In his latest novel, Sycamore Row, Grisham takes us back to Clanton, Mississippi and his first character - "Street Lawyer", Jake Brigance. Three years ago, in 1985, Jake successfully defended a black man accused of murder - the murder of the white rapists of his ten year old daughter. The trial and verdict divided the town and racial tension still runs high.
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 far 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?
Jake Brigance is a handsome, lawyer who has a reputation for his ability to woo a jury. His mentor Lucien, a disbarred, alcoholic attorney and Harry Rex, a devious divorce attorney, all return for a second act in the ongoing saga of race equality during the early 80's in Mississippi. Lawyers and family members start popping out of the woodwork when the dollar amount of the Will is revealed and then it is off to the races.
The plotting is excellent, the tension palpable and the journey to the final pages and reveal is oh so good. Absolutely addictive reading, Stick this one in your own stocking - five stars for sure!
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