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 The story is loosely based on the myth of Castor, who is
mortal, and his immortal brother Pollux, the twin sons of the
Greek god Zeus. It includes key elements of Greek tragedy such
as love, anger, devotion, deceit and incest.
According to the myth, when Castor was killed his surviving
brother Pollux wanted to share his immortality with him so they
would not be separated. Zeus granted the wish and the twins were
transformed into the constellation Gemini.
In "Identical" one twin, Cass Giannis, is serving a prison
sentence for a murder his brother Paul is sure he didn't commit.
When Paul runs for mayor, the brother of the murder victim
embarks on a television ad campaign to thrust the 25-year-old
crime back into the limelight to hurt his candidacy.
Turow talked to Reuters about his writing career, his legal work
and how he balances the two.
Q: Why do you think your books as so successful?
A: I like to think that one reason my books often succeed is
that what the reader thinks is the mystery is not really the
mystery. One thing that helped in this book is that the memory
of the Greek myths we read in school has faded a little so the
parallels are not immediately obvious to the reader.
Q: Are you still a practicing lawyer?
A: Now I only do criminal law, dealing with accusations of
wrongdoing, including lots of cases in front of the attorney
registration commission. I'm a defense lawyer. So I'm defending
attorneys who have been accused of wrong-doing, including
judges, lawyers, hearing officers. I sometimes say I started out
with a proctologist's view of the profession.
Q: I find it curious that lawyers, whose stock and trade is the
law, would break it.
A: There's nothing new about a public official making private
use of his or her office. The motive of a briber, or a person
who takes the bribe, though in a community like Chicago that
sometimes goes beyond an individual. It's an identity group
thing, whether it's a group of insiders or outsiders. It can
have a very, very complex sociology. People can become convinced
that this is just the way it's done.
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 Q: How do you keep the writing of legal fiction
separate from the actual practice of law?
A: There are ethical constraints on what I can steal from life for
my novels and that's just as well. Even if you try to stick with
reality, there will always be something that you don't really know
about people in real life. I don't write about my clients. I don't
write about my cases. It's much easier to let some small inspiration
from reality take wing in a novel.
Q: How do you structure your day?
A: I like to write in the morning and tend to other business in the
afternoon. It's not that exact. I probably write 45 minutes out of
every hour. Email is a great distraction. If clients call, I can
take care of that and go back to writing.
Most writers write in the morning, pretty much as soon as the coffee
is out of the way. I think it has something to do with the
passageways to dreams not being fully closed. I start while I'm on
the second cup of coffee.
While I was writing "Identical," I had a criminal case go to trial.
That's real work and doesn't leave a lot of room for writing or
anything else in your life. Generally speaking, that pretty much
occupied my life for three weeks.
Q: Is there any difference in the way you feel about your work now
as opposed to when you first began writing?
A: Yes. I feel like I know what I'm doing. The other side of it is
that, of course, since I think I know what I'm doing I'm always
worrying that I'm not pushing myself hard enough.
(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
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