Column: Scott Turow's Rusty Sabich returns for more courtroom drama in ‘Presumed Guilty'

Chicago Tribune

05-02-2025

It usually takes author and attorney Scott Turow many years to rekindle the complicated relationship he has with his fictional creation, lawyer Rusty Sabich.
We first encountered him in 1987 in Turow's first novel, 'Presumed Innocent,' which has the young attorney investigating and later being accused of and put on trial for the murder of his mistress. Sabich was portrayed by Harrison Ford in the 1990 film version of the same name.
Then came 2010's 'Innocent,' with Sabich, by then a chief appellate judge, getting indicted for the murder of his wife. He was played by Bill Pullman in the following year's movie version.
And add to that last year's 'Presumed Innocent,' with Jake Gyllenhaal as Sabich in the eight-part series on on Apple TV+, which was based on (and took a few liberties with) that 1987 bestseller. A second season has been ordered.
Now, fresh off the presses, we have 'Presumed Guilty,' where we find Sabich pleasantly retired but dragged back to a courtroom to defend his fiancé's adult son for murder.
He is happily living in a lake-side home in Wisconsin with fiancé Bea, and not so happily with Bea's son, Aaron, confined to their home while on probation for drug possession.
Aaron splits, only to return with a goofy story about taking a camping trip with his girlfriend, Mae. He claims they had a fight and split up, but when she turns up dead, a courtroom awaits and there Turow gives us all sorts of clever turns and observations. His writing is specific but compelling.
It is a fine book, one that displays all of Turow's finely-honed literary gifts, among them that he is as powerful a courtroom dramatist as there is. I am sure that many of you know him from his books, even more may know him from the ways film and television have captured his characters. 'Presumed Guilty' will satisfy you all.
Now, that should be enough for Turow fans. But there may be some who have no idea who he is, so know that he is a man whose 13 bestselling novels have sold 30 million copies. He has homes in Florida, Wisconsin and Evanston, which has long been his main residence. He still does some pro bono legal work, writes or thinks about writing every day; still plays with one of the most unusual rock and roll bands in the world, the Rock Bottom Remainders; has been married for nearly a decade to his second wife Adriane Glazier, a retired bank executive … and for anything else you'd like to know, you can ask him when he speaks at The Book Stall in Winnetka at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 20.
Maybe some person will be presumptuous enough to wonder aloud what might have influenced the plot of this book. He has been working on it for some time and I sense in it some shadow or echo of that sad, true, made-for-tabloids story from 2021 when Brian Laundrie killed his 22-year-old fiancé Gabby Petito while they were traveling their van across the country.
I have read all of Turow's books and articles and have written about him often. takes you out of your comfort zone and challenges you to think long and hard about the most important issues we face as a country. Every time I pick up a new Scott Turow book, I am reminded what a national treasure he is. Few novelists are his peer when it comes to prose, plot, and character. No one does it better.' ']Turow and Sabich are older men now, in what is called 'real life' and in the novel ( ages 75 and 77, respectively), secure in the knowledge that together they helped invigorate the 'legal thriller,' taking it from the relatively staid hands of Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason and making a more modern, emotionally nuanced and sophisticated place. By the way, Rusty's full first name is Rožat, and he has been very good to Scott Turow. And vice versa.