The Appeal - By John Grisham

Grisham tackles corporate greed and malfeasance once again.  This time, Grisham adds the extra complication of political corruption and misuse of the American democratic process.
Krane Chemical dumped horrendous amounts of chemical byproducts into its back 40, and the result was the transition of Carey County into "Cancer County."  A small local firm nearly went bankrupt fighting the big corporate boys, but justice was served with a $41,000,000 verdict.
However, a few back room meetings birthed a plan to "deal with" that troubling verdict by electing a "friendly" Mississippi Supreme Court judge.  The conservative judge is pure as snow, but he is frighteningly naive in his conservative Christian battle against liberalism and all its ills.  He has no idea that he is but a pawn in a larger scheme to save a big business from a well-deserved bankruptcy (which would surely follow from the other lawsuits and settlements).
Grisham scores a few moral victories with this book.
First, his obvious point is that corporate greed must be checked for the good of a vulnerable humanity, and this check often necessarily comes through huge punitive verdicts.  Without massive punishments for corporate wrong doing, there is almost no financial incentive for greedy corporations to correct (much less to prevent) wrongs.
Second, Grisham really gets deep into the moral complexities of justice.  Churches take both sides of this issue.  Some churches are blindly rallied to fight for the "moral" issues of anti-homosexuality and punishment of criminals (all the while dumbly acting as pawns in the larger political machine to elect the corporate boy).  On the other hand, a few churches fight injustice on the side of the poor.
So although the plot is a bit too predictable, this same plot forces us into the midst of ethical questioning.  Grisham makes us question why we stand where we do, why we support certain candidates, and what is really going on behind the scenes of our political landscape.  Any time a novel can do that - and tell a good story - I consider that a success.

Calico Joe - John Grisham

Grisham takes a rare tour outside the legal genre to explore sin and forgiveness, brokenness and redemption within the lens of Major League Baseball.
Calico Joe is a blazing rookie for the Chicago Cubs.  He homers in his first three major league at bats and barely slows down for the next 60 games.
Most of America is ready to admit him to the Hall of Fame before he completes his rookie year.  His hometown, Calico Rock, Arkansas is over the moon in pride and joy for their favorite son.  (By the way, my grandparents lived 20 miles from Calico Rock, so I really enjoyed recognizing the local geography and culture.)
Then, Warren Tracy, a bitter and aging pitcher, mows down Calico Joe with a fastball to the temple.  Joe spends weeks in the hospital and never returns to baseball.
The second third of the book is the somewhat predictable, but no less gratifying story of a wounded sinner trying to make peace with his past.  Spurred on death and his mediating son, Tracy sits down with Joe for a reconciliation.
The plot is not profound.  The characters are not particularly deep.  The story is not suspenseful.   But it is enjoyable and even edifying.  Our actions have consequences.  But even our worst mistakes can experience a measure of healing and redemption.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are worth the effort.

The Summons - Book Review

Carrying three million dollars in your trunk can be stressful.
Summoned to his father's deathbed, Ray Atlee discovers a dark little secret for his father - a retired judge.  Stuffed away in cardboard stationary boxes are piles and piles of hundred dollar bills.
How did it get there?  Where did it come from?  Who does it belong to?  Who are these people who want it back?
Complicating everything is that Ray's brother and co-inheritor is a life-long drug addict.  Giving him a small fortune would be like handing him a grenade with no pin.
Grisham manages to string us along in suspense as the action picks up.  Meanwhile he is teaching us lessons about greed, the addictive power of money, the essential impotence of money to make us happy, and yet the power of money when used as a tool for healing.  In the midst of immense family brokenness, Grisham even manages to work in some surprising hope and hints of reconciliation.
Also, Grisham takes us back to Clanton, Mississippi, where several of his novels are based, and reintroduces us to one of his more colorful supporting characters, Harry Rex Vonner, a good friend, who is also an alcoholic womanizer.  Ah, Grisham, thanks for the complexity.
And thanks Emma for another good Father's Day gift.

Rainmaker - Review

Our church garage sale had two John Grisham books I hadn't read, so I tipped Sarah off.  Emma gave them to me for Fathers Day.  Score.

Rainmaker picks up on several common Grisham themes - injustice, underdogs, corporate wrongdoing, and ultimately dissatisfaction with money.  

The premise is simple.  Donny Ray had medical insurance, but when he needed a bone marrow transplant, his insurers unfairly denied his claim.  However, his parents were so poor and uneducated that they simply fought the insurance company with letters and phone calls, until it was too late.  When Donny Ray lay on his deathbed, they stumbled into contact with a young law student who took their case.  Against all odds, and with some very fortunate help from others, Rudy Baylor took down one of America's largest insurance companies and exposed their widespread fraud.

