Book Title: Sycamore
Row
Author: John Grisham
Book Format: Paperback
Obtained: From retail store.
My Rating: 5 stars
Pages: 656
Published: 8/19/2014 by Random House Publishing Group
Synopsis:
John Grisham takes you back to where it all began. One of the most
popular novels of our time, A Time to Kill established John Grisham as the
master of the legal thriller. Now we return to Ford County as Jake Brigance
finds himself embroiled in a fiercely controversial trial that exposes a tortured
history of racial tension.
Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one.
Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten
will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into
a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one
of Ford County’s most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second
will raises many more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly
all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his
ability to think clearly? And what does it all have to do with a piece of land
once known as Sycamore Row?
Review:
As I am working my way back into
the swing of reviewing books I decided to begin with my all-time favorite
author, John Grisham, and his latest paperback, Sycamore Row. As he takes us
back to where it all began, Ford County, Mississippi, he tells us a story as
gripping as his original. It was literally a book that I could not put
down...unless I absolutely had to.
As the synopsis states, Seth
leaves a last minute handwritten, perfectly legal, holographic will that shocks
all parties involved; his children, his short-term maid, his posthumously
declared estate lawyer, the judge, and even the county. They all know that this
last minute will is about to start another battle within the county, one that
might even rival the famous trial from a few years back that made Jake Brigance
famous.
The story will take you through a
series of emotions. It even had me on the verge of tears a couple times. There
were also a couple times where it had me laughing a bit. If you are a fan of
legal thrillers, stories of someone trying to correct an injustice, or just a
fan of reading some good writing then I would highly recommend picking this
book up and giving it a look. I promise that you will not be disappointed.
