I have been a Turow fan ever since his novel, Presumed Innocent came out in 1987.  As a young attorney, I was impressed at how well Truow had captured what goes on in a courtroom and his plot twists kept me on my toes. His new novel, Identical, is not a court room drama, but he continues to explore the idea of innocence, only this time we are immersed in a Greek family tragedy where one twin brother goes to jail for the murder of his girlfriend.

Paul Giannis  is a candidate for mayor of Kindle County after having served as a state senator. His twin brother, Cass, is due to be released from prison right before the election, having served 25 years after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Dita Kronon.  Hal Kronon, Dita’s brother and a wealthy businessman, is infuriated that the twin brother of the man that killed his sister might win the election and enlists his head of security Evon Miller to investigate Paul for any connection to the murder in order to derail his campaign.

Evon, wary of her boss’ lack of perspective when it comes to the Giannis family, enlists the help of  Tim Brodie, a detective who was called in to work on the case 25 years ago. Tim always felt that there was something not quite right about the investigation into Dita’s murder and Cass’ confession, and relishes the opportunity to revisit the case; this time using current forensic technology to better understand what happened at the crime scene.

Using the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux, Turow has reframed it into a modern tale of  love, lust and the corrupting influence of family secrets, showing us the lengths that people will go to to protect their family and the ones they love. His use of DNA and other modern forensic investigative techniques as a pacing mechanism in the retelling of the what happened on the night that Dita was killed, adds a heightened sense of suspense and interest to the plot and his creative plot twists manage to surprise you until the very end.

Brenda’s Rating ****(4 Stars Out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian and Keith

Book Study Worthy: Not really

Read in ebook format.