Late one spring afternoon, Alejandro "Sandy" Stem, the leading defense attorney in the midsized Midwestern city where he lives, comes 'home from a business trip to find that Clara, his wife of thirty years, has committed suicide. Readers of Presumed Innocent will remember Stem as the brilliant, elegant, and elusive lawyer who masterminded the defense of Rusty Sabich. Scott Turow's new novel probes the character of this fascinating and complex man and his troubled private world.
Like many successful individuals, Stern has often seemed preoccupied and remote even to those closest to him. He is overwhelmed by Clara's death, and as he tries to come to terms with it, he is forced to confront all he truly does not know about his life, including his children. Even in his mourning, Stern is drawn back to the law as the defender of Dixon Hartnell, who is the target of an increasingly complex investigation by a federal grand jury. Stem's connections to Dixon, the immensely rich owner of a commodities futures brokerage and a wily financial gamesman, are long and involved. Dixon, who both fascinates and repels Stern, is the husband of Stem's beloved sister, Silvia, and he has employed Stem to keep him one step ahead of the law for decades.
As Sandy seeks to unravel both the painful mystery of Clara's death and the tangled web of Dixon's financial wheeling and dealing, his whole world -- marriage, family, career -- is brought under the intense scrutiny that only a lawyer as persistent, perceptive, and honest as Stern can muster. The result is a novel of enormous emotional resonance, riveting suspense, and pro- found and devastating revelations.
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