The Appeal
In John Grisham’s The Appeal, the verdict is just the beginning, then the case takes a dark, political turn. Politics has always been a dirty game, now justice is too.
About the Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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.
The chemical company is owned by a Wall Street predator named Carl Trudeau, and Mr. Trudeau is convinced the Court is not friendly enough to his interests. 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.
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
The jury was ready.
After forty–two hours of deliberations that followed seventy–one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks for telltale signs, the jury was ready. Locked away in the jury room, secluded and secure, ten of them proudly signed their names to the verdict while the other two pouted in their corners, detached and miserable in their dissension. There were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self-congratulation because they had survived this little war and could now march proudly back into the arena with a decision they had rescued through sheer determination and the dogged pursuit of compromise. Their ordeal was over; their civic duty complete. They had served above and beyond. They were ready.
The foreman knocked on the door and rustled Uncle Joe from his slumbers. Uncle Joe, the ancient bailiff, had guarded them while he also arranged their meals, heard their complaints, and quietly slipped their messages to the judge. In his younger years, back when his hearing was better, Uncle Joe was rumored to also eavesdrop on...
Praise
“Building a remarkable degree of suspense…Grisham delivers his savviest book in years. His extended vacation from hard–hitting fiction is over.”
—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“A novel that could become its own era–defining classic. John Grisham holds up that same mirror to our age as Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities.”
—The Boston Globe
“Chilling and timeless.”
—The Washington Post
“An intricately detailed, involving story…the ending may surprise you.”
—People
“Stirring popular fiction that doubles as an important public–service announcement.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Packs a wallop…The timing, in the midst of all the presidential primaries, makes it all the more compelling.”
–USA Today
“Fascinating…filled with deadly accurate characterizations by and author who knows both the law and politics from the inside.”
–Los Angeles Times
“A clever story and thoughtful plot…Grisham confronts in stark relief the dangers of electing judges in an era of big–money politics.”
—Seattle Times–Post Intelligencer
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