest. I hope there are some finer examples of literature out there for me to read.
After listening to the first part of this book, I apologize, but I simply had to give up. I generally enjoy the writing of this author, but perhaps it is written for an audience far younger than I am, and far more “woke”, because I found the
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sexual innuendo, the gender dysphoria, the sexual identification, the foul language and immature, hackneyed dialogue distracting and then, finally, unbearable. If Pinky, who seems to have an inability to stick to her goals, is your type of character, you may love it. She works either for her family or those related to her family. Perhaps that is the only employment she can succeed at achieving. For me, I am not interested in learning about a mystery that involves a fully tattooed, pink and blue haired, nose ringed lesbian investigator, who hates her mother, knows she is nothing, if not normal, but believes that her neighbor is the one with the problem and follows him inappropriately. I am simply too old to spend more time on a book that is out of my range of interest. I hope there are some finer examples of literature out there for me to read.
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LibraryThing member terran
I have read virtually all of Scott Turow’s books, and this is definitely a different take on things for him. Instead of distinguished, conventional lawyers appearing in court cases, this features Clarice “Pinky” Granum, a private investigator for a lawyer. Pinky happens to be the
I liked the details of Pinky’s investigation, with her knowledge of police procedures supplemented by extra-legal enhancements. She was quirky, creative, and bisexual, with no intention of settling down. In spite of her unconventional investigative techniques, she did keep things legal and turned evidence over to the authorities.
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granddaughter of Sandy Stern, who appeared in earlier Turow novels. However, she is a totally different type of character. There is a court case, conducted by Pinky’s employer, Rik. And the details are as well done and detailed as you would expect from Turow.I liked the details of Pinky’s investigation, with her knowledge of police procedures supplemented by extra-legal enhancements. She was quirky, creative, and bisexual, with no intention of settling down. In spite of her unconventional investigative techniques, she did keep things legal and turned evidence over to the authorities.
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LibraryThing member diana.hauser
Suspect is written by Scott Turow. He is a brilliant, prolific author with his books set primarily in the legal and police communities of Kindle County - a large city set in the Midwest.
In Suspect (published in 2022) we are enmeshed in a legal thriller in which the main character is a young and
*If you have read Scott Turow’s novels (and I hope you have) you are very familiar with Sandy Stern.
It is tense with a complex plot and array of characters. It is a police and legal procedural. It is a gripping read. *****
In Suspect (published in 2022) we are enmeshed in a legal thriller in which the main character is a young and
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(very) reckless detective, Clarice Pinky Granum, who works for a local attorney. Pinky is very familiar with the workings of the law, having grown up with Sandy Stern as her grandfather. *If you have read Scott Turow’s novels (and I hope you have) you are very familiar with Sandy Stern.
It is tense with a complex plot and array of characters. It is a police and legal procedural. It is a gripping read. *****
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LibraryThing member rmarcin
Clarice "Pinky" Granum and Rik Dudek are assigned to help represent Police Chief Lucia Gomez in a sexual harrassment case -sex in exchange for a promotion. The chief claims innocence. As Pinky, a PI with a checkered past of sex and drugs, delves into the past of both Gomez and her accusers, she
Secrets of the chief's questionable behavior, combined with the testimony of her accusers, leads Pinky to discover a deeper secret from years earlier, and now the chief's life is in danger.
I enjoyed this story, and Pinky's scrappy attitude.
An enjoyable read.
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notices that her new neighbor acts strangely. Is he a spy? Secrets of the chief's questionable behavior, combined with the testimony of her accusers, leads Pinky to discover a deeper secret from years earlier, and now the chief's life is in danger.
I enjoyed this story, and Pinky's scrappy attitude.
An enjoyable read.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Mystery — 2023)
Language
ISBN
9781538706329