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The Appeal

By John Grisham

(77)

| Hardcover | 9780385515047

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Book Description

The jury was ready.

After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks fContinue

The jury was ready.

After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks for telltale signs, the jury was ready. Locked away in the jury room, secluded and secure, ten of them proudly signed their names to the verdict while the other two pouted in their corners, detached and miserable in their dissension. There were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self-congratulation because they had survived this little war and could now march proudly back into the arena with a decision they had rescued through sheer determination and the dogged pursuit of compromise. Their ordeal was over; their civic duty complete. They had served above and beyond. They were ready.

The foreman knocked on the door and rustled Uncle Joe from his slumbers. Uncle Joe, the ancient bailiff, had guarded them while he also arranged their meals, heard their complaints, and quietly slipped their messages to the judge. In his younger years, back when his hearing was better, Uncle Joe was rumored to also eavesdrop on his juries through a ?imsy pine door he and he alone had selected and installed. But his listening days were over, and, as he had con?ded to no one but his wife, after the ordeal of this particular trial he might just hang up his old pistol once and for all. The strain of controlling justice was wearing him down.
--From Chapter One of The Appeal

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.

Critics

  • The Appeal By John Grisham

    Making a move that is guaranteed to delight his fans, John Grisham returns to form with his first legal thriller in three years, The Appeal. The novel finds Grisham in familiar territory—the courtroom—but it begins in an unconventional way: with the ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

  • Uncivil Action

    Thrillers thrive on villains and heroes, and usually these characters are not overly complicated; writers don’t want to confuse or slow the plot. In John Grisham’s page turners the villains are corporate titans and their lawyers, and the plucky, idea ... (read full critics)

    nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

8 Reviews

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  • Legal, but not court-room, and not so satisfying

    A good, pleasant, entertaining legal story, but the end result though probably more true to life is not so satisfying. The involvement of the Christian Right and the church in this case makes for fascinating reading and reveals just how different the legal system in American is to that in Britain. I ... (continue)

    A good, pleasant, entertaining legal story, but the end result though probably more true to life is not so satisfying. The involvement of the Christian Right and the church in this case makes for fascinating reading and reveals just how different the legal system in American is to that in Britain. I liked it, but much prefer those cliff-hanger courtroom scenes!

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    GraJon said on Jun 30, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Surprise! the bad guys won this time.

    I guess Grisham was trying to make his point that money can buy everything in the politics. You can control the media, brain wash the voters and forge the public opinions the way you would like to. The tools are available for the politics all cost money, a lot of money. It is sad to say that whoever ... (continue)

    I guess Grisham was trying to make his point that money can buy everything in the politics. You can control the media, brain wash the voters and forge the public opinions the way you would like to. The tools are available for the politics all cost money, a lot of money. It is sad to say that whoever spends more, get much better opportunity to win.

    Maybe the Internet could change this, at least, make the economic scale big enough to ward off the big spenders from buying their positions. We have seen the power of Internet to Obama's campaign.

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    artie said on Jan 8, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • It is a rare not-happy-ending in John's novels which I fond of very much. I don't like the bad guy gets all the good share without any consequence in the end of the story. However, the way to manipulate courthouse is really eye-opened to me.

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    書海泳者 Booksea swimmer said on Sep 8, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • This is the type of plot that made John Grisham a best-selling author in the first place.

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    gg said on May 30, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • If a lesser author wrote this...

    If a lesser author wrote this I might have rated it higher. I expect more from Grisham. The characters were not as fully developed as I would like, the plot was weak -- few twists or surprises.

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    kensington said on May 15, 2008 | Add your feedback

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9780385515047 Hardcover $27.95 $23.89 bn.com
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