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Kindle County Legal Thriller #10
Testimony
From the bestselling author of Presumed Innocent comes Testimony, Scott Turow’s most twist-filled thriller to date.
Bill ten Boom has walked out on everything he thought was important to him: his career, his wife, even his country. Invited to become a prosecutor at The Hague’s International Criminal Court, it was a chance to start afresh.
But when his first case is to examine the disappearance of four hundred Roma refugees – an apparent war crime left unsolved for ten years – it’s clear this new life won’t be an easy one . . .
Whispered rumours have the perpetrators ranging from Serb paramilitaries to the U.S. Army, but there’s no hard evidence to hold either accountable, and only a single witness to say it happened at all.
To get to the truth, Boom must question the integrity of every person linked to the case – from Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US Major General, to flirtatious barrister, Esma Czarni – as it soon becomes apparent that every party has a vested interest and no qualms in steering the investigation their way . . .
Bill ten Boom has walked out on everything he thought was important to him: his career, his wife, even his country. Invited to become a prosecutor at The Hague’s International Criminal Court, it was a chance to start afresh.
But when his first case is to examine the disappearance of four hundred Roma refugees – an apparent war crime left unsolved for ten years – it’s clear this new life won’t be an easy one . . .
Whispered rumours have the perpetrators ranging from Serb paramilitaries to the U.S. Army, but there’s no hard evidence to hold either accountable, and only a single witness to say it happened at all.
To get to the truth, Boom must question the integrity of every person linked to the case – from Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US Major General, to flirtatious barrister, Esma Czarni – as it soon becomes apparent that every party has a vested interest and no qualms in steering the investigation their way . . .
416 pages, ebook
First published May 16, 2017
3009 people are currently reading
8714 people want to read
About the author
Scott Turow
110 books2,578 followersScott Turow is the author of ten 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 841 reviews
April 18, 2017
This is tense legal thriller from Scott Turow that follows an International Criminal Court prosecutor's real life case of the harrowing disappearance of 4oo Roma refugee camp at the tail end of the Balkans War. Turow has clearly done his research in this novel which moves out of the courtroom and out into the field. Kindle County Attorney, Bill ten Boom finds himself at a crossroads, he has quit his legal career and divorced his wife and left his family. He takes up a post at the ICC, which prosecutes crimes against humanity, at The Hague in the Netherlands, at the instigation of his friends.
Over a decade ago, over 400 Roma refugees disappeared, rumours and whispers abound as to what happened to them. The story moves from The Netherlands, Bosnia and the US. However, a witness has surfaced, Ferko Rincic, who says that he observed armed men move the Roma to a cave, where a hand grenade is triggers an avalanche which buries the entire group, with Rincic the sole survivor. Bill has the challenging task of delving into Rincic's claims as he seeks who exactly carried out the massacre, travelling to Bosnia to investigate. This leads him down a myriad of paths and numerous suspects which include a cruel, despotic former Serb leader, Laza Kajevic, Serbian paramilitaries, the strange Sergeant Atilla Doby, criminal gangs, a US Major General, Layton Merriwel, Rincic himself and his legal representative, Esma Czarni. There is the question of what else Rincic knows. There are plentiful twists in this case where Bill finds himself on a taxing personal and professional legal journey full of secrets.
This is a thrilling and intelligent novel with a compelling and gripping narrative. A story of tangled human relationships and an emotional rollercoaster. Bill finds himself on a murky case that puts him into unfamiliar territory and exploring his personal family history and identity. The characters feel authentic and draw the readers interest easily. Definitely a good read. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for an ARC.
Over a decade ago, over 400 Roma refugees disappeared, rumours and whispers abound as to what happened to them. The story moves from The Netherlands, Bosnia and the US. However, a witness has surfaced, Ferko Rincic, who says that he observed armed men move the Roma to a cave, where a hand grenade is triggers an avalanche which buries the entire group, with Rincic the sole survivor. Bill has the challenging task of delving into Rincic's claims as he seeks who exactly carried out the massacre, travelling to Bosnia to investigate. This leads him down a myriad of paths and numerous suspects which include a cruel, despotic former Serb leader, Laza Kajevic, Serbian paramilitaries, the strange Sergeant Atilla Doby, criminal gangs, a US Major General, Layton Merriwel, Rincic himself and his legal representative, Esma Czarni. There is the question of what else Rincic knows. There are plentiful twists in this case where Bill finds himself on a taxing personal and professional legal journey full of secrets.
This is a thrilling and intelligent novel with a compelling and gripping narrative. A story of tangled human relationships and an emotional rollercoaster. Bill finds himself on a murky case that puts him into unfamiliar territory and exploring his personal family history and identity. The characters feel authentic and draw the readers interest easily. Definitely a good read. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for an ARC.
September 23, 2017
Testimony by Scott Turow is a 2017 Grand Central Publication.
Absorbing and atmospheric legal drama-
Bill ten Boom, aka, 'Boom", started his life over at a time when the thought of starting over is entirely too exhausting to contemplate. After leaving his wife and his job, Bill is approached about accepting a case with The Hague’s International Criminal Court.
The case in question, is a ten year old cold case, involving the disappearance and presumed deaths, of four hundred Roma refugees during the Bosnian war. It seems like just the kind of challenge Bill has been looking for.
But, he ended up getting a lot more than he ever bargained for. Every person with knowledge or a stake in the outcome has an agenda of their own. Who can he trust, if anyone? Can he, after all these years, discover the truth of what took place in the murky Bosnian conflict?
The Bosnian war, for me, was very difficult to understand, with all the sketchy details and the inability to know what was really going on over there, I often felt confused by it all. What few details I had managed to make heads or tails of have long since left my consciousness.
But, this book brings that conflict into a sharper focus and although it is a work of fiction, the details provided are proof of a great deal of research, reading, and familiarity with the area.
The story, unlike many of the novels that made Turow famous, is nothing like a traditional legal thriller. The international courts are a whole other animal entirely, and rules are vastly different, as are the apparent dangers and intrigues.
The deaths of four hundred Romas- including women and children, who were rounded up and then buried alive, leaving only one lone survivor, is a murder mystery of epic proportions. The suspects are plentiful- including the United States, who may have been seeking retribution due to a double cross by the Gypsies that cost American lives.
“Justice is good. I accept the value of testimony, of letting the victims be heard. But, consequences are essential. People can’t believe in civilization without being certain that a society will organize itself to do what it can to make wrongs right. Allowing the slaughter of four hundred innocents to go unpunished demeans the lives each of us lives. It’s that simple.”
Politics, scandal, secrets, legal complexities, personal missteps, and cover-ups abound, along with plenty of action and more sweaty palm moments than you can shake a stick at.
The story moves along at a brisk enough pace, but it is not a book you can read on auto-pilot. It can be a little dense at times, and occasionally I felt lost and got a little confused, which is why I recommend taking your time with it.
Turow’s trademark twists, are well timed, and effective, but it’s his amazing talent for creating rich characterizations, most notably, Goos, who was ‘Boom’s’ investigation partner, and ‘Attila’ a colorful US Army sergeant who has been told to help assist ‘Boom’, that really stands out.
"There will always be ones like him, won’t there?", asked Goos. “Sure.” I nodded. “The brilliant, charismatic crackpot who gets his hands on the levers of power and exults in mayhem?” “There will always be people like him.”
There is much to contemplate in this novel, and I think it was a bold and ambitious undertaking, offering terrific insights and observations only a writer like Turow could add.
Overall, this one is quite a bit different from other novels by this author, but is every bit as smart, clever, but it is also quite a bit more challenging. Still at the end of the day, Turow delivers another outstanding, thought provoking thriller!
4 stars
Absorbing and atmospheric legal drama-
Bill ten Boom, aka, 'Boom", started his life over at a time when the thought of starting over is entirely too exhausting to contemplate. After leaving his wife and his job, Bill is approached about accepting a case with The Hague’s International Criminal Court.
The case in question, is a ten year old cold case, involving the disappearance and presumed deaths, of four hundred Roma refugees during the Bosnian war. It seems like just the kind of challenge Bill has been looking for.
But, he ended up getting a lot more than he ever bargained for. Every person with knowledge or a stake in the outcome has an agenda of their own. Who can he trust, if anyone? Can he, after all these years, discover the truth of what took place in the murky Bosnian conflict?
