Mik lives in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, but travels the length and breadth of the UK as a Project Manager. He's a long-time crime fiction fan, with bookshelves groaning under the weight of signed copies from some of the greats of the genre. He's also a reviewer, and an aspiring crime writer, with hopes of joining his literary heroes on a shelf near you in the not too distant future.
Scott Turow’s latest thriller Testimony takes us back into the harrowing Balkans War and its aftermath.
Bill ten Boom is an American of Dutch descent in his mid-50s and seemingly in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Recently divorced, he decides to take a leave of absence from his legal career in fraud, to take up a new role working in The Hague.
Here he is attempting to prosecute the alleged massacre of over 400 Roma men, women and children who were rounded into a cave and burned alive. Only one person survived – Ferko Rincic. Working with Boom is a Cambridge educated barrister and Gypsy advocate, Esma Czarni who may have her own agenda.
Boom’s job is simple: examine Ferko and determine who carried out this atrocity from Serbian paramilitaries, organised gangs or even the US Government. His journey takes him from the villages of Bosnia to secret meetings in Washington DC as he discovers even more disturbing truths.
The story switches between the horrors of Bosnia and the wood panelled rooms in The Hague’s International criminal court. But unlike most legal thrillers most of the action does not take place in a courtroom. Turow has clearly done a huge amount of research and it was often difficult to wade through especially when discussing samples of soil, DNA and international politics which often interrupted the flow.
There were enough twists, turns and surprises to keep me reading however. One scene in particular at the top of a salt factory left me in a cold sweat. I found the ending surprising but satisfying and it answered my many questions. This book is a lot more than just a legal thriller.
Turow has delivered a book with a great plot, good secondary characters and has covered some truly horrendous atrocities that will help readers understand the awful acts carried out without being too graphic.
