''Presumed Guilty'' is a legal thriller written by

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow worked as a lawyer for a decade before writing full-time, and has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 la ...

and first published by

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

on January 14, 2025. The book, Turow's 14th novel, is the third installment in a series that follows Rožat "Rusty" Sabich, following '' Presumed Innocent'' (1987) and ''

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is prior to the sense of legal guilt and is a primal emotion connected with the sense of self. It is often confused as being the op ...

'' (2010). Sabich is now a retiree living in the Midwest. His life is upturned when the son of his fiancée is accused of murdering the daughter of the local prosecutor. The 77-year old Sabich returns to the courtroom to mount the son's defense.

Conception

The protagonist of ''Presumed Guilty'', Rusty Sabich, was last seen in the novel ''Innocent'', having just been released from prison. That previous novel left Sabich in a dark place, and Turow felt compelled to leave the character on a better note. Turow explained in an interview with ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

'': Turow also felt driven to write the novel out of a desire to explore the persistence of parents' love of their child, even when the child has been accused of a horrible crime. Turow told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that the plot received inspiration from the killing of Gabby Petito–– the parents of Petito's boyfriend, the alleged murderer, had seemed to support him amid the allegations.

Premise

"Rusty" Sabich, now 77, is living in a rural, Midwestern community. He plans to marry his girlfriend, Bea, and to imminently retire as an arbitration judge. Sabich gets pulled back into the courtroom, however, when the son of Bea becomes embroiled in a murder case. The son, Aaron, is charged with the murder of Mae, who is the daughter of the local prosecutor. Both Aaron and Mae have a history of drug abuse, though Aaron had been working to turn his life around. Few lawyers want to defend Aaron, for fear of running afoul of the local prosecutor. Rusty, despite his inexperience as a defense lawyer, takes on the case. A challenge for the defense is dealing with potential racial issues. Aaron is Black, while most of the populace is White.

Reception

Tom Nolan of ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' described ''Presumed Guilty'' as a "swift narrative full of technical detail, behavioral scrutiny and quick turns of plot". Writing for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', Laura Miller praised Turow's deft portrayal of drama inside the courtroom; however, she found the novel less engrossing than the two previous installments in the series, writing: "For all the reliable pleasures of Turow’s courtroom drama, his hero has shed the complications that once led him to the dock and, with them, everything that made him interesting". Turow reported the existence of a film deal for the book to ''NPR'' in January 2025, though the details of the deal remained undisclosed.

References

{{Scott Turow 2025 American novels Novels by Scott Turow Legal thriller novels