Ordinary Heroes
Scott Turow
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2005 Farrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374184216

A son searches for the true story of his father’s past.

Sr. Associate Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

Once in a while a book comes along -- once in a while Scott Turow offers a work -- that begins a new trend, the new benchmark against which all future thrillers will be matched.

Those expecting a nitty-gritty legal thriller from Turow are in for a surprise -- though there are lawyers & courtroom action aplenty -- Ordinary Heroes is not your ordinary legal thriller -- even by Turow's exceptional standards.

Journalist Stewart Dubinsky (if the name is familiar, it's because he was a minor character in Turow's finest Presumed Innocent) has always been over-awed of his enigmatic father. Stewart knew his father had been in France during World War II, attached to the office of the Judge Advocate General. But his dad had always maintained he'd had a pretty ordinary war. Fifty years later, when Stewart discovers a stash of his father's wartime letters, he unearths some secrets that put a new face on the father he never really knew, forcing Stewart to reassess his feelings: coming to like &…loathe him, sympathize, & sometimes empathize with him.

Stewart learns that his father had faced a court martial & had also had a serious, if doomed, love affair. How & why his father faced court-martial charges, the moral & ethical dilemma he was beset by during the time of war, forms the theme & plot of Ordinary Heroes -- culminating in a finish that's truly Turow-esque.

I've always been fascinated by Turow & his writings. Unlike his other legal thriller brethren, he doesn't churn out thrillers year after year -- each work is meticulously studied, scholarly researched so you get something worthwhile, which stays with you for a long, long time -- devoted Scott Turow readers know what I mean. & yet another thing I find interesting about his works is that though he's written no sequels, almost all his works are connected with Presumed Innocent in one way or other. Sandy Stern the defense attorney in was the protagonist in Burden of Proof., Stern's daughter had a minor role in Reversible Errors, & now Dubinsky, the journalist of Presumed Innocent is the protagonist.

A wonderful, wonderful read. Don't miss this one -- it will change the way you read thrillers.

More from Scott Turow:
Personal Injuries
The Laws of Our Fathers
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School.
(03/26/06)

Narayan
2006©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org