The Appeal
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Authors:
John Grisham
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ISBN: 978 1 8441 3823
First Published: 2008
Description:
What it says on the cover
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 mould 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 the electoral process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again.
Century
Your Opinions and Comments
Much more than the recent books written by this author. A welcome return to the pacier books of the earlier John Grisham.
The characters are almost believable, the key ones being particularly nice or particularly bad. I felt that I wanted the good guys to succeed, but I sensed they would not get justice through the American courts. Large amounts of corporate money being stacked against them. I got a clear sense of how American Law is carried out. The particular interest being in how politics and the legal system interact, with the little person being dealt the worse hand of cards to play.
I read this book during the period when the Bush presidency was drawing to its inevitable close and wondered whether the author was going to end on a note of optimism or pessimism. I won't give it away!