8.2 /10 1 Votes8.2
Country United States Publication date August 1987 Originally published 31 December 1986 Followed by The Burden of Proof ISBN 0-374-23713-1 | 4.1/5 Goodreads Language English OCLC 15315809 Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 448 pp (first edition, hardback)432 (paperback) Similar Scott Turow books, Martin Beck Award winners, Crime Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Presumed Innocent, published in August 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rožat "Rusty" Sabich. A motion picture adaptation starring Harrison Ford was released in 1990.
Contents
Synopsis
The novel begins with the discovery of Polhemus dead in her apartment, the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the skull with an unknown object. Rusty Sabich is a prosecutor and co-worker of Carolyn and is assigned her case by the district attorney. Everything is complicated by the fact that Rusty is an ex-lover of Carolyn's. The novel follows the eventual discovery of their affair and Rusty's trial for her murder.
Many of the minor characters in Presumed Innocent also appear in Turow's later novels, which are all set in the fictional, Midwestern Kindle County. A sequel to Presumed Innocent, titled Innocent, was released on May 4, 2010 and continues the relationship between Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto.
Reception
Scott Martelle of Los Angeles Times called the novel's plot twists "inventive". Kevin J. Hamilton of The Seattle Times called its story "clever, chilling and wildly unpredictable."
Adaptation
Before the original novel was released in August 1987, director Sydney Pollack bought the film rights for $1 million.