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Editorial 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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
Full of promise but dissapoints An engaging read but the end sucks...just kind of flops.
I've read and enjoyed all of Grisham's books until a few years back - I won't be buying another one based on this one. What a shame - I really used to like his books.
Fascinating sub-plot I found this an intriguing novel because of its sub-plot. Other reviwers can tell you about the David vs Goliath story, but what I found most interesting was the Christian background to this novel. More, what kind of Christian and so what? On one side you have the local community Christians in their local community church, they're working class, poor, but are committed and faith-ful, trying to make a difference. They live and work for each other and the people in their community, they fight... more info
Grisham now past his best Grisham doing what he does best? Er, I don't think so. I've read ALL his legal thrillers and this is only a pale shadow of classics such as The Firm, Rainmaker, Client, Time to Kill etc. If they make THIS into a film, then I'll eat my paperback copy. It is entirely formulaic and the whole book was excellently summed up in the Short Attention Span Summary in these reviews (I must remember that device!). But the book's sting-in-the-tail (tale?) is that there IS no sting-in-the-tail! Perhaps he just got fed up... more info
Not bad, not great I finished reading the book about 15 minutes ago after having been reading it for around 3 days. It is certainly not the greatest book. It has 500 pages and until around page 150, I was really bored, but I realise obviously that a writer has to set the scene. I read on with hope that the rest would not be as boring. Whilst it is not such a great thriller, in that it is not really a page turner and exciting, I like the way Grisham writes. Also, the main issue in itself was intriguing - that of a public... more info
