Having read A Time to Kill for the second time, I was ready to read the newly published sequel from John Grisham, Sycamore Row. Once again, we find ourselves in small town Mississippi, with all its associations and racial tension.
A suicide on the very first page leaves an unusual will, naming Jack Brigance as the attorney for the estate. The rest of the book follows the unpacking and challenges to the will, as a variety of characters assert their legal claim to stop the dead (white) man's negro housemaid from inheriting the lot. Along the way, there are moments of humour, but also moments of terror, as the Ku Klux Klan object to Jack's taking on the case and muscle in to intimidate.
As I seem to say with nearly every Grisham novel, he is able to portray characters in amazing detail, catching the way people are likely to react, in all their greed or pride or shame. The story draws you in, teasing you with each chapter end, making you push on to read just one more chapter... To benefit from this story, though, it's probably best to read A Time To Kill first, so that you're introduced to Jack and Ozzy and all the rest.
Sycamore Row is available from Amazon
and for Kindle.
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