My Pick of the Week!

Small town Mississippi is the setting of The Appeal by John Grisham. The story opens with Krane Chemical Company losing a $41 million lawsuit. The evil Krane Chemical Company has been illegally dumping chemical waste for years and the town has a cancer rate that is 15 times the national average. Carl Trudeau, the CEO of Krane Chemical, is very bitter with the verdict and wants the lawsuit appealed. The plot really picks up speed when Trudeau meets secretly with a consultant to hatch a plan to make sure Krane wins the appeal. The judgment will be reviewed by the Mississippi Supreme Court and Krane Chemical needs the Supreme Court. One of the Supreme Court justices is up for re-election and the consultant devises a plan to recruit a very conservative candidate to win the election. This conservative candidate will be Krane's saviour when the appeal hits the Supreme Court. This has been labelled a legal thriller but I think it is more a novel of political intrigue with loads of corruption.