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John Grisham's first legal thriller since The broker. In a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town's water supply, causing the worst 'cancer cluster' in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict or reverse it. Who are the nine? How will they vote? Can one be replaced before the case is ultimately decided? The chemical company is owned by a Wall Street predator named Carl Trudeau, and Mr. Trudeau is convinced the Court is not friendly enough. With judicial elections looming, he decides to try to purchase himself a seat on the Court. The cost is a few million dollars, a drop in the bucket for a billionaire like Mr. Trudeau. Through an intricate web of conspiracy and deceit, his political operatives recruit a young, unsuspecting candidate. They finance him, manipulate him, market him, and mold him into a potential Supreme Court justice.… (more)
User reviews
Some reviewers have critiqued this novel for being too plot driven and for being populated by cardboard characters. I disagree. This is a thriller, folks, not a literary character study. And while many characters are recognizable as white hats or black hats, they are sketched with more depth than the denizens of most thrillers, and their actions are (generally) believable. Carl Trudeau, while over-the-top for sure, is a wickedly entertaining villian. Ron Fisk also stands out as a character who wears a nuanced shade of gray, being a generally likeable guy who gets caught up in circumstances beyond his control.
This novel grabbed me right away and kept me on board with a good blend of pacing, legal intrigue and real-world political commentary. (You need only follow the daily absurdities in our presidential election process to see what lengths campaigns will go to buy votes.) I also loved what Grisham did with the ending, throwing a curve ball that will make many Grisham devotees swing and miss.
All in all, this may be Grisham's best-written, most realistic and politically-astute legal thriller.
While this is the typical cookie cutter Grisham legal thriller, it must be said that this novel is so over the top in its portrayal of conservatives and business that it is borderline dangerous. The strereotypes are offensive. In Grisham's world, there is only snow white, blinding in its purity, or coal black, stunning in its evil. There are no shades of gray, because how entertaining would that be?
Now, as Grisham points out and as many will echo, this is simply a novel consisting of fictitious characters. As such, it is even somewhat entertaining for the five hours it takes to read it. However, when Grisham makes the absurd statement that it is actually believable and based loosely on fact, he reveals his true motivation, an appeal for out and out class warfare.
Only in Grisham's world can business be pilloried for financial support of conservative candidates, while trial lawyers are held up as paragons of virtue for their attempt to buy the same seat on the court. Why? Because the trial lawyers are for the "little people". They don't care about money. In fact, they're willing to go bankrupt in their never ending search for truth, justice and the American way. Please.
In this book, every case before the court is so extreme in their facts, that no reasonable person could fail to feel outrage, so much the better when Grisham's troglodyte conservatives consistently rule in favor of negligent nursing homes, toxic dumpers, child killers and incompetent physicians. All to the benefit of scum in the board rooms and on Wall Street.
Workers of the world, unite! Grab your pitchforks and storm the manor house.
P.S. This isn't the first time I've been distracted by the Xanadu actor being the voice of Grisham. It just jumps me out of the
Grisham seems to have recovered his ability to write with this book, and although none of the character are particularly well fleshed-out, this is a plot-driven book, and the plot moves along nicely.
I have to say that I wasn't altogether enamored with the ending. As things look worse and worse for the good guys, the plot takes a sharp turn, but not necessarily for the better. The turn itself is unpredictable, and makes the ending even more unpredictable, but I felt that the turn itself came from so far out in left field that it took away from the plot, which, until that point, had been running very smoothly, if somewhat depressingly.
Despite that, this is a good effort by Grisham, and one worth reading if for no other reason that than to read about a fictional, but all too possible and pernicious threat to justice and democracy that is seldom discussed.
The message is good. US corporations have many back side influences. Grisham does an excellent job explaining what the system is and how it's broke, just as he did in his last title, The Innocent Man.
If his fan will tolerate it, I think he will find a way to get his social messages into the novels.
It sounds like a fairly routine description of how political machines run elections, and the setting that this is a
Even though it left me with an even emptier feeling at the end, I loved the Partner much more than this.
The Appeal is set in Mississippi following a large verdict against a major chemical company that has been accused of dumping toxic waste. The toxic waste has affected the local water supply causing Bowmore, Mississippi to be cruelly referred to as Cancer County due to the unusual high number of cancer cases in the region. The appeal, which then follows, sets into motion a trail of propaganda, underhand campaigns and dirty tricks that puts the verdict in jeopardy.
With his novel, Grisham, has obviously set out to highlight the role of politics and big company money that plagues parts of the judicial system and this he has done well. He is also careful to point out at the end of the novel that The Appeal is just that – a work of fiction - but one that reflects current practice and tactics in many locations throughout the world.
The detail outlined on the governmental campaign, one of the main focuses of the novel, encourages readers to re-examine the electoral processes happening around them. In addition, the wide range of tactics used by the big money companies to save stock prices and limit the amount of damages paid in cases where they have been found liable is at the very least surprising and in many instances shocking. Overall I was left waiting for the true shock and excitement to get started, which just never seemed to arrive.