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• John Grisham: The Appeal, Doubleday, 2008
THE MOST recent offering by John Grisham is a finely
crafted novel – and a deeply disturbing read.
The Appeal once again
demonstrates Grisham’s ability to convey riveting images in few
words, to keep a plot moving quickly, and to constantly keep the reader
off-guard with unexpected plot shifts.
Grisham, a former lawyer and politician in
Mississippi, has developed a highly successful career writing suspenseful
books which make good movies (The Client, The Pelican Brief).
A committed Christian (he describes himself as a
“moderate Baptist”), he has also written books which explore
deeper issues (The Chamber, The Testament).
The Appeal is one of
the latter – although, like many of his deeper books, it also works
well as a suspense novel.
The plot concerns Krane Chemical, a grossly
irresponsible corporation which dumps chemicals into the ground behind its
plant in rural Mississippi – poisoning the local water supply, and
causing numerous deaths and health problems among the local population.
When the corporation is successfully sued by a woman
who has lost both her husband and her only son to cancer, the corporation
sets out to manipulate an election to the state Supreme Court so that it
will win the case on appeal.
The book effectively exposes a corrupt American
political system and a deeply flawed judicial system. It also exposes a
naïve Christian community which is far too easily manipulated by the
first two.
The book presents an uncomfortable picture of
fundamentalist Christians who offer a knee-jerk reaction to certain hot
button issues (most notably homosexuality) while not understanding the
larger picture.
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It portrays confused Christians concerned about
trifles, while ignoring weightier issues of justice. It echoes Jesus’
condemnation of the Pharisees.
It measures the contemporary North American church
against the Sermon on the Mount’s call for a higher standard of
righteousness – and finds it wanting.
To be sure, the book sympathetically portrays
committed Christians with a variety of political philosophies, all trying
to do the right thing. But it often shows those committed Christians trying
to do the right thing and failing miserably at it – because they do
not understand well enough either the complexities of biblical teaching or
the complexities of their own society.
The book should cause Christians to do some very
serious soul-searching. A good suspense novel can keep readers awake at
night as they keep reading to find out what will happen in the novel. The Appeal will keep readers
awake at night for deeper and more important reasons.
Jim Coggins is author of several faith-based mystery
novels, including Mountaintop Drive.
September 2008
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