On May 19, 2020, The Last Trial, the next must-read thriller from New York Times bestselling author Scott Turow, hits bookstores everywhere.
Turow, who sits alongside John Grisham as one of the finest legal thrillers novelists working today, released his last book, Testimony, back in 2017. That book, which followed an ex-US attorney who took on his first case in International Criminal Court following the slaughtering of a refugee camp in Bosnia, was met with somewhat mixed reviews and currently holds a 3.5 rating out of 5 stars on Amazon.
Whether the story ultimately failed to engage or the plot became bogged down by the mass amounts of information Turow attempted to cram into his last novel, one thing was certain: he’s still a phenomenal writer who understands conflict and character development.
Those trails will likely serve him well with The Last Trial, which follows an 85-year-old prominent defense attorney named Sandy Sten who, just before riding off into the sunset and finally embracing retirement, decides to defend one last client—his longtime friend and Nobel Prize-winning doctor, Kiril Pafko, who’s been accused of, among other things, insider trading and murder.
Check out the official plot details below.
In this explosive legal thriller from New York Times bestselling author Scott Turow, two formidable men collide: a celebrated criminal defense lawyer at the end of his career and his lifelong friend, a renowned doctor accused of murder.
At 85 years old, Alejandro “Sandy” Stern, a brilliant defense lawyer with his health failing but spirit intact, is on the brink of retirement. But when his old friend Dr. Kiril Pafko, a former Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, is faced with charges of insider trading, fraud, and murder, his entire life’s work is put in jeopardy, and Stern decides to take on one last trial.
In a case that will provide the defining coda to both men’s accomplished lives, Stern probes beneath the surface of his friend’s dazzling veneer as a distinguished cancer researcher. As the trial progresses, Stern will question everything he thought he knew about his friend. Despite Pafko’s many failings, is he innocent of the terrible charges laid against him? How far will Stern go to save his friend, and–no matter the trial’s outcome–will he ever know the truth? Stern’s duty to defend his client and his belief in the power of the judicial system both face a final, terrible test in the courtroom, where the evidence and reality are sometimes worlds apart.
Full of the deep insights into the spaces where the fragility of human nature and the justice system collide, Scott Turow’s The Last Trial is a masterful legal thriller that unfolds in page-turning suspense–and questions how we measure a life.
Scott Turow is the author of eleven bestselling works of fiction, including Identical, Innocent, Presumed Innocent, and The Burden of Proof, and two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects. He has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
We’ll have plenty of coverage for this book moving forward (including a look at the cover art) so make sure to check back for more details in the coming months. In the meantime, readers can pre-order The Last Trial wherever books are sold.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.