The Appeal

There is no question that John Grisham is an exceptional author. I keep returning to his books.

This one grabbed me right from the beginning as I constantly rail at the unfairness of corporations that take advantage of the little man.

In this story, we have a company that has wilfully released toxins into the water and soil in a small American town and covered it up. As a result, an unusually high number of the inhabitants, who had no warning of the dangers of their water, have become ill or have died of cancer.

A husband and wife lawyer team, on the verge of bankruptcy, takes up the cause of one woman who has lost both her husband and son to cancer. They are bent on proving the link between these deaths and the poisonous chemicals that were released in this town. They have a strong case but the corporation has means and ways of fighting back.

Though I enjoyed the read, I found myself drifting at times because of the many characters that came into play. And because of that, I found I was not as invested in the outcome or in the protagonists as I might've been.

I got this one on audio book for a trip. It runs 12.5 hours unabrigded. The book itself was standard grisham. Interesting story, though not his best. The audio book was good. The reader was enjoyable.

Hey now! This book was quite good. I could not put it down! It gave me a WHOLE new appreciation for trial lawyers. The very end was completely unexpected, and left me feeling a little raw. But it's just what the book needed.