If you haven't already heard, John Grisham has a new legal thriller out. It's called
The Appeal. Here's an excerpt from
Charles Taylor's review at
Bloomberg.com:
[The defendant's] next step, of course, is to appeal the verdict. Knowing that it will take several years for the case to reach the state Supreme Court, the company decides to buy a seat. Judges are elected in Mississippi, so they target a victim—a female justice who can be made to sound like a liberal harridan—and groom a decent, conservative young lawyer to run against her. Then the smear campaign begins.
Sounds a little like an appellate version of
The Runaway Jury, with some commentary on judicial elections thrown in. According to
USA Today's review:
More than a novel, The Appeal is an exposé of how highly organized special-interest groups, loaded with cash, can manipulate the judicial system. It's Grisham's bully pulpit for reform. "There's a lot of truth in this story," Grisham writes in an author's note. "As long as private money is allowed in judicial elections we will see competing interests fight for seats on the bench."
It sounds like this book is far more about the election process than the appellate process. Based on the title, I had been hoping that Grisham would find a way to make my job more understandable to non-lawyers. I'm afraid he may have made the situation worse.
For those who want to sample before they buy, the first chapter of the audiobook is currently free on iTunes. (The free chapter is listed in the "Free on iTunes" section at the bottom of the main page, as long as that offer lasts. Searching for the author or title just takes you to the full book, not the teaser chapter.)
[...] John Grisham's New Book, The Appeal [...]