What I love about Grisham is that he tells a story with a point, or in this case multiple points.  1) Beware of corporate greed and abuse.  Not every big business is a good business.  2) Beware of greed - from within.  Riches may not be worth the sacrifices required to get them (or to keep them).  

Thanks for another good one, Mr. Grisham.

Book Review: "The Client" by John Grisham

The Client reads fast and rips your heart out slow.  A couple of kids in a trailer park stumble upon a mob lawyer just as he's about to commit suicide.  Out of a mixture of curiosity and compassion, they get sucked into the mess.  One boy ends up learning where a certain celebrity body is buried.  Then, the lawyer bites a bullet from his own gun.
The rest of the story is the kid trying to find a way out of the mess he stumbled into without harming his family in the process.  He is being chased by the mob and the Feds, and he is a poignant mixture of crafty and helpless, cunning and innocent.
In addition to its sheer enjoyment value,  The Client offers a beautiful little glimpse into the lives of an underprivileged family.  They are simply struggling to survive amid tragically difficult circumstances, yet they maintain steady love and grace for each other.  That's one of the things I love about Grisham.  He can deliver a profound message without the reader ever being aware that a sermon lies between the lines of the narrative.  Well done, sir.  Well done.

The Runaway Jury - Review

Every vacation, I read at least one John Grisham book.  This year it was The Runaway Jury.  Once again, it was hard to put down.  There was more mystery than usual for the first half of the book.
The story begins with the selection of the jury for a huge tobacco lawsuit.  A widow of a man who died of cancer after smoking three packs a day for thirty years is suing the maker of his cigarets.  Drama and mystery swirl around the whole process, especially around one juror who seems to be willing to sell his vote and influence on the jury.
The ending is exciting, even if predictable.  I don't read Grisham to surprise me.  I read Grisham for the fun of the story.  However, I have to admit that after several years of vacationing with Grisham, I'm starting to wish he would shake things up a bit more.
The Josh rating: JJJ.

The Last Juror - Review

Grisham veers a little from his traditional courtroom style, but not too far.  A legal drama is still a major factor in the story, but the lead character in this story is a kid fresh out of college (without graduating) who stumbles into the ownership of a small town newspaper.  His paper reports mercilessly on a hideous murder by a member of the county's most notorious criminal family, and he is wrapped up into the drama.
Outside the courtroom, we see a young man struggling to come into his manhood. We also get a fresh look at the racial tensions of the deep south in the 1970s.  However, this is refreshingly rendered through the lens of a hyper successful black family with eight kids and seven PhD's.
The Last Juror walks a fine line between gentle story telling and compelling suspense, and that seems to be exactly what Grisham is aiming for - just enough suspense to keep us interested in the main story: a positive image of small town America - even with its weaknesses and faux paus.  As Willie Traynor, a yankee at heart, adapts to life in rural Mississippi, the readers kind of get the feel that they too could make a home there.
Good, enjoyable reading, but not ground breaking or can't-put-it-down.  The Josh rating: JJJ.

A Time to Kill - Book Review

A Time to Kill is John Grisham's first novel.  It was rejected by 28 publishers before a small pub-house agreed to print a meager 5,000 copies.  (Grisham's second book, The Firm, was the best selling book of 1991, and was on the best seller's list for 47 weeks.) 
Grisham is a Southern boy, and most of his books are based in the deep South - especially Mississippi.  A Time to Kill began this odyssey into rural, southern USA.  It is replete with racial tension and insider looks at traditional stereotypes.  Grisham writes as one who loves the South - and at the same time, as one who sees through its facade of overdrawn strengths and weaknesses, to the soul of the people.
A Time to Kill is built around a simple, heart-wrenching story.  A young black girl is brutally raped by two white "rednecks."  (Grisham freely uses inflammatory stereotyped words - which are also freely used by most folks in the South.)  The girl's father guns down the two offenders as they are leaving their preliminary hearing at the courthouse.  The rest of the book is about two points: (1) Was the father justified? (2) What are the racial implications and ramifications of this trial? 
I wonder if Grisham's stereotypes are exaggerated, and I surely hope some of them are.  But as a Southern boy myself, I know that many of his driving insights (into both the white and the black communities) are uncomfortably close to home.
This is my tenth Grisham book.  He's one of my favorite fiction authors, hands down.  Although the conclusion was a bit disappointing, I would say that A Time to Kill is one of Grisham's best.  The Josh rating: JJJJ.