Steven Torres

Guilty of the Turow Formula

Reviewed: 10-20-24

This is my third Turow book after Presumed Innocent and Innocent.

Upon finishing this book, it occurred to me that all of Turow's books that I've read up to this point feature a middle aged white guy lawyer who either creates a scandal or is called on to investigate suspicious activity. The narrator then spends over half the book ruminating over a failed marriage or troubled
upbringing.

These obsessive thoughts don't prevent our main character from having sexual encounters. Of which there are many, since women are drawn to a mysterious guy with a traumatic past.

The plot moves along sluggishly with occasional hints as to who did what, but none of the information feels irrefutable. Turow's characters always act like the don't know--or care--about plot points until the final chapters of a story. Then the main character suddenly becomes competent and connects a ton of evidence that up to that point felt circumstantial at best.

The overriding feeling one is left with after reading the Turow books I mentioned l above, as well as Pleading Guilty, is that no characters face lasting consequences for their behavior.

Robert Petkoff is a great narrator and he's best playing sarcastic jerks. As other reviewers have said, Malloy is not a likeable character, so the narration makes up somewhat for the book's failings.

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An emotionally resonant tale

Reviewed: 04-08-24

By sheer coincidence, I realize now that I listened to this book exactly when I was supposed to in the course of my life. Consider that I just moved to South Carolina two months ago from Illinois with no ties to the region, I'm roughly the same age as Tom Wingo in this story, and my relationship with my parents can be challenging at times.

The best aspect of this book is how it illustrates the ways in which members of a family can get unwittingly caught up in repeating the same cycle of destructive behavior from one generation to the next. All in the name of defending a moral code that has likely been misguided from the start, or perhaps nonexistent.

Often these issues get ignored and defined as "just the way things are," by some members of said dysfunctional family.

Conroy refuses to accept this latter premise in this novel, and the book is better for it.

I've seen some people complain that Alan Carlson's interpretation of women's voices ruins the book for them. This really shouldn't be a deterrent. Carlson may not have the greatest vocal range out there, but this isn't a story that needs a ton of distinct character voices.

The most essential is that of Tom Wingo, and I guarantee as soon as you hear Carlson adopt a deep, weary southern accent by announcing "prologue," you'll immediately be put in the right headspace for this story.

Listen to it.

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Better than people are giving it credit for

Reviewed: 06-18-19

I'm not one to write reviews but I feel compelled to defend this book. People are being a little hard on the narration and audio quality. You should know that the novellas in this book were originally sold as four individual audiobooks by HighBridge Audio back in 1990-91 when Four Past Midnight originally came out in print.

Highbridge then released the novellas again individually on CD and here on Audible about 10 years ago. The entire book has only been available as a single download for a short time, so from that perspective alone I'd say you're getting a bargain.

None of the stories here are representative of King at the top of his game, both in terms of writing style and plot, but The Langoliers and The Library Policeman make this a worthwhile purchase for King fans. If you've never read King before, you should start out with one of his better known books.

As I mentioned, these stories have been released by multiple audio publishers. Naturally the audio quality isn't great. However The Langoliers is the only story where the low quality is somewhat noticeable.

And speaking as someone who owns a copy of the original HighBridge Langoliers download, I can confirm that Simon and Schuster did clean up the recording. It's not their fault the source recording has some tape hiss.

Much like the stories themselves, the narration by Dafoe, Woods, Howard, and Sample is good, not great.

Dafoe seems to be the narrator getting singled out here for ridicule. I don't get it. Sure, the voices he uses for Dinah and Bethany are somewhat cartoony, but they add to the story's charm in my view.

The way he interprets some of the lines by Bob and Nick are unintentionally hilarious, even after multiple listens. Aside from some of his character voices, Dafoe's narration is actually quite good considering he's known more as an actor than a narrator.

Bottom line: If you go into this book knowing you're not going to get something on par with The Shining, I'm sure you'll enjoy at least one of the stories here.

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7 people found this helpful