The Appeal

I read all of Grisham's books and usually like them, but this is way below standard.
The characters are too stereotypical, they are either perfectly good or perfectly bad; the story is predictable, and there is too much politics.

Spoiler:
All republicans are bad, all democrats are good. Only republicans take money from big business.

I am going to have to modify my automatic "buy" reflex when I see the name Grisham, I guess. This book is about a crusading husband-wife team of tort lawyers that we're supposed to believe aren't "ambulance chasers". On the other side is a chemical business magnate whose company has been dumping toxic chemicals in a Mississippi town whose personality is a cross between Daddy Warbucks and Snidely Whiplash, with a side order of Ebenezer Scrooge (maybe it's no coincidence that the paperback came out during the Holidays). This dude rails at the idea of being sued by a bunch of "rednecks" and "trailer trash". The plaintiff (who seems almost an uncredited extra here) wins the original judgement so Scrooge McDuck appeals the verdict. But what he needs to do is get rid of a liberal state Supreme Court justice before the case gets there. So he hires a combination kingmaker/ political hit squad consultant, who finds an unsuspecting conservative (why does Grisham use that adjective as a cussword?) lawyer with no judicial experience and sets out to make a judge out of him, and runs him against the liberal incumbent, who's up for reelection. At this point Grisham insults the intelligence of the reader by practically telling us "now, folks, you're supposed to hate this guy's guts--he's one of the baaaad guys". And I can't, you know. He's really a good sort. And it isn't like we know enough about the plaintiff to empathise with her other than what she's suffered as the original victim here. Grisham keeps her offstage, referring to her only in passing, now and then. And mean tycoon makes out like a bandit. It's kind of like what the Prince says in closing of "Romeo & Juliet" when he observes that nobody wins here, everybody loses, "All are punished". Which includes the reader.

Just started the book , but it is a true John Grisham. . I am enjoying it immensely.

I have enjoyed most of John Grisham's novels over the years, so I had high hopes for his so-called "return to the legal thriller." Unfortunately, Grisham has hit the wall with "The Appeal." This one was a real snoozer, taking me more than a week to plow through. Is anybody actually thrilled by details of political campaigns, the musings of a Wall Street caricature and the everyday lives of lawyers? This plodding effort reads like a documentary on the life-cycle of dandruff flakes, devoid of even a hint of thrills, bombshell revelations and unexpected twists and turns found in Grisham's earlier work.

The story line is completely unsatisfying and is merely a thin excuse for Grisham to expound ad nauseum on big business, insurance companies and tort reform (which is so 80's), judicial elections and Southern politics. It might work as a marketing campaign for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, but not as a "thriller."

I cast my vote with the majority--I want a refund.

I've read nearly all of Grisham's novels and this was easily the worst. A decent start devolved into caricatures and moralism with as unsatisfying an outcome as one will ever encounter - a big disappointment. I got it for under $5 at the grocery store and still feel cheated.