The Bosnian war, for me, was very difficult to understand, with all the sketchy details and the inability to know what was really going on over there, I often felt confused by it all. What few details I had managed to make heads or tails of have long since left my consciousness.
But, this book brings that conflict into a sharper focus and although it is a work of fiction, the details provided are proof of a great deal of research, reading, and familiarity with the area.
The story, unlike many of the novels that made Turow famous, is nothing like a traditional legal thriller. The international courts are a whole other animal entirely, and rules are vastly different, as are the apparent dangers and intrigues.
The deaths of four hundred Romas- including women and children, who were rounded up and then buried alive, leaving only one lone survivor, is a murder mystery of epic proportions. The suspects are plentiful- including the United States, who may have been seeking retribution due to a double cross by the Gypsies that cost American lives.
“Justice is good. I accept the value of testimony, of letting the victims be heard. But, consequences are essential. People can’t believe in civilization without being certain that a society will organize itself to do what it can to make wrongs right. Allowing the slaughter of four hundred innocents to go unpunished demeans the lives each of us lives. It’s that simple.”
Politics, scandal, secrets, legal complexities, personal missteps, and cover-ups abound, along with plenty of action and more sweaty palm moments than you can shake a stick at.
The story moves along at a brisk enough pace, but it is not a book you can read on auto-pilot. It can be a little dense at times, and occasionally I felt lost and got a little confused, which is why I recommend taking your time with it.
Turow’s trademark twists, are well timed, and effective, but it’s his amazing talent for creating rich characterizations, most notably, Goos, who was ‘Boom’s’ investigation partner, and ‘Attila’ a colorful US Army sergeant who has been told to help assist ‘Boom’, that really stands out.
"There will always be ones like him, won’t there?", asked Goos. “Sure.” I nodded. “The brilliant, charismatic crackpot who gets his hands on the levers of power and exults in mayhem?” “There will always be people like him.”
There is much to contemplate in this novel, and I think it was a bold and ambitious undertaking, offering terrific insights and observations only a writer like Turow could add.
Overall, this one is quite a bit different from other novels by this author, but is every bit as smart, clever, but it is also quite a bit more challenging. Still at the end of the day, Turow delivers another outstanding, thought provoking thriller!
4 stars
July 10, 2017
I've enjoyed Scott Turow’s previous books. He writes well, including this book, but this one feels like pouring cold molasses. I can't get interested in the story or the characters, and I fall asleep after a few pages. That's why it's taken seven days to get to page 159 of a 496 page book. I don't want to invest any more time in this book.
March 12, 2017
3.5 stars
This is a complex legal thriller. The action does not take place in the courtroom. It does not even take place in Kindle County. This is a legal investigation that takes place on the international stage. Mostly in Bosnia and The Hague. At the age of fifty Bill ten Boom decides to start life again. Over the next four years he leaves his marriage, his home, his job, and then his country. A former US Attorney before becoming a partner in a prestigious law firm he has no plans or ambitions beyond swimming, hiking, dining al fresco, and spending the evening reading. Maybe meet someone along the way. That is until an old law school friend, Roger Clewey, stops by and suggests he is a candidate to be a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague which prosecutes crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
The ICC handles multiple cases and the one which "Boom" is assigned to concerns the disappearance of an entire Gypsy refugee camp, some 400 people, during the conclusion of the Bosnian war. Ferko Rincic, the massacre's sole survivor; has come forward after more than ten years to testify that armed men came to the refugee camp in the middle of the night and drove all of the residents to a nearby cave where grenades were set off burying them alive. If Boom is to learn the truth about what happened that night he needs to sort through a host of suspects ... each of whom seems to have secrets. In addition to Ferko Rincic, there is Layton Merriwell; a disgraced US major general, Atilla Doby; a vital cog in American military operations, Laza Kajevic; the brutal former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Esma Czarni; a Roma advocate, and even his friend Roger. Along the way Boom will learn some truths about himself and his family heritage.
Thanks to Goodreads and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read this advanced reading copy (on sale May 16, 2017).
This is a complex legal thriller. The action does not take place in the courtroom. It does not even take place in Kindle County. This is a legal investigation that takes place on the international stage. Mostly in Bosnia and The Hague. At the age of fifty Bill ten Boom decides to start life again. Over the next four years he leaves his marriage, his home, his job, and then his country. A former US Attorney before becoming a partner in a prestigious law firm he has no plans or ambitions beyond swimming, hiking, dining al fresco, and spending the evening reading. Maybe meet someone along the way. That is until an old law school friend, Roger Clewey, stops by and suggests he is a candidate to be a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague which prosecutes crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
The ICC handles multiple cases and the one which "Boom" is assigned to concerns the disappearance of an entire Gypsy refugee camp, some 400 people, during the conclusion of the Bosnian war. Ferko Rincic, the massacre's sole survivor; has come forward after more than ten years to testify that armed men came to the refugee camp in the middle of the night and drove all of the residents to a nearby cave where grenades were set off burying them alive. If Boom is to learn the truth about what happened that night he needs to sort through a host of suspects ... each of whom seems to have secrets. In addition to Ferko Rincic, there is Layton Merriwell; a disgraced US major general, Atilla Doby; a vital cog in American military operations, Laza Kajevic; the brutal former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Esma Czarni; a Roma advocate, and even his friend Roger. Along the way Boom will learn some truths about himself and his family heritage.
Thanks to Goodreads and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read this advanced reading copy (on sale May 16, 2017).
April 16, 2017
This Scott Turow is a legal thriller with a difference that it is not set in a court room but in Bosnia.
Former Bill ten Boom at the age of fifty walks out on everything he thought was important to him, his law career, his wife, Kindle County and even his country. But when he is approached by the International Criminal Court, an organisation that prosecutes crimes against humanity, he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over ten years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma refugee camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward. Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night-and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived.
Boom's task is to examine Ferko's claims and determine who might have massacred the Roma. His investigation takes him from the International Criminal Court's base in Holland to the cities and villages of Bosnia and secret meetings in Washington, DC, as Boom sorts through a host of suspects, ranging from Serb paramilitaries, to organised crime gangs, to the US government itself, while also manoeuvring among the alliances and treacheries of those connected to the case. Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US major general desperate to salvage his reputation; Sergeant Major Atilla Doby,a vital cog in American military operations near the camp at the time of the Roma's disappearance; Laza Kajevic, the brutal former leader of the Bosnian Serbs; Esma Czarni, Ferko's alluring barrister; and of course, Ferko himself, on whose testimony the entire case rests,and who may know more than he's telling.
A complex story told expertly well by this talented author.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Former Bill ten Boom at the age of fifty walks out on everything he thought was important to him, his law career, his wife, Kindle County and even his country. But when he is approached by the International Criminal Court, an organisation that prosecutes crimes against humanity, he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over ten years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma refugee camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward. Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night-and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived.
Boom's task is to examine Ferko's claims and determine who might have massacred the Roma. His investigation takes him from the International Criminal Court's base in Holland to the cities and villages of Bosnia and secret meetings in Washington, DC, as Boom sorts through a host of suspects, ranging from Serb paramilitaries, to organised crime gangs, to the US government itself, while also manoeuvring among the alliances and treacheries of those connected to the case. Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US major general desperate to salvage his reputation; Sergeant Major Atilla Doby,a vital cog in American military operations near the camp at the time of the Roma's disappearance; Laza Kajevic, the brutal former leader of the Bosnian Serbs; Esma Czarni, Ferko's alluring barrister; and of course, Ferko himself, on whose testimony the entire case rests,and who may know more than he's telling.
A complex story told expertly well by this talented author.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2017
I have never read a book by Scott Turow before, but I like legal thrillers and I found the blurb of this book intriguing. The case of the missing 400 people is interesting, although I did find the story a bit slow now and then. The best part came towards the end of the book when the case started to take some interesting twist and turns because nothing is as it seems and the ending was surprising. It was also interesting to learn more about The International Criminal Court and the Bosnian war.
However, there were one thing that really bothered me in this book and that was Esma Czarni. I was not that thrilled about Boom's relationship with her, but that was not really what bothered me the most, it was that for some reason no one thought about doing a thorough investigation about her. I was actually a bit baffled when Boom started to make inquiries. At least Boom wised up and saw her for what she really is in the end.
