A typical, quick John Grisham read. Not as riveting as many of his works, but still interesting to those of us whose professional life touches the political world because we live in a state that elects its judges. Is it realistic? Not completely. The rate at which appeals and political campaigns move in the real world make the sort of machinations set out in the book unlikely. In all other respects, however, it is an accurate depiction of that which is involved in mass torte litigation. ( )

A multi-national industrial company is found guilty of causing a death through their pollution of a small town's water supply and damages of over $40M are awarded. Many other families in the town with dead or dying loved ones are now also planning to sue. The company uses unethical, immoral, but always legal, or borderline legal, methods to get the guilty verdict overturned on appeal. The CEO also uses the situation to manipulate the financial markets to vastly increase his own wealth.

This is a book that Grisham wanted, perhaps even needed, to write. Is it a book that should have been published? The book is almost completely taken up with the mechanics of how the company goes about achieving its aims and could almost be read as an instruction manual on how to buy influence at the highest political and judicial levels of the United States.

The key objective here is to show that the practice of electing judges and other key officials will inevitably lead to political interference at best and corruption at worst. If a judge's election campaign is orchestrated and paid for by a third party, how can that judge be impartial in any proceedings involving that third party? Especially when the involvement in the campaign is kept secret? Corruption in politics and business is taken as a given here. Or, at least, that winning and money are the only things these parts of society think about.

The book moves along at a good pace and is very readable. You can take away the good story, but you are still left with good writing. This is more suited to those looking for a god polemic rather than those looking for a satisfying story. ( )

Wow. I've been a John Grisham fan in the past, and when my book club chose THE APPEAL, I had high hopes. It started out well, and he hooked me in the first hundred pages. But by the middle of the book, I was bored and confused. Where was the hero/heroine with whom I could relate? Where was the excitement, the drama, the heightened conflict? All I got were a list of events; this person did this, then this, then that. There was no emotion behind any of the actions, and no way to relate to any of the characters. To make matters worse, the last hundred pages made me roll my eyes, and the last page made me throw the book away, furious. What bothers me most about this is the time investment. I gave John Grisham a week of my life to entertain me, and he did a terrible job of it. This will be my last Grisham book, unless I have a very compelling reason to put myself through this again. (F) ( )

I used to read Grisham thrillers as soon as they came out. But at about no 10 I stopped because they just stopped being as satisfying as they had been. And "The Appeal" is a good example of that. It was just OK but not really very thrilling. And the end although sadly realistic was a real downer.
So while I think I will try to complete Grisham one day, it will not be a priority. ( )

First edition as new