Book review: Testimony
One of the benefits that I receive from reading various books and writing book reviews is the opportunity to sometimes read interesting books by authors who have other professions or careers.
To me, it seems extra special if the author is a lawyer, and it is an added bonus if he/she practices or has practiced in Illinois.
One such Illinois attorney is the historical novelist Susan Gunty, who practices in Chicago, and whose book “Schwerpunkt, From D-Day To The Fall Of The Third Reich” was reviewed in this Newsletter during the spring of 2016.
Another Illinois attorney and author is Scott Turow, who has written over a dozen books. He was also the lead counsel in the “Operation Greylord” prosecution several years ago when he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.
Turow’s 2017 novel “Testimony” is the subject matter of this book review. This book is available in hardcover (477 pages), soft cover and electronically.
Unlike most of the author’s novels, this book’s story does not take place so much in the court room, but it develops around an investigation during 2015 into the disappearance of some 400 gypsy refugees in Bosnia in 2004.
The principal character in the book is Bill ten Boom (Boom), who is a successful Kindle County, Illinois attorney. He is in his 50s and going through a mid- life crisis as well as a career change. His marriage has ended in divorce, and he decides to leave his $1 million per year position as head of the white collar criminal defense department of a Kindle County law firm where he has worked the past 14 years. Before joining this law firm, Boom was the United States Attorney in the Kindle County area for four years.
Therefore, Boom is very ripe for a change of direction in his life when one of his old lawyer friends approaches him to lead an investigation and possible prosecution in the International Criminal Court in the Hague concerning the disappearance of these 400 gypsies in Bosnia in April of 2004.
This offer presumably rejuvenates Boom professionally and he decides to leave his lucrative and secure job to take on this new challenge in the Hague at an annual base salary of 153,000 Euros, or about $200,000.
The International Criminal Court, according to the author, was established by most United Nations’ member states. The United States, in 2000, through President Clinton, signed on. However, President George W. Bush “unsigned” the United States from it in 2002.
The author also describes the various legal entities operating in the Hague, with one such entity being the International Criminal Court, which was charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity during various international wars. This included the atrocities that took place after the breakup of former Yugoslavia that resulted in three groups trying to co-exist within Bosnia, namely Serbs, Croats and Muslims. This, as we now know, proved to be impossible, and it led to mass slaughters and other horrors during the Bosnian Wars. All of these problems and killings resulted in various charges against some 160 Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo leaders.
According to the author, the Bosnian Wars were ended by the Dayton Accords signed in 1995 by the Croats, Bosnians, Muslims and Serbs. These Accords are being enforced by the United Nations, which includes finding alleged war criminals to be tried in the International Criminal Court.
There is an eye witness in the case assigned to Boom. This witness is presented by Boom to a three judge panel of the International Criminal Court at a preliminary hearing. This witness describes in great detail, through an interpreter, the events that took place in 2004 when 400 Roma (Gypsy) refugees were rounded up by men in uniforms. All of them were then placed in military vehicles and transported to an abandoned mine into which they were herded. After they were settled into this mine, there were several explosions creating an avalanche of rocks and dirt and causing all of them to be buried alive.
In an aside, the author reviews the history of the Roma people’s migration from India through Greece and into Europe. They were mistakenly assumed to have emerged from Egypt, thereby bestowing the name “gypsy” on them.
After the International Criminal Court allows the investigation into the disappearance of these 400 Roma refugees to proceed, the remainder of the book involves Boom’s investigation and the unusual adventure he undertakes. It also introduces the reader to some of the people he meets, and the difficulties and near death experiences in which he finds himself.
Suspects include Serb paramilitaries, organized crime gangs and even the United States government and military.
Two women also enter Boom’s life in and around the Hague. One is Esma, a Barrister, who claims to be Roma, and who is involved in her own hotly contested divorce. She is also the legal representative of Boom’s eye witness used during the preliminary hearing. The other is Boom’s landlady, Narawanda (Nara), who is an attorney, who grew up a Muslim in the Netherlands. Nara is married, and she is one of the legal representatives of the prime suspect in Boom’s case.
As Boom’s investigation proceeds, he develops much more than a professional relationship with both Esma and Nara.
While I think that detailed sex in a book can very much add to its story and interest, I feel that the sexual description in this book are misplaced. Also, in Boom’s position as chief prosecutor in the case, these relationships with legal representatives of his star witness and his prime suspect cross the line professionally and ethically. Such behavior could very easily derail a case while it is still in the investigation and preparation stages.
In spite of these diversions, which probably jump out more to an attorney reading the book, this well-researched book describes topics and places a reader might never have thought about in 2017.
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