''Limitations'' is a novel by

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

which was published in 2006. It is by far his shortest novel (197 pages) and prior to publication as a novel was released as a serial story in the Sunday ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

''.

Plot summary

Like Turow's other novels, it is set in fictional

Kindle County Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and he revives some familiar characters, including George Mason from ''

Personal Injuries ''Personal Injuries'' is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 1999. Like all of Turow's novels (bar his autobiographies), it takes place in fictional Kindle County and many of the characters are recognized from other Turow novels. Plot ...

'' and Rusty Sabich, the hero of his acclaimed fiction debut, '' Presumed Innocent''. Mason is now a judge, faced with the challenge of deciding a high-profile case involving a rape case that reawakens his long-suppressed guilt over his own role in a similar incident decades before. To compound this inner struggle, Mason finds himself the object of threatening e-mails from an unknown source, all while trying to care for his cancer stricken wife.

Critical reception

Randy Michael Signor of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' said of the setting "if there is a more cross-examined, eviscerated fictional community than Kindle County, it remains a secret". Marc Weingarten of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' stated that the novel "forces us to grapple with the notion of crime and redemption, a little Dostoevsky-lite to go with our potboiler mystery".

References

Kindle County 2006 American novels Novels by Scott Turow Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The New York Times Magazine Novels set in Illinois Farrar, Straus and Giroux books {{2000s-thriller-novel-stub