Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

1. Your new novel starts off where most courtroom dramas end--with the verdict. Where did you get the idea to reverse the usual order of events this time around?
The actual trial is not a terribly significant part of the story. Most all of the action and intrigue begins after the trial is over, with the verdict and the subsequent appeal.


2. The Appeal overtly suggests that elected judges can be bought. If the novel is meant as a cautionary tale, what's next--the Presidential primaries?
Why not? Over one billion dollars will be spent next year in the Presidential primaries and general election. With that kind of money floating around, anything can be bought.


3. Speaking of electoral politics, you've been more vocal recently about your political views ... first supporting Jim Webb for Senate and now endorsing Hillary Clinton for the White House. Have you given any thought to running for office yourself?
No. I made that mistake 25 years ago, and promised myself I would never do it again. I enjoy watching and participating in politics from the sidelines, but it's best to keep some distance.


4. This is your first legal thriller in three years. How did it feel to get back to the genre that started it all, and can fans expect another thriller from you next year?
I still enjoy writing the legal thrillers, and don't plan to get too far away from them. Obviously, they have been very good to me, and they remain popular. I plan to write one a year for the next several years.


5. Your nonfiction book The Innocent Man continues to be a bestseller in paperback. In your ongoing work with The Innocence Project, have you come across another story of the wrongfully convicted that begs to be written as nonfiction?
There are literally hundreds of great stories out there about wrongfully convicted defendants. I am continually astounded by these stories, and I resist the temptation to take the plunge again into non-fiction.


6. What's on your bedside reading list at the moment?
1. The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
2. Eric Clapton's autobiography
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Average Customer Rating:

Fantastic!!!!!

Customer Rating:

As every other book written by John Grisham, "The Appeal" is a fantastic story. I'm a fan of his books, I have read all of them and I'm subjective when commenting on his work, but I have to say that as an educator of Advanced English in Spain, I've used many of his titles to make my students interested in reading and in improving their English language, and up to now, the experience has been extremely successful. I highly recommend this novel to anyone keen on legal thrillers, action and adventure..

Great Entertainment

Customer Rating:

Mary Grace and Tom Payton are a husband and wife legal team and for years they've been representing a woman in Bowmore, Mississippi who lost both her husband and child to cancer which was supposedly caused by Krane Chemical's deliberate chemical spills into the town's water supply. The cancer rate in Bowmore is fifteen times the national average, everyone in town drinks bottled water, even the public pool has been closed. On the face of it one would think the case was open and shut and that Krane Chemical should settle and be down with it, but the chemical company is a subsidiary of a conglomerate which is run by Carl Trudeau and he's just not the settling kind. There is nothing nice, good or even remotely likable about Trudeau. He's a corporate insider who buy and spits out companies like licorice. Wes and Mary Grace have been working the case for years, taking on everything Trudeau throws at them. They've gone the extra mile for the cause, they've had to let other clients go, they've sold their house, they lives have become this case. They believe in their client, in what they're doing, but when they win, Trudeau's attorneys are not worried, because they believe they'll win on Appeal. Trudeau will stop at nothing, the Payton's are determined and there you have the setup for this might versus right, good versus evil story that will keep you glued to your chair, eyes pinned to the pages, heart pounding as you pour through this story. Nobody does suspense and intrigue the way John Grisham does. Reviewed by Vesta Irene

SAVE YOUR MONEY

Customer Rating:

I have read all of Grisham's previous books. This is his first true loser. If you pay $1.00 for this book, you are not only out the $1.00 but also the endless hours it will take you to get through this boring story hoping something surprising or exciting might happen. His characters are bland, and the political statement Grisham is trying to make could have been said in a 500 word newsparer editorial column. He must have been badly in need of a payday.

Fragmented Storry and Simplistic Characters

Customer Rating:

The premise of this book sounded great and it certinaly lured me to buy it. I've read other Grisham books in the past, The Last Juror, being my favourite. I have a few problems with what could have been an excellent book: 1) Too Short Why do Grisham's ending always end way too quickly? He has a problem with this, and while he stalls the book right before the climax the eventual resolution is so short it really left me in shock. Probably one of the worst endings ever in a book for so many reasons. 2) Too Fragmented Grisham was trying to cover a lot of territory in this book over a 2 year period. There are about 10 characters that interplay with different intertwining plots. For me it made a very unenjoyable reading experience. I got bored with a lot of characters quickly. 3) Really Poor Character Development As other reviewers have said, the protagonists in the book are simplistic and only serve the superficial purpose of advancing the story. They were boring as a result. Overal the original idea was interesting, but it was just so poorly done, and the ending is what really was disappointing that it left me in disgust.

Annoying - but with a powerful message

Customer Rating:

John Grisham rings a warning bell with this sordid tale of corporate bigwigs going to lengths to screw people. As the story begins, a small Mississippi community has won a large verdict against Krane Chemical, whose illegal dumping contaminated the town's water supply and brought many cancer deaths. Annoyed by the verdict, Krane's billionaire CEO conspires with sleazy political operators to "fix" the appeal. How? By defeating a State Supreme Court judge at the polls with a candidate they'll control. They pick a well-meaning but stupid attorney named Ron Fisk to run on a family values, anti-gay marraige platform. The operators pour millions into Fisk's campaign, attacking the better-qualified incumbent with misleading, negative ads. If they can elect Fisk, they may get the verdict reversed on appeal. THE APPEAL is rather contrived, and falls short of Grisham's top efforts. Yet it has a powerful message about slimey operators and corporate money buying elections via sham issues like gay marraige and family values. Don't laugh, it worked for Bush. A side issue not addressed in these pages is why corporate polluters that kill (not unlike priests that molest) seldom face criminal charges.