Testimony: Scott Turow

Scott Turow is known for writing legal thrillers. 

They can have the twists of a John Grisham book but Turow’s pages are typically more dense than Grisham’s. Meaning: Turow delves deeper into characters’ internal worlds, their relationships, their surroundings, etc.

Some readers will find these extra details as much-wanted depth in getting to the crux of the plot; other readers may feel like it’s too much and often unnecessary prose – get to the point.

Turow’s “Testimony” won’t change minds in either camp.

“Testimony” follows Bill ten Boom, an American in his 50s who has retired from his job as a U.S. attorney, divorced his long-time wife and has now left his country to take a legal job with The Hague.

He’s been tapped to investigate reports of 400 gypsies who were reportedly murdered in mining explosion in war-torn Bosnia. The culprits could be a warlord’s criminal followers, the Bosnian army or the American army … or, as others claim, it is a Gypsy lie and the 400 deaths never happened.

Ten Boom must find out the truth.

Readers will follow his search for the truth along with his affair with a beautiful woman, his journeys through Europe, his beer drinking with his investigative partner, his afternoons running with his landlady, his planning of his son’s American wedding, his relationship with his ex-wife, his dinner with a disgraced general, etc.

Some folks will love the details in the pages of “Testimony.” Others may want to testify that Turow should get to the point.