Review: The Appeal

The Appeal - John Grisham

Paperback: £ 12.99 (one of the new giant sized paperbacks)

Publisher: Century

I bought this book with some Smith's vouchers I'd had for Christmas. My boyfriend had said that Grisham's books were alright and fun to read as had my oldest friend. My boyfriend is a barrister and my friend is a solicitor turned law lecturer....no wonder they like his books!

I knew nothing about him and I thought his books were thrillers, I WAS WONRG! I had no idea they were US legal fiction. None the less, I knew that several of his books were highly acclaimed and had been turned in to highly acclaimed films.

I'll say it now, at the start, I found this book mediocre at best. My boyfriend had warned me that this book is not one to judge Grisham on as his early stuff is brilliant, so I won't give up hope yet, I will try another of his in the future.

Anyway, down to the book.....

The story was alright. The over riding story of hazardous waste disposal can be covered in my job so the book didn't provide the usual escape I seek when reading. But never mind that.

I like Grisham's style of writing and I enjoyed the constant flicking back and forth between characters, it kept all parts of the story on a continuos flow and didn't give me time to forget about them or certain parts of the story. Also, I didn't get bored with different plots and sub plots as can sometimes be the case. Often I'm reading one chapter really quickly to get to the next part of the main plot....or similar.

The characters were ok, I liked Carl and Brianna's characters even though they are meant to be the villains. I found Fisk and his entire family total pains in the arse!! They drove me mental.

The ending was cliched and a bit of a saw it coming moment...

I did enjoy seeing the workings of the supreme court elections. I'm sure that votes and seats can be bought by big business or those with the most cash and I'd imagine that Grisham wanted his novel to be a comment on that to some extent. Also, this book just seemed to enhance everyone's perception that the US is a 'so sue me' culture. There were litigations and filings etc etc left right and centre....that shouldn't be a surprise though right?

Anyway, as I can't say anything overly nice I'd better shut up.

Happy Reading!

Book Geek 

:-)