Search - The Appeal

This book lays bare the corruption involved in a judicial system based on electing the members of a state supreme court. But the book also shows what can happen when money can be used to control any elected office. When someone is elected, that has received millions of dollars from interested parties, it gives one pause to think what the giver of that money is expecting in return.

Bill

Good book, very anti-big corporation, very political, been a while since I've read Grisham.

I loved this novel by John Grisham. I have read every one of his books, and was held captive until the end. I won't go into great detail as some of the reviewers before me have. Beware: some of the reviews give a little bit of the ending away, and the not knowing is what makes the story so good. There are some twists and turns along the way that make for some interesting reading. This is the first book that I am aware of that John Grisham wrote his opinion of some judicial decisions and background events. I didn't take offense at it as some readers before me have. I went to bed late reading this book, and woke up early to finish it. In my humble opinion, I think this is one of John Grisham's best works of fiction.

John Grisham returns to genre he made famous with the legal thriller, "The Appeal". This is a book with a lot of good qualities and a book I really wanted to like, but in the end I was disappointed both in the direction the plot took and the overall message of the book.

The ending, however realistic it might be, is ultimately sad and frustrating. I wonder if the Grisham's goal was to agitate readers into political action. Personally, I'd rather the novel end with at least a hint of the good guys. That said, if you want a story in which the underdog wins, I'd pass on this one.

After such a long time finally there is another court novel by Grisham. Basically the story is about the town Bowmore, where people are warned to drink the local water. Where clean water is trucked in to replace the colored, stinky and obviously life threatening water. A town where cancer is almost in every family and where the cancer rate is 15% higher than the national average.

Wes and Mary Grace Payton are lawyers and so far, the only once that sued the Krane Chemical Corporation for 30 years of relieving cancer causing chemicals into Bowmores ground. They give everything, their live savings, their house, their office in those five years it took them to get a verdict.
So in the case Janet Barker vs. Krane Chemical Corp. the jury decides against Chemical Corp in all points:

Guilty for causing the death by Chad and Pete Barker, Janet's son and husband. Liability $500.000 for Chad and $2.500.000 for Pete.
Guilty for the intentional imposition of punitive damages. Liability $38.000.000

Of course there is an appeal and Carl Trudeau, millionaire and owner of the Krane Corp. hires a suspicious firm that promises to find a good candidate for the upcoming judicial elections to replace the most liberal Judge in Mississippi's Supreme Court. Until then a decision in Krane's case isn't expected anyway. Krane pays for these services and a young, clean, ambitious and most of all conservative lawyer is found in Ron Fisk, husband and father to three children. They build him up. They collect the money for his campaign. The money comes from the big business. Companies like Krane Chemical Corporation, churches and private people.
Ron speaks for families, about the death penalty and that sexual predators and killers aren't executed, he's pro gun possession and against gay marriage.
After what seems for Ron to be an easy campaign he is elected and takes his place in the Supreme Court. Mississippis Supreme Court holds 9 people. Five of them protect corporate wrongdoers by limiting their liability and verdicts are reversed one after another.

When it is time to decide about the Krane Corp. Appeal Ron experiences his own tragic family disaster after his son got hit by a baseball that leaves him with a fractured scull and likely permanent damage to the brain. He experienced how those people whose verdicts were reversed by him must have felt when their loved once got hurt or even died.

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A long, depressing read that kept me thinking all the time. It isn't fast paced but there is no necessity to that. The mills of justice grind slowly. So the reader is dragged into the tragedy of Bowmore and corporate behavior and the inability to vouch for their liabilities. In a world of money there is no such thing like responsibility. There is only the question how to get out of the mess with the least damage.
It was shocking to even read about settlement plans for Bowmores aggrieved party where the loss or illness of a child is worth much less than adults because they have no record of earning power. That young fathers are worth more because of the loss of future wages. Negotiations about still alive people, how long each would live, how much they will suffer, likelihood of survival and death. It was distressing to read about that.

It is also distressing to read about the ways money is risen and used to mislead the voters. The whole process of half-truths, statements taken out of contexts just to make a point for the own campaign is disgusting.

Of course the book is based on fiction but it has a lot of truth and at times like these, where Americans are about to elect their new president, it is even more something each and very voter out there wholeheartedly should consider.

This book starts as a novel and turns into a soapbox. Very readable and entertaining, but there comes a point in this book where you get pulled out of the make believe story and back into reality. A very contrived climax was very disappointing after a page-turning build-up.

3 stars out of 5

Good story about the extent of politics and big business. Sickening, however, when you realize how much power big business has over our courts and legislature.

Good book. The ending might not be what you would want, but it was a realistic ending. Not everything in life is fair, and this was just a good example of the way things really are in this world.

* * ½*. Legal Drama. Giant corporation loses against struggling law firm for dumping toxins and polluting town water. Hasn't this story been done umpteen times already? Goliath decides to fight and goes for ... you got it ... The Appeal.

You think you know how the story will go, and you may be right. But Grisham provides enough twists to make this a tolerable read.

Although Grisham has returned to his popular courtroom setting, it doesn't feel like the magic is back with this book. The cast of characters is so large that it's hard to relate with any one, and easy to get them confused with one another.

In the author's notes at the end of the book, Grisham admits that he was making a political point with this novel. Frankly, in an election year, another dose of politics is the last thing that I'm looking for.