The Appeal by John Grisham

eh...

While I can't say "The Appeal" was the worst book I have read, I can't recommend it either, and gave it two stars as opposed to one because I liked how Mr. Grisham put it out there that judges and indeed politicians in general can be bought...something that without a doubt happens too often.

As a litigator in New York, this book hit especially close to home for me, as my office had the largest personal injury verdict in a certain county reversed for extremely shady reasons. Indeed, the very judge who reversed the decision was overheard saying he would do anything in his power to make sure our client never saw a dime of the multi-million dollar verdict that not one, but two, different juries awarded him. Thus, having lived through an extremely similar set of circumstances, this book struck a chord with me. Hopefully Mr. Grisham exposed the reality of "juducial discretion," the frustrating process of so-called justice in our legal system, and the ways in which judges can be bought, bribed and controlled. For that reason alone, this book is a worthwhile read. However, I prefer his earlier works such as "The Firm," "A Time to Kill," "Pelican Brief" and "Runaway Jury" much more.