Testimony is an interesting book, I did find the story dragged a bit now and then and to be honest Boom really didn't make a big impression on me. But, the case was interesting and I, for the most part, enjoyed reading the book and I wouldn't mind reading more books by Scott Turow.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
However, there were one thing that really bothered me in this book and that was Esma Czarni. I was not that thrilled about Boom's relationship with her, but that was not really what bothered me the most, it was that for some reason no one thought about doing a thorough investigation about her. I was actually a bit baffled when Boom started to make inquiries. At least Boom wised up and saw her for what she really is in the end.
Testimony is an interesting book, I did find the story dragged a bit now and then and to be honest Boom really didn't make a big impression on me. But, the case was interesting and I, for the most part, enjoyed reading the book and I wouldn't mind reading more books by Scott Turow.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
April 7, 2023
Kindle County Legal Thriller
Bill “ten” Boom, (first person), a lawyer on a 10 year old ICC case (International Criminal Court), to oversee a illegal disappearance or massacre of 400. What really happen in a refugee Romania Village’s coal mine “camp” after a Bosnian war (Southeast Europe)?
The plot seems more like a mystery versus a legal thriller for the war. Treaty laws, crime gangs against the U.S. government? NATO (North American) countries, NOT defending “independent” countries/members from attack by any external party”?
The legal aspect was not as high as expected, but close emotional/sexual between characters were light & had surprises in the story.
I think Scott Turow and John Grisham are the best two “young” lawyers-turned-authors.
Authors similar to Scott Turow
Bill “ten” Boom, (first person), a lawyer on a 10 year old ICC case (International Criminal Court), to oversee a illegal disappearance or massacre of 400. What really happen in a refugee Romania Village’s coal mine “camp” after a Bosnian war (Southeast Europe)?
The plot seems more like a mystery versus a legal thriller for the war. Treaty laws, crime gangs against the U.S. government? NATO (North American) countries, NOT defending “independent” countries/members from attack by any external party”?
The legal aspect was not as high as expected, but close emotional/sexual between characters were light & had surprises in the story.
I think Scott Turow and John Grisham are the best two “young” lawyers-turned-authors.
Authors similar to Scott Turow
March 27, 2025
This is a tense, absorbing and atmospheric international legal drama that follows a prosecutor’s case from The Hague to Bosnia to DC and other parts of the country.
It is complex.
Although it does not take place in the courtroom, the legal investigation does occur on the international stage.
As a reader you are intrigued, you want to know what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and will there be some justice. Mostly, what is the truth?
And, do readers get your answers at the end?
Scott Turow is an excellent storyteller. He has made his reputation on his ability to meld deep character study with court procedure and a twisted plot.
Whether or not the questions are answered (I will not give away spoilers), this book attempts to do the same in unfamiliar territory.
The fact that there were more than the usual number of players (characters) was challenging but ultimately rewarding.
As readers, you will have to figure out why.
It is complex.
Although it does not take place in the courtroom, the legal investigation does occur on the international stage.
As a reader you are intrigued, you want to know what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and will there be some justice. Mostly, what is the truth?
And, do readers get your answers at the end?
Scott Turow is an excellent storyteller. He has made his reputation on his ability to meld deep character study with court procedure and a twisted plot.
Whether or not the questions are answered (I will not give away spoilers), this book attempts to do the same in unfamiliar territory.
The fact that there were more than the usual number of players (characters) was challenging but ultimately rewarding.
As readers, you will have to figure out why.
November 22, 2017
“People do horrible things, but often because they face horrible choices.” (from Testimony)
How much do most of us know about the civil war in the former Yugoslavia? I learned a lot when we journeyed to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, etc. several years ago and heard the stories of ordinary people. When I learned that Scott Turow had made that the focus of a novel, I was eager to read it.
Bosnia (and The Hague where a lot of the plot is set) are a long way from the Kindle County venue where Turow has placed most of his stories. There is a link to KC, but for the most part we are in Europe accompanying former U.S. Attorney, William ten Boom (“Boom” to his friends), as he takes up the role of International Criminal Court prosecutor looking into an alleged mass murder in Bosnia. Boom is relocating to The Hague as much to get a new life (divorce, kids are grown) as to become (again) a prosecutor in a major case. Testimony, in the main, is a reflection of how that decision plays out.
Turow has made his reputation on his ability to meld deep character study with court procedure and a twisted plot. In those respects, this book attempts to do the same in unfamiliar territory. The fact that there were more than the usual number of players was challenging but ultimately rewarding. I became fascinated with all the European agencies in play as well as the legal relationships among them. There was a lot of tension between the ICC and the USA because of a treaty (and American law) that put certain acts by American citizens on European soil outside the enforcement of the ICC and related courts. There is more than a bushel full of machinations by various individuals and groups that might/could have an interest in the outcome of the case.
The disappearance of a whole village, 400 ethnic Romany, in Bosnia, near a USA/NATO base in 2004 is the central mystery. Were they mass-murder victims? Was this an act of “ethnic cleansing?” Who stood to gain by their disappearance? Who stands to lose by an investigation into it?
One of the most poignant and relevant anecdotes that we heard when we were in Bosnia has some relevance to this story. Even now, there are hundreds of women who have not received any justice for the suffering which included theft, destruction and rape, often by members of para-military groups. Because prosecutors chose only to seek out and charge the leaders of these atrocities, the vast majority of the perpetrators were allowed to return to their towns and villages. One woman said to us: “How do you think it feels to see almost everyday the man who raped your sister acting now as our local policeman?”
The book contains a good measure of sex and another of violence. There are multiple (sometimes parallel) stories of family and betrayal. Boom and his forensic companion, Goos, are put at risk more than once. The ending was nicely dovetailed and as satisfying as possible, given the subject matter.
This may not be Turow’s greatest novel, but it had a special resonance for me. I also appreciate that, in addition to Turow’s substantial writing chops, he brings in nuanced details about his fifty-something protagonist and his love of his profession.
*****************************************************
I have two requests for other readers and, in making them, I realize this is a topic fraught with emotion.
1. I would appreciate any observations you care to share about the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
2. For those who have read Testimony, does Turow's narrative contain significant flaws?
How much do most of us know about the civil war in the former Yugoslavia? I learned a lot when we journeyed to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, etc. several years ago and heard the stories of ordinary people. When I learned that Scott Turow had made that the focus of a novel, I was eager to read it.
Bosnia (and The Hague where a lot of the plot is set) are a long way from the Kindle County venue where Turow has placed most of his stories. There is a link to KC, but for the most part we are in Europe accompanying former U.S. Attorney, William ten Boom (“Boom” to his friends), as he takes up the role of International Criminal Court prosecutor looking into an alleged mass murder in Bosnia. Boom is relocating to The Hague as much to get a new life (divorce, kids are grown) as to become (again) a prosecutor in a major case. Testimony, in the main, is a reflection of how that decision plays out.
Turow has made his reputation on his ability to meld deep character study with court procedure and a twisted plot. In those respects, this book attempts to do the same in unfamiliar territory. The fact that there were more than the usual number of players was challenging but ultimately rewarding. I became fascinated with all the European agencies in play as well as the legal relationships among them. There was a lot of tension between the ICC and the USA because of a treaty (and American law) that put certain acts by American citizens on European soil outside the enforcement of the ICC and related courts. There is more than a bushel full of machinations by various individuals and groups that might/could have an interest in the outcome of the case.
The disappearance of a whole village, 400 ethnic Romany, in Bosnia, near a USA/NATO base in 2004 is the central mystery. Were they mass-murder victims? Was this an act of “ethnic cleansing?” Who stood to gain by their disappearance? Who stands to lose by an investigation into it?
One of the most poignant and relevant anecdotes that we heard when we were in Bosnia has some relevance to this story. Even now, there are hundreds of women who have not received any justice for the suffering which included theft, destruction and rape, often by members of para-military groups. Because prosecutors chose only to seek out and charge the leaders of these atrocities, the vast majority of the perpetrators were allowed to return to their towns and villages. One woman said to us: “How do you think it feels to see almost everyday the man who raped your sister acting now as our local policeman?”
The book contains a good measure of sex and another of violence. There are multiple (sometimes parallel) stories of family and betrayal. Boom and his forensic companion, Goos, are put at risk more than once. The ending was nicely dovetailed and as satisfying as possible, given the subject matter.
This may not be Turow’s greatest novel, but it had a special resonance for me. I also appreciate that, in addition to Turow’s substantial writing chops, he brings in nuanced details about his fifty-something protagonist and his love of his profession.
