From the Publisher

By Louis A. Weil III

When senior writer Paul Gray sat down with Scott Turow in his law office in Chicago's Sears Tower, Gray found the best-selling novelist friendly but also rather circumspect. "He is, after all, an attorney," says Gray. "He measures his words carefully." But when the venue shifted to the comfortable writing den in Turow's home, half-an-hour's train ride away, conversation loosened up. "When we talked about literature, the enthusiasm bubbled up," says Gray. "Turow gets extremely animated when he talks about writers. It was like a college session, with two instructors getting together over a beer."

That's not surprising. In a previous, low-salaried incarnation, Turow taught creative writing at Stanford University. Gray, who earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, taught courses in 20th century fiction at Princeton University for seven years before joining TIME in 1972. "We found that we shared an annoyance at the academic approach to literature, and that we've read almost all the same books over the past 20 years." Gray adds with a self-deprecating grin, "Turow's reading tastes are impeccable."

Turow is the 92nd writer to appear on the cover of TIME. The first was novelist Joseph Conrad in the magazine's sixth issue, in 1923. Eight have appeared twice: George Bernard Shaw (1923 and 1956), Sinclair Lewis (1927 and 1945), James Joyce (1934 and 1939), Ernest Hemingway (1937 and 1954), Andre Malraux (1938 and 1955), William Faulkner (1939 and 1964), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1968 and 1974) and John Updike (1968 and 1982). Eugene O'Neill appeared four times (1924, 1928, 1931 and 1946). Other writers include Russell Baker, John Cheever, Noel Coward, Graham Greene, Alex Haley, John Irving, Jean Kerr, Stephen King, John le Carre, Norman Mailer, Mario Puzo, J.D. Salinger, Neil Simon, Gore Vidal, Rebecca West, Tennessee Williams and Herman Wouk.

Gray has been impressed by Turow's two novels, the first of which, Presumed Innocent, he reviewed for TIME three years ago. "I'm glad Turow's books have been added to the reading mix," says Gray, who besides being a book reviewer has been the principal writer of the new Grapevine section. "He's interested in putting plot and suspense back into fiction."