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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780385515047
ISBN number: 0385515049
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: January 29, 2008
Publishing house: Doubleday
Release Date: January 29, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 1025
Studio: Doubleday
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Product Description:
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.
Amazon.com:
As the author of twenty bestselling books, John Grisham has set the standard for legal thrillers since the debut of The Firm in 1991. Enjoy this Q&A--as well as a personal note to Amazon readers--from John Grisham. 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 subsequent 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 ... very 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 very 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 subsequent 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 subsequent 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.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers 
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John Grisham rings a warning bell with this sordid tale of corporate bigwigs and the lengths they will go to screw people. A small community in Southern Mississippi wins a large verdict against Krane Chemical, whose illegal dumping contaminated the town's ground water and led to many cancer deaths. But Krane's billionaire CEO, sleazy politicians, and sneaky offshore political operators arrange to "fix" the appeal. How? By defeating a State Supreme Court judge at the polls with a candidate they can control. They pick Ron Fisk, a well-meaning but rather stupid attorney to run on a family values, anti-gay marraige platform, pouring millions into his campaign while 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 readable, contrived, sleazy, and falls short of Grisham's top efforts. Yet it has a powerful message about slimey political 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, like (the few) priests that molest kids, seldom face criminal charges.
Rated by buyers 
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I have just wasted a portion of my life reading this book with an ending we readers do not deserve. I tried to rate it 0 but can't go less than 1.
Rated by buyers -
Who's the protagonist? Who carries the story? I never could really grasp on to any single character as someone I cared about in this book. The characters are predicatble, stereotypical and uninteresting. They are underdeveloped, and overly-wordy. Grisham goes off on tangents that don't support the through line, throws in a zillion characters that are thinly developed and leaves us so unsatisfied at the end. The good guy doesn't win in this story, and in such a predictable book, he/she should, albeit done with craft and with an interesting twist. Grisham fails to deliver.
Rated by buyers 
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The bad guys win. Most Grisham novels have a political point, but this one has a political axe: do away with elected judges, folks with causes support and elect 'em. Maybe we can stop people from electing officials who support their ideas. Hey wait a minute, isn't that what democracy is all about. You don't like something, some law - you do not stick IED's along the street, you elect someone who will change it. Now most of us agree that there must be rules, but when the elite of any group starts preaching that the boobs in the American electorate must be replaced by those who know better( Let's leave courts to lawyer niominated, legislature appointed judges, School decisions to appointed superintendants not elected board members, classsrooms to teachers not parents, pulpits to televangelists) we are in touble. My objections to this novel are beginning to sound like the sermon which it is and you know what?? sermons are boring. He can do better.
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