*****************************************************
I have two requests for other readers and, in making them, I realize this is a topic fraught with emotion.
1. I would appreciate any observations you care to share about the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
2. For those who have read Testimony, does Turow's narrative contain significant flaws?
June 3, 2017
Warning: If you're bothered by settings in war-torn countries, or refuse to believe (even when it's mostly fiction) that the U.S. Government is capable of wrongdoing, or don't like endings that may not bring total closure, this probably isn't the book for you. On top of that, I dare anybody to speed read through this one; it took me the better part of five days to finish, although in fairness, we were enjoying the company of a house guest for two of those days and I barely was able to finish half a dozen chapters then. And that brings up another point: Don't even think about zipping through this one. It's as close to tedious reading as I've seen in a while although, as evidenced by my 5-star rating, well worth the effort.
Although he's written a number of best-sellers, this is my first Scott Turow novel. And based on other reviews, it sounds as if it deviates from the courtroom-focused work (almost none of the action takes place there) - so I suppose some who are more familiar with his past work than I might disagree with my very positive opinion. To be sure, there's a court involved - the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where lead character, former prosecutor Bill Ten Boom, has been chosen to take on prosecution of whoever is responsible for the massacre of some 400 men, women and children in a Roma Refugee camp in Bosnia in 2004. That prosecution, however, depends on first determining not only who did the dirty deed, but whether or not the deed actually happened.
"Boom," as he's called, arrives with some baggage of his own; Now 2015, at age 50, he's without a wife, has two grown sons with whom he has a somewhat shaky relationship, and in many ways, he's looking for some direction in his life and hoping to find it here. A survivor of the massacre, himself a bit on the shady side, claims that heavily armed men showed up in the middle of the night and forced the Gypsy residents - refugees from Bosnia - into trucks that dropped them off in a nearby cave with instructions to stay put. After the trucks took off for parts unknown, the cave suddenly exploded - burying all the refugees. The survivor, a man named Ferko Rincic, reluctantly agrees to provide testimony before the court as to what happened.
Ferko is assisted by a drop-dead gorgeous attorney named Esme Czarni, who claims to have come from Gypsy stock. As Boom and his team of experts begin to gather evidence, they begin to suspect there's much more going on than anyone - including top muckity-mucks in the U.S. government - is willing to admit. The investigation takes Boom far from the courtroom, including to Bosnia and Washington, D.C., and puts him directly in the sights of the very dangerous and elusive Laza Kajevic, a Bin Laden-type character who once led the Bosnian Serbs and remains in hiding as a most-wanted war criminal.
I'd say the whole thing is a merry chase, except that there's not much merry about it (well, I'm overlooking a couple of Boom's fairly graphic but seemingly mutually enjoyable liaisons with a couple of lovely ladies). In the end, all the details are pretty well sorted out - none of which I can reveal, of course, leaving me no option besides referring you to my first-paragraph caveats and saying that I'm really glad I read it.
Although he's written a number of best-sellers, this is my first Scott Turow novel. And based on other reviews, it sounds as if it deviates from the courtroom-focused work (almost none of the action takes place there) - so I suppose some who are more familiar with his past work than I might disagree with my very positive opinion. To be sure, there's a court involved - the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where lead character, former prosecutor Bill Ten Boom, has been chosen to take on prosecution of whoever is responsible for the massacre of some 400 men, women and children in a Roma Refugee camp in Bosnia in 2004. That prosecution, however, depends on first determining not only who did the dirty deed, but whether or not the deed actually happened.
"Boom," as he's called, arrives with some baggage of his own; Now 2015, at age 50, he's without a wife, has two grown sons with whom he has a somewhat shaky relationship, and in many ways, he's looking for some direction in his life and hoping to find it here. A survivor of the massacre, himself a bit on the shady side, claims that heavily armed men showed up in the middle of the night and forced the Gypsy residents - refugees from Bosnia - into trucks that dropped them off in a nearby cave with instructions to stay put. After the trucks took off for parts unknown, the cave suddenly exploded - burying all the refugees. The survivor, a man named Ferko Rincic, reluctantly agrees to provide testimony before the court as to what happened.
Ferko is assisted by a drop-dead gorgeous attorney named Esme Czarni, who claims to have come from Gypsy stock. As Boom and his team of experts begin to gather evidence, they begin to suspect there's much more going on than anyone - including top muckity-mucks in the U.S. government - is willing to admit. The investigation takes Boom far from the courtroom, including to Bosnia and Washington, D.C., and puts him directly in the sights of the very dangerous and elusive Laza Kajevic, a Bin Laden-type character who once led the Bosnian Serbs and remains in hiding as a most-wanted war criminal.
I'd say the whole thing is a merry chase, except that there's not much merry about it (well, I'm overlooking a couple of Boom's fairly graphic but seemingly mutually enjoyable liaisons with a couple of lovely ladies). In the end, all the details are pretty well sorted out - none of which I can reveal, of course, leaving me no option besides referring you to my first-paragraph caveats and saying that I'm really glad I read it.
May 7, 2017
3.75 stars
A report is given to the International Criminal Court in The Hague that 400 Roma (gypsies) have been rounded up in Bosnia and murdered. Fingers are pointed at the Americans and Bill Ten Boom is to investigate and then try the case if need be as his first assignment to the Court. Recruited by a former law school buddy, Roger, who is now a member of a secret part of the State Dept. Ten Boom is starting his life over at 50 after a divorce and a home vacated by grown sons.
The case is quite complex and a secret witness is giving testimony as the lone survivor of the massacre. The Roma has a female gypsy advocate who Boom gets involved with romantically, a terrible mistake. There is also a retired general recovering from his own sexual scandal, a local civilian who could either be a female or a male, an Indonesian female room-mate, a serious war criminal on the run and various riff-raff.
It is a dangerous case that also involves many twists and turns. It's complex and there are times when I felt like I was slogging through it. It got very technical is spots like soil samples, DNA, court regulations and arms information. I had to skim sections that were just too much to take in. It interrupted the flow of the story for me.
It was an interesting story and I liked learning about the International Court system doing important work like investigating genocide with their arms basically tied behind their back. There is lots of information about atrocities that we rarely hear about or I have skimmed over. It was also interesting to read about the deals that are made at an International level.
Although the story mainly takes place is Bosnia there are plenty of Kindle County references to keep Turow's fans happy. If you are interested in expanding your world view, this is the book for you.
A report is given to the International Criminal Court in The Hague that 400 Roma (gypsies) have been rounded up in Bosnia and murdered. Fingers are pointed at the Americans and Bill Ten Boom is to investigate and then try the case if need be as his first assignment to the Court. Recruited by a former law school buddy, Roger, who is now a member of a secret part of the State Dept. Ten Boom is starting his life over at 50 after a divorce and a home vacated by grown sons.
The case is quite complex and a secret witness is giving testimony as the lone survivor of the massacre. The Roma has a female gypsy advocate who Boom gets involved with romantically, a terrible mistake. There is also a retired general recovering from his own sexual scandal, a local civilian who could either be a female or a male, an Indonesian female room-mate, a serious war criminal on the run and various riff-raff.
It is a dangerous case that also involves many twists and turns. It's complex and there are times when I felt like I was slogging through it. It got very technical is spots like soil samples, DNA, court regulations and arms information. I had to skim sections that were just too much to take in. It interrupted the flow of the story for me.
It was an interesting story and I liked learning about the International Court system doing important work like investigating genocide with their arms basically tied behind their back. There is lots of information about atrocities that we rarely hear about or I have skimmed over. It was also interesting to read about the deals that are made at an International level.
Although the story mainly takes place is Bosnia there are plenty of Kindle County references to keep Turow's fans happy. If you are interested in expanding your world view, this is the book for you.
July 27, 2017
I have been a fan of Scott Turow for years. I would read or listen to anything he puts together. Unfortunately this is how this book appeared to me: put together. Mishmash of several barely related stories. I respect Mr. Turow for tackling such an important and rarely explored subject as the aftermath of the last Balkan war, demise of Yugoslavia, US and NATO involvement in the conflict, and the culture of Roma people (Gypsies). All these issues are of great interest to me. And oh, yes, also double identity, Jews concealing their identity to escape the Holocaust... Each of these subjects would have been fascinating in the hands of a true master like Turow. But.... something happened on the way to the great novel.
