Two formidable men collide in this “first-class legal thriller” from New York Times bestselling author Scott Turow: a “brilliant courtroom chess match” about a celebrated criminal defense lawyer and the prosecution of his lifelong friend — a doctor accused of murder (David Baldacci).
At eighty-five years old, Alejandro “Sandy” Stern, a brilliant defense lawyer with his health failing but … defense lawyer with his health failing but spirit intact, is on the brink of retirement. But when his old friend Dr. Kiril Pafko, a former Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, is faced with charges of insider trading, fraud, and murder, his entire life’s work is put in jeopardy, and Stern decides to take on one last trial.
In a case that will be the defining coda to both men’s accomplished lives, Stern probes beneath the surface of his friend’s dazzling veneer as a distinguished cancer researcher. As the trial progresses, he will question everything he thought he knew about his friend. Despite Pafko’s many failings, is he innocent of the terrible charges laid against him? How far will Stern go to save his friend, and — no matter the trial’s outcome — will he ever know the truth?
Stern’s duty to defend his client and his belief in the power of the judicial system both face a final, terrible test in the courtroom, where the evidence and reality are sometimes worlds apart.
Full of the deep insights into the spaces where the fragility of human nature and the justice system collide, Scott Turow’s The Last Trial is a masterful legal thriller that unfolds in page-turning suspense — and questions how we measure a life.
Full insights into lawyering. Complex plot deftly executed. Permeated with a distaste for Trumpism, but never didactic. Hero Sandy Stern is as attractive and believable as ever, and I’m sorry this is his last hurrah.
Really good. Excellent pacing, realistic characters, exciting story line. Highly recommend.
Love the language of the law and the sense of being there. The pacing is slower than I recall in Mr Turow’s early books. It’s a good read, nonetheless.
To drawn out with none essential writing. Didn’t finish the book
Scott Turow is the.best storyteller alive. I have been in love with Sandy Stern for 20 years.
Perfect for today. So informative about the development of vaccines.
Intricate plotting with realistic trial details. Scott Turow stays in the game with this legal thriller. Science, an untrustworthy defendant, and a mix of family, business, and personal ties that weave a compelling story.
The book opens with a courtroom scene. Sandy Stern, an attorney is having a heart attack. The scene is chaos with his associate/daughter alternating mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while his client, a physician, gives him CPR. We don’t know if he survives. The next scene is the opening day of a trial, to be Sandy’s last as he plans to retire. His client, Dr. Kiril Pavko, the creative genius behind a new cancer treatment drug is stood accused of murder for the deaths of people who had participated in the drug’s trials and a variety of white collar crimes for the cover-up of these deaths and insider trading.
he trial story is told as if one attorney was explaining it to a layperson. Turow’s brilliance is in developing characters that are true to life and explaining the intricacies of federal white collar crime clearly. The courtroom procedure is realistic. And the reasonable doubt explanation in closing argument, something lawyers struggle with, was one of the most easily understood that I’ve heard. I know this for sure.
Classic Scott Turow writing exquisite drama in court.