Grisham and Palin

Many of his fans have been waiting for John Grisham to get back to doing what he does best, telling us a a gripping legal story like "ATime to Kill." Hearing that he had done  so with The Appeal, I recently read it and was initially pleased to discover the Grisham of old. It has the Grisham pace and characterization that I had always enjoyed. It has the "good" guys--a small- town ma and pa legal team--taking on the bad guys--a huge chemical company which has polluted the drinking water of a small town in Mississippi, but has protected itself with high-priced New York attorneys.

The interesting part, the part that seems apropo of recent American politics, is a political campaign, secretly financed by the chemical company and overtly by conservative and religious groups,  to place a judge on the Mississippi Supreme Court. The candidate is a small-town attorney who has never tried a criminal case, but is young, handsome, a deacon in his church, a little-league coach, married with two children, opposed to gun control, gay marriage, and, most importantly opposed to large settlements for injured/deceased plaintiffs. The young candidate becomes a pawn of the highly-paid organization that runs his campaign.

Mr. Grisham wrote this before John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, but it smacks of the same cynicism. Ignore the person's experience and qualifications, find an attractive conservative who can be  wowed by star status, private jets, designer clothing, but most importantly,  programmed to tell the faithful what they want to hear.

The story may or may not be satisfying to John Grisham's fans, but subsequent political events proved him prescient.