The Appeal - Hardcover

Grisham, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385515049 ISBN 13: 9780385515047

Publisher: Doubleday Books, 2008

Synopsis

Politics has always been a dirty game.
Now justice is, too.

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. Their Supreme Court justice.

The Appeal is a powerful, timely, and shocking story of political and legal intrigue, a story that will leave readers unable to think about our electoral process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again.

About this title

Review:

John Grisham is now an institution -- a writer whose bestselling status is assured, So assured, in fact, that expectations for each new book are as high as can be imagined. Does The Appeal make the grade? And will it appeal to Grisham admirers -- or disappoint them?

The stakes in the novel’s plot are high: corporate crime on the largest scale. The duo of lawyers at the centre of the narrative are Mary and Wes Grace, who succeed in a multimillion dollar case against a chemical company, who have polluted a town with dumped toxic waste. A slew of agonising deaths have followed this, but lawyers for the chemical company appeal, and a variety of legal shenanigans are employed -- and it is certainly not clear which way the scales of justice will be finally balanced.

As ever with Grisham, the mechanics of plotting are key, and the characterisation is functional rather than detailed. But it is (as always) more than capable of keeping the reader totally engaged. Given John Grisham's much-publicised conversion to born-again Christianity, it's intriguing to note here the implicit criticism of the moral majority’s religious values, but that is hardly central to the enterprise. What counts is the storytelling, and while the writing is as straightforward and uncomplicated as ever, few readers will put down The Appeal once they have allowed it to exert its grip on upon them. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Praise for The Appeal

"Building a remarkable degree of suspense...Grisham delivers his savviest book in years. His extended vacation from hard-hitting fiction is over."--Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"A novel that could become its own era-defining classic. John Grisham holds up that same mirror to our age as Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities."--The Boston Globe

"Chilling and timeless."--The Washington Post

"An intricately detailed, involving story...the ending may surprise you."--People

"Stirring popular fiction that doubles as an important public-service announcement."--Entertainment Weekly

"Packs a wallop...The timing, in the midst of all the presidential primaries, makes it all the more compelling."-USA Today

"Fascinating...filled with deadly accurate characterizations by and author who knows both the law and politics from the inside."-Los Angeles Times

"A clever story and thoughtful plot...Grisham confronts in stark relief the dangers of electing judges in an era of big-money politics."--Seattle Times-Post Intelligencer

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0385515049
• ISBN 13: 9780385515047
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368