This one ended up to be disjointed and disorganized, Characters and locations (Bosnia, Netherlands, NYC...) come and go almost at random. Many of both of them are quite interesting. I almost wanted to say, "wait a minute, please, let me get to know him/her/this place a little more...." Instead there was a long and, frankly, boring, exposition, and then a whirlwind story trying to cover and resolve everything at once. Oh yes, there are also not one but two steamy affairs with super sexy, smart and super exotic (younger!) women thrown in for good measure.
I am afraid, this was too hastily cobbled together. Or the author could not quite decide what his story was really about. I admire successful artists willing to leave their comfort zone , e.g. Kindle County, and venture far and wide, but it takes a lot of discipline and research, which was lacking in this book.
This one ended up to be disjointed and disorganized, Characters and locations (Bosnia, Netherlands, NYC...) come and go almost at random. Many of both of them are quite interesting. I almost wanted to say, "wait a minute, please, let me get to know him/her/this place a little more...." Instead there was a long and, frankly, boring, exposition, and then a whirlwind story trying to cover and resolve everything at once. Oh yes, there are also not one but two steamy affairs with super sexy, smart and super exotic (younger!) women thrown in for good measure.
I am afraid, this was too hastily cobbled together. Or the author could not quite decide what his story was really about. I admire successful artists willing to leave their comfort zone , e.g. Kindle County, and venture far and wide, but it takes a lot of discipline and research, which was lacking in this book.
March 25, 2019
I just learned something!!! Scott Turow is a great writer. I hadn't read any of his books yet until I finished my first one "Testimony." Thought it was well written, and a great plot. Shock Faint, I even got a Book 1. Oops I thought I got a Book #1, but in fact it is Book #10 Sorry!!!
At the age of 50, former prosecutor Bill ten Boom has walked out on everything he thought was important to him: his law career, his wife, Kindle County, even his country. Still when he is tapped by the International Criminal Court--an organization charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity--he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over ten years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma Refuge camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward: Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night-and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived. Good Plot - Recommend.
At the age of 50, former prosecutor Bill ten Boom has walked out on everything he thought was important to him: his law career, his wife, Kindle County, even his country. Still when he is tapped by the International Criminal Court--an organization charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity--he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over ten years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma Refuge camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward: Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night-and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived. Good Plot - Recommend.
June 8, 2018
I try to disguise spoilers as much as I can here, but I may be giving away some plot points, so read at your own risk:
Although there was a potentially interesting story here, waaaay too many pages were devoted to ridiculous subplots, to wit:
1) Here's a 55-year-old divorcee who hasn't had a date in five years, suggesting he's not exactly the stuff of ladies' dreams, but during the course of the book winds up having a torrid affair with a married woman much younger than him. But that wasn't enough, apparently, because within days of that highly-unlikely pairing coming to an end, he's back at it with yet another married woman.
And if you were wondering, she too is much younger than him.
2) A shocking (!) revelation about his ancestry that has no point, is unrelated to anything else in the book, crops up at random and then disappears completely, having made not one iota of difference to anything else going on.
Even the main plot is filled with ridiculous elements, suggesting that prosecutors are battle-hardened men of action rather than cogs in a bureaucratic machine. Everybody's whizzing back and forth from Belgium to Bosnia to Brooklyn so fast that it's difficult to keep track of, let alone figure out who's paying for all these flights.
Although there was a potentially interesting story here, waaaay too many pages were devoted to ridiculous subplots, to wit:
1) Here's a 55-year-old divorcee who hasn't had a date in five years, suggesting he's not exactly the stuff of ladies' dreams, but during the course of the book winds up having a torrid affair with a married woman much younger than him. But that wasn't enough, apparently, because within days of that highly-unlikely pairing coming to an end, he's back at it with yet another married woman.
And if you were wondering, she too is much younger than him.
2) A shocking (!) revelation about his ancestry that has no point, is unrelated to anything else in the book, crops up at random and then disappears completely, having made not one iota of difference to anything else going on.
Even the main plot is filled with ridiculous elements, suggesting that prosecutors are battle-hardened men of action rather than cogs in a bureaucratic machine. Everybody's whizzing back and forth from Belgium to Bosnia to Brooklyn so fast that it's difficult to keep track of, let alone figure out who's paying for all these flights.
August 16, 2020
GR says, 'Kindle County #10,' but really not. The protagonist, Boom, comes from there, but that's the only connection. He's a middle-aged lawyer given a chance to work in the Hague as a prosecutor/investigator of war crimes, specifically the annihilation of a Gypsy refugee village. This story has gangsters, murderers, corrupt cops, corrupt militias, war criminals, petty criminals, and oppressed and persecuted tribes, all in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
To make Boom's job more challenging, the US military doesn't want this crime investigated, and Boom can't trust his supposed friends.
Written in Turow's evocative prose, every Turow novel is a pleasure to read for the language, the characters, and the depth that makes his work more realistic, more alive, and more human than almost any other writer.
To make Boom's job more challenging, the US military doesn't want this crime investigated, and Boom can't trust his supposed friends.
Written in Turow's evocative prose, every Turow novel is a pleasure to read for the language, the characters, and the depth that makes his work more realistic, more alive, and more human than almost any other writer.
July 31, 2017
A terrific, lively, thoughtful exploration of a possible war crime -- a possible act of genocide -- told with Turow's always elegant, always honest, always compelling prose. Another wonderful novel from one of our literary treasures.
July 26, 2017
I don’t read many best selling thrillers (can’t even think of one), but this book suggests maybe I should. In creating a story set in the International Criminal Court and in Bosnia, Turow is operating way outside of what I presume is his comfort zone (this is #10 in a series about justice in Kindle County, Illinois) and he really succeeds.
Turow strength is description of characters and environments. His narrator, a former US Attorney (from Kindle County), describes the people and the system he is living in and operating under, all with a prosecutor’s eye.
The women are the stars, Atilla and her dialog hit the mark every time. When I got sucked into her sad story, Turow’s narrator cut right through it, and in it reflected on her being one of a long line of sympathetic people he had put behind bars. He knows and what he sees in Esme and the words this skilled writer puts in her mouth are exquisite in reflecting life in her bubble and her attitude. Nara is drawn as a not so memorable a character, and her dialog is fittingly terse, direct and not splashy.
Of the men, Laza Kajevic, former president of Bosnia, now accused of war crimes, mostly looms in the background. The description leading up to and the dialog of the short Kajevic interview are literature in themselves. Ferko lurks, and in his few appearances, he is right on character - description-wise (the clothes!) since he says very little except for the testimony that gives this book its name. Goos gets a lot of ink, but his portrait is weaker because he is too extraordinary.
The ICC, life in the Hague, the villages in Bosnia, the culture of and attitudes towards the Roma, and a first class prison for the accused by the ICC are similarly well drawn. You can’t find this in a travelog.
The plot, based on a real story, is convoluted but good. Truth can be stranger than this fiction. Although the scenes of capture and escape seem far-fetched, they are intrinsic to the story so the reader will give them a pass.
A good read. Highly recommended.
Turow strength is description of characters and environments. His narrator, a former US Attorney (from Kindle County), describes the people and the system he is living in and operating under, all with a prosecutor’s eye.
The women are the stars, Atilla and her dialog hit the mark every time. When I got sucked into her sad story, Turow’s narrator cut right through it, and in it reflected on her being one of a long line of sympathetic people he had put behind bars. He knows and what he sees in Esme and the words this skilled writer puts in her mouth are exquisite in reflecting life in her bubble and her attitude. Nara is drawn as a not so memorable a character, and her dialog is fittingly terse, direct and not splashy.
Of the men, Laza Kajevic, former president of Bosnia, now accused of war crimes, mostly looms in the background. The description leading up to and the dialog of the short Kajevic interview are literature in themselves. Ferko lurks, and in his few appearances, he is right on character - description-wise (the clothes!) since he says very little except for the testimony that gives this book its name. Goos gets a lot of ink, but his portrait is weaker because he is too extraordinary.
The ICC, life in the Hague, the villages in Bosnia, the culture of and attitudes towards the Roma, and a first class prison for the accused by the ICC are similarly well drawn. You can’t find this in a travelog.
The plot, based on a real story, is convoluted but good. Truth can be stranger than this fiction. Although the scenes of capture and escape seem far-fetched, they are intrinsic to the story so the reader will give them a pass.
A good read. Highly recommended.
