The Last Trial by Scott Turow

Sandy Stern, a Kindle County, Illinois defense attorney, has appeared in Scott Turow’s novels since 1987 in the renowned Presumed Innocent.  Now at age eighty five and contemplating retirement, Sandy is asked to defend his friend and fellow Argentine immigrant, Dr. Kiril Pafko of insider trading, fraud, and murder charges.  Pafko and his company Pafko Therapeutics have developed a cancer treatment drug that has saved many lives, including Sandy’s life five years earlier.  However, during the clinical trials to gain FDA approval, Dr. Pafko is accused of altering the data to remove from the study patients who have died, then selling stock in his company when his missteps are about to be publicly exposed.

Pafko’s missteps during the drug approval process are revealed to the jury as the prosecutors draw the story out of the witnesses.  But Pafko’s life long character flaws are revealed as Sandy investigates and interrogates Pafko’s family and known associates in addition to the witnesses… many with some grudge against the doctor.  Sandy can’t help but compare his own life with that of his friend’s and finds himself late in life pondering his own life choices and how they have impacted his relationships with family.  But even distracted by his reflective thoughts and at age eighty five, Sandy uncovers the motives of his client and of those around the doctor who are intent on revenge.

Most readers will see this book as a legal lesson because apparently the legal points are rare and well developed.  But I see this more of a reflection of a man on his life… his exile from Argentina, his marriages and his children, his choice of clients and the time he spent representing criminals instead of nurturing his family… how his choice to practice law molded his relationships with each of his children and grand-children and how they feel about him today… what he should do about it now… all in all a lesson in humanity.  This is the author’s true theme and a lesson well worth learning at any age.