by John Grisham
"In a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict". So begins the blurb on the back cover of the large print version of John Grisham's thirtieth published work, THE APPEAL. I have read most of the novels written by John Grisham and there is one consistent value that I find when I close the books on their last page, a feeling of time well spent. I have not only enjoyed an intelligently constructed narrative, but learned from an expertly presented view of our system of justice. I can't imagine a more insightful contribution to understanding of events found in our news media than the story Grisham tells in THE APPEAL. The backcover blurb concludes with a "...shocking story that will leave readers unable to think about our electoral process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again." I can't improve on that conclusion.
As I scan the headlines in today's newspaper, I find articles on "special interests", "lobbying", and even an amazing parallel to the story of a chemical company destroying a community described in THE APPEAL. Is there any issue of more concern to those who have followed the recent debate on the selection of judges than the repeated contention that courts are being controlled by "special interests"?
Once a verdict is delivered, after forty-two hours of deliberation by the jury, after four agonizing months of trial, the small town lawyers, a husband and wife team, Wes and Mary Payton have appeared to have won justice for a town riddled with cancer suffered from drinking water polluted by the Krane Chemical Company. Their stunning victory over a powerful corporation is immediately challenged by its largest stock holder, Carl Trudeau, "I swear to you," he tells the lawyers in his Manhattan office, "Not one dime of our hard-earned profits will ever get into the hands of those trailer park peasants."
The appeal process begins, and all the might of a great corporation is pitted against the pitifully small resources of the Paytons, already nearly bankrupted by the suit against Krane Chemical. Grisham does not spare a detail of the wheels of justice grinding inexorably to its final fate in The Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi. If there is one book worth your reading time, it is THE APPEAL. It is the story of our times..
As I scan the headlines in today's newspaper, I find articles on "special interests", "lobbying", and even an amazing parallel to the story of a chemical company destroying a community described in THE APPEAL. Is there any issue of more concern to those who have followed the recent debate on the selection of judges than the repeated contention that courts are being controlled by "special interests"?
Once a verdict is delivered, after forty-two hours of deliberation by the jury, after four agonizing months of trial, the small town lawyers, a husband and wife team, Wes and Mary Payton have appeared to have won justice for a town riddled with cancer suffered from drinking water polluted by the Krane Chemical Company. Their stunning victory over a powerful corporation is immediately challenged by its largest stock holder, Carl Trudeau, "I swear to you," he tells the lawyers in his Manhattan office, "Not one dime of our hard-earned profits will ever get into the hands of those trailer park peasants."
The appeal process begins, and all the might of a great corporation is pitted against the pitifully small resources of the Paytons, already nearly bankrupted by the suit against Krane Chemical. Grisham does not spare a detail of the wheels of justice grinding inexorably to its final fate in The Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi. If there is one book worth your reading time, it is THE APPEAL. It is the story of our times..
Reviewed by Don Mac Brown
2 comments:
Thanks for the review. I haven't read this one yet, Don, but I'm going to. I, too, have read most of his books.
Of special note, a nearby town (Cameron, Mo.) is in the midst of a possible contamination thing -- an apparently >average incidence of brain cancer. The lady, a literal muck-raker (for the life of me, I can't remember her name) played in the movie by Julia Roberts has initiated investigation with some finger-pointing toward a local firm supplying ferilizer to area farms. I suspect more will be heard on this.
Erin Brockovich (it was the title of the film!)
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