May 29, 2017
In an interview on May 23, 2017, Scott Turow explained how he came to write a novel about a case at the International Criminal Court involving the massacre of 400 Roma (“Gypsies”). “‘In 2000, I was at a reception in The Hague and found myself in a circle of lawyers who said you have to write about this—it’s an amazing case,’ he recalls. ‘Usually when people say they have an amazing case it’s about their divorce, but this actually did sound fascinating.’”
The story the lawyers told triggered his memory of a brief exposure to Roma culture 40 years earlier, when Turow had observed a large group of Roma stealing ashtrays from a hospital. The incident puzzled him. He couldn’t understand why they would antagonize people they might have to deal with in the future. “‘What I later learned when researching for this book is that there’s no tense but the present in the Roma language and no written or oral tradition for passing down information. Their history goes only as far back as the oldest Roma alive. So that’s a big cultural difference from us.’” And that difference emerges dramatically in Turow’s mesmerizing latest legal thriller, Testimony.
Most of Turow’s earlier novels involve attorneys in fictional Kindle County, Illinois, and are courtroom dramas. Testimony somewhat departs from the pattern. Bill ten Boom is a successful Dutch-American lawyer—from Kindle County, like the others—who moves to the Hague in the throes of a mid-life crisis to accept a job as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ten Boom, who goes by the name “Boom,” works with a Belgian forensic anthropologist in search of evidence about a crime against humanity that may have been committed by a now-fugitive Bosnian war criminal—or by American soldiers at a base near the site of the atrocity. Evidence emerges pointing in either direction. Boom’s investigation is complicated when he becomes involved in a torrid affair with the woman who brought the case to the court, an advocate for the Roma. Esma Czarni, beautiful, charming, and possibly brilliant, is also thoroughly untrustworthy.
But Czarni is not the only confounding character in the tale. You’ll also meet Laza Kajevic, the former president of Bosnia who has been on the run from war-crimes investigators for a decade. “Kajevic was in a category of his own, a political leader whose charisma and rage had been enough to lead an entire nation into a realm beyond conscience.” Equally fascinating are General Layton Merrill, the former top NATO commander hounded from the military in disgrace over adultery, and his former master sergeant, who describes herself as a “bull dyke cross-dressing half-breed.” She is a genius at logistics.
Though the story opens at a pre-trial hearing in an ICC courtroom, the action that follows is set elsewhere, mostly in Bosnia. Turow’s description of the poverty-stricken villages, the tragic history of the land, and Roma culture is unfailingly moving. He’s clearly a dogged researcher—and a talented wordsmith.
Boom’s perspective on his work is firmly grounded. “I know this much,” he tells the investigator assigned to him. “Justice is good. I accept the value of testimony, of letting the victims be heard. But consequences are essential. People can’t believe in civilization without being certain that a society will organize itself to do what it can to make things right.”
In his acknowledgements at the back of the novel, Turow writes, “I share with Boom the belief that, given the enduring reality of wartime atrocities, the ICC is indispensable in making the world more just. I hope that in time the United States lends its moral authority to the Court by ratifying the treaty we signed . . . I regard US fears of the Court, while far from fanciful, as misplaced and at odds with the US’s long-term interest in supporting the rule of law around the world.”
About the author
Over the past 30 years, Chicago attorney and novelist Scott Turow has written 11 works of fiction. Included are some of the legal thrillers most familiar to readers—and moviegoers, as several have been adapted to film. Among those you might recognize are Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, and Reversible Errors. All three were bestsellers and made their way into theaters. Turow has also written three nonfiction books. His work has been translated into 40 languages and has sold a total of more than 30 million copies.
The story the lawyers told triggered his memory of a brief exposure to Roma culture 40 years earlier, when Turow had observed a large group of Roma stealing ashtrays from a hospital. The incident puzzled him. He couldn’t understand why they would antagonize people they might have to deal with in the future. “‘What I later learned when researching for this book is that there’s no tense but the present in the Roma language and no written or oral tradition for passing down information. Their history goes only as far back as the oldest Roma alive. So that’s a big cultural difference from us.’” And that difference emerges dramatically in Turow’s mesmerizing latest legal thriller, Testimony.
Most of Turow’s earlier novels involve attorneys in fictional Kindle County, Illinois, and are courtroom dramas. Testimony somewhat departs from the pattern. Bill ten Boom is a successful Dutch-American lawyer—from Kindle County, like the others—who moves to the Hague in the throes of a mid-life crisis to accept a job as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ten Boom, who goes by the name “Boom,” works with a Belgian forensic anthropologist in search of evidence about a crime against humanity that may have been committed by a now-fugitive Bosnian war criminal—or by American soldiers at a base near the site of the atrocity. Evidence emerges pointing in either direction. Boom’s investigation is complicated when he becomes involved in a torrid affair with the woman who brought the case to the court, an advocate for the Roma. Esma Czarni, beautiful, charming, and possibly brilliant, is also thoroughly untrustworthy.
But Czarni is not the only confounding character in the tale. You’ll also meet Laza Kajevic, the former president of Bosnia who has been on the run from war-crimes investigators for a decade. “Kajevic was in a category of his own, a political leader whose charisma and rage had been enough to lead an entire nation into a realm beyond conscience.” Equally fascinating are General Layton Merrill, the former top NATO commander hounded from the military in disgrace over adultery, and his former master sergeant, who describes herself as a “bull dyke cross-dressing half-breed.” She is a genius at logistics.
Though the story opens at a pre-trial hearing in an ICC courtroom, the action that follows is set elsewhere, mostly in Bosnia. Turow’s description of the poverty-stricken villages, the tragic history of the land, and Roma culture is unfailingly moving. He’s clearly a dogged researcher—and a talented wordsmith.
Boom’s perspective on his work is firmly grounded. “I know this much,” he tells the investigator assigned to him. “Justice is good. I accept the value of testimony, of letting the victims be heard. But consequences are essential. People can’t believe in civilization without being certain that a society will organize itself to do what it can to make things right.”
In his acknowledgements at the back of the novel, Turow writes, “I share with Boom the belief that, given the enduring reality of wartime atrocities, the ICC is indispensable in making the world more just. I hope that in time the United States lends its moral authority to the Court by ratifying the treaty we signed . . . I regard US fears of the Court, while far from fanciful, as misplaced and at odds with the US’s long-term interest in supporting the rule of law around the world.”
About the author
Over the past 30 years, Chicago attorney and novelist Scott Turow has written 11 works of fiction. Included are some of the legal thrillers most familiar to readers—and moviegoers, as several have been adapted to film. Among those you might recognize are Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, and Reversible Errors. All three were bestsellers and made their way into theaters. Turow has also written three nonfiction books. His work has been translated into 40 languages and has sold a total of more than 30 million copies.
July 13, 2020
Writing can be catharsis, or a way to examine and mend our soul. However, you have to edit out a lot of it so that it does not interfere with the plot. Turow didn't do that.
You can also have too many writers at the keyboard, and the author explains or admits this in the epilogue. But the edits or input changed the book. They particularly added the five dollar words of several people. Okay if you read this on a kindle where the dictionary is a blessing. Otherwise, the reader is an American wondering what the varying word usage means.
The pace was nice for twenty five pages, then it was an interminable glob of who was the star double crosser. Turow seemed to get this and doled out the ending a bit at a time, because the reader may not follow or care.
You can also have too many writers at the keyboard, and the author explains or admits this in the epilogue. But the edits or input changed the book. They particularly added the five dollar words of several people. Okay if you read this on a kindle where the dictionary is a blessing. Otherwise, the reader is an American wondering what the varying word usage means.
The pace was nice for twenty five pages, then it was an interminable glob of who was the star double crosser. Turow seemed to get this and doled out the ending a bit at a time, because the reader may not follow or care.
January 15, 2019
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A rich lawyer has a midlife crisis, and gives up his practice to be a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, where he tries to investigate the massacre of some Gypsies. Of course, he falls in love, finds a conspiracy, and tries to root it out.
Adequate but not memorable.
A rich lawyer has a midlife crisis, and gives up his practice to be a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, where he tries to investigate the massacre of some Gypsies. Of course, he falls in love, finds a conspiracy, and tries to root it out.
Adequate but not memorable.
July 2, 2020
An extremely disappointing book that had a male lead that can't get a date for years suddenly married women are drolling over him and he ends up bedding 2 in quick succession.
Everything is related to GETTING DIVORCED. Really?
Things come up that seem important and then disappear never to be mentioned again, plus its really BORING
Everything is related to GETTING DIVORCED. Really?
