Paddock’s Pick: Innocent

Editor’s note: Anita Paddock’s review of books we should read are scheduled to appear on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Enjoy.

review by Anita Paddock
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Way back in 1987, a novel entitled “Presumed Innocent” came out. I remember that the whole book was written in present tense, something that amazed me and seemed so difficult to pull off.

The author, Scott Turow, had some big-time credentials; he was a creative writing fellow at Stanford before he graduated from Harvard Law School. He had also written a book about attending Harvard entitled “One L,” which I eventually gave as gifts to all would-be lawyers among my friends and family.

In “Presumed Innocent,” Rusty Sabich, a married prosecuting attorney in Chicago and father of a young son, was accused of killing his mistress, also a prosecuting attorney, in a jealous rage. He was acquitted with the help of his attorney, the brilliant Sandy Stern, but Tommy Molto (isn’t that a great name for a sleazy lawyer), the prosecutor, thought he was guilty even after the innocent verdict was announced. In 1990, the book, which had a WOW ending, was made into a movie by the same name, and Harrison Ford played Rusty Sabich. It was a great movie, punctuated by some really hot sex scenes that made most theater-goers blush.

Now, 23 years later, Turow has written a sequel called “Innocent.” It’s a good courtroom thriller, and Rusty Sabich, once again, has an affair with a young woman lawyer.

Although in love with the woman, he gives her up, and she ends up, through a series of unplanned events, falling in love with Nat Sabich, Rusty’s son. This all seems pretty tawdry, but it makes for good reading.

When Rusty’s wife suddenly dies at home, and he doesn’t report her death for almost 24 hours, Tommy Molto, once again, has a go at Rusty and charges him with the murder of his wife.

Rusty plans to run for the Illinois Supreme Court, but he must first prove his innocence with the help of Sandy Stern, who is now suffering from cancer, but is eager to have the chance to out-smart Tommy Molto one more time.

Rusty’s son, a young lawyer, was devoted to his mother, and he’s not sure if his father murdered his mother or if she died by her own hand. And will he find out that his girl friend was once his father’s girl friend? And will Harrison Ford once again play in the movie sequel?

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Christina Scherrey is a young lawyer in Fort Smith. Her first job as a ninth grader was with the Fort Smith Public Library, working with me at the Miller Branch. While there, she became interested in books and people who read them. She graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 2006. She is employed as a deputy public defender and is engaged in all aspects of criminal law.

Long interested in military history and war memorabilia, she has amassed a large collection of more than fifty uniforms, complete with the history of the men who wore them. Her favorite books as a child dealt with military history.

“I just loved that stuff,” she said. “All my book reports concerned some aspect of military history.”

She is reading “Generals in Bronze: Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War.”