Suspect by Scott Turow

Published by Grand Central Publishing on September 27, 2022

Scott Turow’s latest legal thriller is set, as usual, in fictional Kindle County, Illinois. Suspect differs from many of Turow’s novels in that the narrator/protagonist is not a lawyer. Clarice Granum, known to her boss as Pinky, is a bisexual nonconformist who dropped out of the police academy and took a job as an investigator for Rik Dudek, a 52-year-old lawyer in Highland Isle.

Rik is representing Lucia Gomez-Barrera, the chief of police in Highland Isle, in a hearing before a commission that will decide whether she should keep her job. Three male police officers have accused her of demanding sexual favors in exchange for promotions. One of the officers has retired and taken a position with Moritz Vojczek, a former cop turned property developer who is known locally as the Ritz. Lucia encouraged the Ritz’s resignation from the force and he has long resented the loss of his pension, although he has achieved enormous wealth and doesn’t need it.

Lucia suspects the Ritz of orchestrating the accusations. While two of the accusers are sleazy, one is squeaky clean. Rik proves his ability as a trial lawyer when he cross-examines the accusers, assisted by evidence that Pinky has uncovered. The hearing seems to be going sideways, however, when a photo turns up that appears to show one of the cops going down on Lucia while she’s sitting in her office. Lucia’s life might go sideways when one of her accusers dies under suspicious circumstances.

In a subplot that eventually merges with the main plot, Pinky becomes curious about a guy in a neighboring apartment who is keeping odd hours. Pinky gets close to the guy because he’s intriguing — maybe he’s a spy? — creating the possibility of a dangerous liaison. Pinky also needs to work out her relationship with a cop she once dated, a woman who seems to be carrying a torch for her. Since the cop is involved in a death investigation and since Lucia is a suspect, Pinky can’t serve Lucia’s needs without addressing the cop’s feeling of abandonment or rejection.

Suspect lacks the suspense and intricate plotting of Turow’s best work, but the cross-examinations are fun. The initial focus on sexual harassment rather than criminal defense makes the story fresh. Rik doesn’t have much personality but Pinky has plenty, at least if an unwillingness to settle down and an unquenchable willingness to have sex count as a personality. The story proceeds steadily to an unsurprising conclusion, but the path is sufficiently twisty to hold a reader’s interest.

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