Things come up that seem important and then disappear never to be mentioned again, plus its really BORING
May 28, 2018
I am truly surprised by the numerous reviews that describe this book as a "tense" or "exciting" legal thriller. There is very little courtroom action; rather most of the "action" takes place in the bedroom. Bill ten Boom, an American lawyer charged by the ICC with investigating an alleged massacre in Bosnia, seems more interested in pursuing sexual satisfaction than justice. Repeatedly he enters into sexual affairs that call into question his ethics and professional judgement: 1) with the female attorney who is representing the survivor of the alleged massacre that he is investigating for the ICC and 2) with a married defense lawyer at the Hague assigned to a client who has connections to his case. Bill's involvement in the first affair almost costs him his job at the ICC and results in multiple investigatory wrong turns. Bill, however, is a slow learner as he immediately enters into a second questionable affair! Worse yet, these dubious affairs -- described in soft-porn detail by the author -- provide the only twists and turns in this book. Put succinctly, the main character seems rarely to make use of the head on his shoulders. Hardly the makings of a good legal thriller!
May 25, 2017
Scott Turow is a top ten favorite author for me. Starting with One L, and Presumed Innocent(Remember that great movie?). Turow has written smart legal thrillers for 30 years. His previous books have mostly been based in fictional Kindle County, which is a thinly veiled Chicago like metropolis.
This time, Turow moves to the Hague and the International Court against war crimes. An attorney from the US is prosecuting cases involving the war in Bosnia. It turns out, it's hard to know who to believe regarding the disappearance of an entire small village.
Really good.
This time, Turow moves to the Hague and the International Court against war crimes. An attorney from the US is prosecuting cases involving the war in Bosnia. It turns out, it's hard to know who to believe regarding the disappearance of an entire small village.
Really good.
May 21, 2017
Bill ten Boom--his friends call him “Boom”—is a middle-aged lawyer with two grown sons. His marriage of twenty-five years is over, and he is ready to tackle new personal and professional challenges. An old law-school buddy convinces Boom to move from Illinois to the Hague, where he will work as a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. Boom's first task is to interrogate a witness, Ferko Rincic, who alleges that a mass murder took place in Barupra, Bosnia, in 2004. Rincic, a member of the Roma--known in English as "Gypsies," a discredited word with derogatory connotations--claims that he witnessed masked men in uniform herding approximately four hundred Roma to their deaths.
Scott Turow’s “Testimony” had the potential to be a provocative and intriguing work of fiction. The author tackles universal and timely themes, including religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, racial prejudice, and the damage that self-serving individuals inflict on others. The characters include Esma, a stunning female barrister who represents Rincic; Layton Merriwell, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; Laza Kajevic, a Serbian war criminal who has escaped punishment by going into hiding; and Attila Doby, a smart and resourceful facilitator with close ties to the United States Army. As Boom digs deeper into the details of the case, he suspects that higher ups in the American government are withholding significant information. In addition, Boom and his colleague, a Belgian investigator named Goos, learn that uncovering long-suppressed secrets may be hazardous to one's health.
Why does “Testimony” ultimately fall short? It is far too long and dense. The prose style and dialogue are wooden, and the plot is so unwieldy and convoluted that the story flags by the halfway point. The conclusion, with its endless exposition, is cluttered and confusing. By the time the final page is turned, many readers will feel more weary than gratified. Although Boom is decent and compassionate, a good part of the cast consists of liars, thieves, and thugs whose actions betray their lack of basic decency. The author inserts a romantic subplot that is more silly than sultry. Turow squandered an opportunity to write a meaningful and intriguing work of fiction about the horrors of genocide, the complexities of geopolitics, and the difficulty of accurately reconstructing historical events when there are conflicting versions of the truth.
Scott Turow’s “Testimony” had the potential to be a provocative and intriguing work of fiction. The author tackles universal and timely themes, including religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, racial prejudice, and the damage that self-serving individuals inflict on others. The characters include Esma, a stunning female barrister who represents Rincic; Layton Merriwell, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; Laza Kajevic, a Serbian war criminal who has escaped punishment by going into hiding; and Attila Doby, a smart and resourceful facilitator with close ties to the United States Army. As Boom digs deeper into the details of the case, he suspects that higher ups in the American government are withholding significant information. In addition, Boom and his colleague, a Belgian investigator named Goos, learn that uncovering long-suppressed secrets may be hazardous to one's health.
Why does “Testimony” ultimately fall short? It is far too long and dense. The prose style and dialogue are wooden, and the plot is so unwieldy and convoluted that the story flags by the halfway point. The conclusion, with its endless exposition, is cluttered and confusing. By the time the final page is turned, many readers will feel more weary than gratified. Although Boom is decent and compassionate, a good part of the cast consists of liars, thieves, and thugs whose actions betray their lack of basic decency. The author inserts a romantic subplot that is more silly than sultry. Turow squandered an opportunity to write a meaningful and intriguing work of fiction about the horrors of genocide, the complexities of geopolitics, and the difficulty of accurately reconstructing historical events when there are conflicting versions of the truth.
February 15, 2017
It has been a long time since I've read a book by Scott Turow, and I had forgotten how good his books can be. Testimony is a complicated and complex novel. Complicated because finding evidence and prosecuting war crimes often involves an intricate, convoluted maze that leads to unexpected discoveries. Complex because of all of the human emotions and relationships involved.
This is not a courtroom drama, but the International Criminal Court's investigation of a war crime makes Testimony a suspenseful legal thriller. Bill Ten Boom, embarks on a new phase of his career when tasked with investigating an event that occurred ten years previously.
During the turbulent conclusion of the Bosnian war, approximately 400 Roma disappeared from a refugee camp and none have been heard of since. That much is beyond refute, but what happened to these people is still unknown. No mass grave has been found, but friends and family members have not heard from any of the refugees from the camp in the ten years since that April night. The stories about the missing refugees are rife and opinions vary widely.
Read in February. The full review on A Garden Carried in the Pocket is scheduled for May 1, 2017
NetGalley/Grand Central Publishing
Legal Thriller/Crime. May 16, 2017. Print version: 496 pages.
This is not a courtroom drama, but the International Criminal Court's investigation of a war crime makes Testimony a suspenseful legal thriller. Bill Ten Boom, embarks on a new phase of his career when tasked with investigating an event that occurred ten years previously.
During the turbulent conclusion of the Bosnian war, approximately 400 Roma disappeared from a refugee camp and none have been heard of since. That much is beyond refute, but what happened to these people is still unknown. No mass grave has been found, but friends and family members have not heard from any of the refugees from the camp in the ten years since that April night. The stories about the missing refugees are rife and opinions vary widely.
Read in February. The full review on A Garden Carried in the Pocket is scheduled for May 1, 2017
NetGalley/Grand Central Publishing
Legal Thriller/Crime. May 16, 2017. Print version: 496 pages.
October 4, 2022
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June 28, 2017
Much more than a legal thriller...
Middle-aged successful American lawyer, Bill Ten Boom, is having a bit of a subdued mid-life crisis. He has ended his marriage, not over another woman but simply because he felt there was no real love or passion in it. And he has given up his partnership in a big legal firm – a role he primarily took on to satisfy the aspirations of his ex-wife. So when he's offered the job of prosecuting a case at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, he decides it's too good an opportunity to pass up. The case involves the rumoured brutal killing of four hundred Roma in Bosnia in 2004. It happened near an American base, so the case is further complicated by the fact that the US, under George W Bush, pulled out of the ICC. First, Boom (as he is known) must establish that the atrocity did in fact happen, and if so, must then try to find out who should be held responsible.
Scott Turow is one of those writers whose books transcend easy genre definition. On the surface this is a legal crime novel with all the aspects of an investigation, suspects, clues, trial procedures, and so on. But it is also a careful, revealing look at the way the Roma have been dealt with throughout history, in Bosnia and elsewhere – a group at least as victimised as the Jews over the centuries but somehow still left under the radar of popular concern. Turow avoids the easy route of making the Roma seem too much like helpless victims though – he shows how their determination not to assimilate into the societies within which they live puts them in the position of always being seen as outsiders, who are often involved in criminal activity of one kind or another. He also discusses their cultural attitudes towards girls and women, which to our western eyes display all the sexism we have fought so hard to overcome. But Turow doesn't do any of this as an information dump. It's woven into the story as Boom himself learns about the Roma during his investigation, and as he becomes attracted to a woman of Roma heritage who is acting as a support to one of the witnesses.
