by Scott Turow
First published 2025
Rusty has found peace at last. The retired judge lives quietly by a lake in the rural Midwest with Bea, the woman he plans to marry. He believes this relationship will be his final and finest love. Their tranquil life shatters when Bea's son Aaron vanishes. Aaron is on probation for drug possession and faces jail if he doesn't return quickly. He reappears days later with a murky tale about camping with his girlfriend Mae. They fought, he says, and he hitchhiked home alone. Mae never comes back. When police find her body, they arrest Aaron for first degree murder. Bea turns to Rusty with a desperate plea. She wants him to return to the courtroom one final time to defend her son. Rusty must choose between the peaceful retirement he has earned and the woman he loves. The case forces him to confront a troubling question about the legal system he served for decades. Can courts deliver real justice to defendants the public assumes are guilty before trial even begins?
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, legal-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: second-chance, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Midwest, Rural
Period: Contemporary
544 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: murder, violence