The Burden of Proof
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Plot Summary of The Burden of Proof

"Alejandro “Sandy” Stern is devastated by the loss of his wife of 31 years to suicide. As he prepares for the funeral, his brother-in-law Dixon Hartnell is served with a federal subpoena investigating unscrupulous business practices surrounding his brokerage firm. Stern will act as counsel for Dixon and suspects someone on the inside is blowing the whistle on him.

Inexplicably, Clara's estate is missing roughly $850,000. Little by little, mysterious pieces of his wife's secret life comes to Stern's attention. He consoles his neighbor Fiona as her marriage to philandering Dr. Nate Cawley, Clara's doctor, is crumbling. A police buddy named Radczyk digs up Clara's medical records only to find she had genital herpes. The only respite from the pain and sorrow of his shattered life is the upcoming case against Dixon. Dr. Cawley is lying about Clara's condition and Stern thinks Clara got the illness from Cawley.

Stern's son Peter, a doctor, gets involved and but Stern won't divulge why he is worried he may have herpes. Stern's not too bright son-in-law John works for Dixon and is now served a subpoena, but hires lawyer Mel Tooley, whom Stern despises. More incriminating evidence about Dixon and a Wunderkind Account surfaces and Stern tells Dixon he will go to prison. Stern confronts Cawley, but it is the doctor who believes that Stern has slept with his wife Fiona. Stern is actually in a relationship with Helen Dudak, a real tiger in the sack. Stern is served a subpoena for documents he knows Dixon has in a safe. Dixon hires his daughter Marta to represent him.

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout.

"
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Burden of Proof

Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%

Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets - finding out whether someone is really guilty
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - white collar fraud or theft
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental: Yes
Eccentric: - obsessed
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - Hispanic
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - business executive
Eccentric: Yes - wild - eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist - jealousy
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest
City? Yes
Misc setting - resort/hotel

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 2
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas - descript. of male nudity
Unusual forms of death - rough sex
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript

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Scott Turow Resident Scholar Profiles

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David Fletcher

SCHOLARS: Bo Morris Wendy

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The Burden of Proof Scott Turow Book Review

The Burden of Proof
Scott Turow Book Review