We are also given a look at how the ICC operates: slow to the point of glacial on occasion, bound up in all kinds of procedures and restrictions, but grinding on in its efforts to bring justice for some of the most atrocious crimes in the world. Turow shows how the process can seem cold and unemotional, almost clinical in its approach, but how even this great legal bureaucracy can be shocked by some of the evidence that comes before it.
The story also touches on the other big American war of the early years of this century – some of the errors and miscalculations that turned “victory” in Iraq into the quagmire of factionalism that is still going on today, with consequences for us all. But while Turow is perhaps grinding a political axe of his own to some degree, he also shows the dedication and sacrifice of so many US soldiers at all levels, and the basic integrity of much of the legal and even political classes. And if all that isn't enough, there's another minor strand about Boom's European roots and the seemingly never-ending after-effects of earlier atrocities under Nazi Germany.
Turow's writing is as good as always – he's a slow, undramatic storyteller, so that he relies on the strength of the story and the depth of his characterisation, and he achieves both in this one. If I have made it sound like a political history, then that's my error, not his. Running through all this is an excellent plot – almost a whodunit – that kept me guessing till very late on in the book. He is skilled enough to get that tricky balance when discussing the various atrocities of bringing the horror home to the reader without trading in gratuitous or voyeuristic detail. And as well as Boom, he creates a supporting cast of equally well drawn and credible secondary characters. More political than most of his books, I'm not sure I'd recommend this one as an entry point for new readers (Presumed Innocent, since you ask), but existing fans, I'm certain, will find everything they've enjoyed about his previous books plus the added interest of him ranging beyond his usual territory of the US courtroom. Highly recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Middle-aged successful American lawyer, Bill Ten Boom, is having a bit of a subdued mid-life crisis. He has ended his marriage, not over another woman but simply because he felt there was no real love or passion in it. And he has given up his partnership in a big legal firm – a role he primarily took on to satisfy the aspirations of his ex-wife. So when he's offered the job of prosecuting a case at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, he decides it's too good an opportunity to pass up. The case involves the rumoured brutal killing of four hundred Roma in Bosnia in 2004. It happened near an American base, so the case is further complicated by the fact that the US, under George W Bush, pulled out of the ICC. First, Boom (as he is known) must establish that the atrocity did in fact happen, and if so, must then try to find out who should be held responsible.
Scott Turow is one of those writers whose books transcend easy genre definition. On the surface this is a legal crime novel with all the aspects of an investigation, suspects, clues, trial procedures, and so on. But it is also a careful, revealing look at the way the Roma have been dealt with throughout history, in Bosnia and elsewhere – a group at least as victimised as the Jews over the centuries but somehow still left under the radar of popular concern. Turow avoids the easy route of making the Roma seem too much like helpless victims though – he shows how their determination not to assimilate into the societies within which they live puts them in the position of always being seen as outsiders, who are often involved in criminal activity of one kind or another. He also discusses their cultural attitudes towards girls and women, which to our western eyes display all the sexism we have fought so hard to overcome. But Turow doesn't do any of this as an information dump. It's woven into the story as Boom himself learns about the Roma during his investigation, and as he becomes attracted to a woman of Roma heritage who is acting as a support to one of the witnesses.
We are also given a look at how the ICC operates: slow to the point of glacial on occasion, bound up in all kinds of procedures and restrictions, but grinding on in its efforts to bring justice for some of the most atrocious crimes in the world. Turow shows how the process can seem cold and unemotional, almost clinical in its approach, but how even this great legal bureaucracy can be shocked by some of the evidence that comes before it.
“…I knew there was no point. I could claw at the rock the rest of my life and get no closer. I knew the truth.”
“And what truth was that, sir?”
“They were dead. My woman. My children. All the People. They were dead. Buried alive. All four hundred of them.”
Although virtually everyone in the courtroom – the judges, the rows of prosecutors, the court personnel, the spectators behind the glass, and the few reporters with them – although almost all of us knew what the answer to that question was going to be, there was nonetheless a terrible drama to hearing the facts spoken aloud. Silence enshrouded the room as if a warning finger had been raised, and all of us, every person, seemed to sink into ourselves, into the crater of fear and loneliness where the face of evil inevitably casts us.
So here you are, I thought suddenly, as the moment lingered. Now you are here.
The story also touches on the other big American war of the early years of this century – some of the errors and miscalculations that turned “victory” in Iraq into the quagmire of factionalism that is still going on today, with consequences for us all. But while Turow is perhaps grinding a political axe of his own to some degree, he also shows the dedication and sacrifice of so many US soldiers at all levels, and the basic integrity of much of the legal and even political classes. And if all that isn't enough, there's another minor strand about Boom's European roots and the seemingly never-ending after-effects of earlier atrocities under Nazi Germany.
Turow's writing is as good as always – he's a slow, undramatic storyteller, so that he relies on the strength of the story and the depth of his characterisation, and he achieves both in this one. If I have made it sound like a political history, then that's my error, not his. Running through all this is an excellent plot – almost a whodunit – that kept me guessing till very late on in the book. He is skilled enough to get that tricky balance when discussing the various atrocities of bringing the horror home to the reader without trading in gratuitous or voyeuristic detail. And as well as Boom, he creates a supporting cast of equally well drawn and credible secondary characters. More political than most of his books, I'm not sure I'd recommend this one as an entry point for new readers (Presumed Innocent, since you ask), but existing fans, I'm certain, will find everything they've enjoyed about his previous books plus the added interest of him ranging beyond his usual territory of the US courtroom. Highly recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
June 27, 2017
Turow’s stellar legal credentials include being an Assistant U.S. Attorney for eight years in Illinois. He has used that experience in many of his previous legal thrillers, including his highly popular novel Presumed Innocent. In Testimony, he has chosen to immerse himself in the workings of the International Criminal Court, particularly as it relates to the prosecution of the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here we have Bill ten Boom working for the ICC in the Hague, investigating the disappearance of 400 Roma refugees in Bosnia-Herzegoniva after receiving testimony from one of the survivors that he witnessed the Roma being rounded up, herded into an abandoned salt mine and then buried alive.
Boom is in a bit of a mid-life crisis at the age of 54. He has left his home, divorced his wife, and quit his job in an effort to find more purpose to his life. This case tests his principles and his deductive skills as he threads his way through the convoluted facts of the case and the rules of evidence required by the ICC. Laza Kajevic (modeled on Karadzic) and his Serbian paramilitary forces is the prime suspect and is already being sought by NATO forces, but evidence points to other actors as well—Islamist jihadis, the Bosnian mafia, and even U.S. forces. Turow weaves a taunt tale with numerous twists and turns. Recommend.
Boom is in a bit of a mid-life crisis at the age of 54. He has left his home, divorced his wife, and quit his job in an effort to find more purpose to his life. This case tests his principles and his deductive skills as he threads his way through the convoluted facts of the case and the rules of evidence required by the ICC. Laza Kajevic (modeled on Karadzic) and his Serbian paramilitary forces is the prime suspect and is already being sought by NATO forces, but evidence points to other actors as well—Islamist jihadis, the Bosnian mafia, and even U.S. forces. Turow weaves a taunt tale with numerous twists and turns. Recommend.
April 18, 2017
There is so much going on in this novel that the reader is never disappointed. Ten Boom is in his fifties, recently divorced with adult children and somewhat bored by his partnership in a major law firm. How does he solve this...by going to The Hague to the ICC as a prosecutor looking into War Crimes committed in Bosnia years earlier. His growth and development are amazing as is that of the majority of secondary characters. The plot is way too complex to evaluate here without revealing spoilers but suffice to say it is intriguing and will hold the reader's interest. I would predict this is a potential best seller and well deserving of it. Thanks to Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC for an honest review.
January 25, 2019
I haven't read any of Scott Turow's books for ages and I really wanted to like this. There were elements which were fascinating - having the shocking treatment Roma as the base of an international court hearing. There were also some interesting characters - such as the gender diverse ex-US army provider of provisions. But there were a couple of major turnoff moments such as our hero in an unbelievable kidnapping situation and the all the layering of the story underlying the case. But the ultimate problem for me was in a sex scene featuring our hero which the author clearly thinks is acceptable and which I would call assault. So that's the last of Mr Trurow's books for me.
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