Robbie Feaver and his life-long friend Mort Dinnerstein have been representing plaintiffs in personal injury actions for years. Their yearly gross is around 4 million, so when the Feds discover they are evading income taxes by not reporting $40,000 per year, then it is only one small step in logic for them to realize that the firm is hiding cash, not income. And where is that cash spent? And who is Mort’s relative, but one of the most powerful judges on the bench?

Robbie is particularly vulnerable to FBI pressure because the wife he adores is dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease and there is no one else to care for her. So through his attorney he agrees to wear a wire for the FBI to incriminate the judges he has been paying off for years, in exchange for no jail time.

Robbie has justified his past behavior because he claims the only things in his life are those he loves, and he numbers his clients among them. In a world where a meritorious claim can be denied because the other side has paid off the judge first, Robbie sees the bribes as insurance only. This is just an example of the first level of the mirrors that Turow constructs to cloud the morality and character of the participants.

Evon Miller is the FBI agent assigned to act as Robbie’s paralegal and shadow. In order for the sting to work, four fictitious plaintiff claims are filed, defended by government attorneys in order not to let anyone profit unduly from Robbie’s wrongdoings. Running on a parallel track with the evolving plots to ensnare the judges are the travails of the individual players who are trying to escape their own personal prisons.

Turow’s characters are multilayered and constantly shifting, and the resolution is highly complex. Personal Injuries brilliantly illustrates the point that the ripple effect of judicial corruption never stops. What is wrong is never totally righted, and if nothing else that makes this book realistic.

As an attorney, I commend Scott Turow for addressing these issues and for his insight into the workings of the bar and bench. As a reader, his plots, subplots, and characters are as keenly drawn as one would expect from a writer of his superior ability.

--Thea Davis