Side by Side Comparison of: Dell

This is another great novel by John Grisham. This may be a book of fiction but the situation is as non-fiction as it gets. In this day and time it's hard to imagine that such racism could have taken place in our great country, but as a young boy I myself seen so many racist acts some 55 years ago. However sad, this book is a great read and one you won't want to put down.Enjoy!!!

This book is a combination historical fiction, police procedural, generational history, race relations and, Grisham's usual courtroom drama. I think the characters are unusually complex for a Grisham novel. Set in the Deep South and centered around the major question "Is this holographic will legitimate?", there are the additional questions of authenticity and familial and moral responsibility. Yes, I recommend this book.

This is the first Grisham book I have read. My wife has read all of them, and she says that many of them are better than this one. But I thought Sycamore Row was quite good. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but have read several fiction books in the past year. This is the most fun to read, the most interesting. Grisham puts a lot of details into the book that aren’t needed, but they give you more of a feeling that you are an eye witness to everything that happens. You could say that the ending is a little sappy, and a little predictable, but it is satisfying and the way it plays out is pretty clever.The book is set in Mississippi in 1988, and race is an issue. Grisham seems fair in the way he depicts it. There good and bad people and complicated people of both black and white races. The greatest evil is done by some whites.Maybe the minimum age to read the book should be thirteen. A lot of young people don’t know a lot about the history of race relations in the United States, and they should get some help in understanding it and making sense of it. There is brutality in the book. There is speculation that Seth Hubbard and his black housekeeper were intimate, but no steamy scenes.

Seth Hubbard was a business man that a lot of people didn't say to much about but when he get's lung cancer this life changes he send a written will to Jake Brigance and ask him to take care of it and said don't let no one change it he send his pastor a letter and told him how he wanted his funeral he plan everything then he went to the sycamore tree and hangs his self. In the will he leaves everything to his black maid and then people started to talk but Jakes there for her at the end of the story my mouth was all when Ancil Seth brother tell the story. it was a good story but to long it could have been told a lot shorter

I do not think that I have ever read a book as slowly as I did Sycamore Row. I wanted to sink into the time and place that John Grisham was unfolding for me. I wanted to understand the racial nuances that are as important as any individual character in this book. I needed to step away from my current beliefs of political correctness and return to a more turbulent time of 1988 Clayton, Mississippi.Many of the old characters from A Time to Kill are here, but the setting is different. Jake Brigance is still trying to rebuild his life after the Klan burned down his home and the insurance company has been stalling for three years as to the payoff. What Jake needs is an infusion of cash, what he did not expect was how the suicide and holographic will of a much disliked man was going to change everything.Money changes people and when Henry Seth Hubbard, a white man, leaves the majority of his estate to his housekeeper Lettie Lang, a black woman, all hell breaks loose as anyone and everyone has an opinion as to why.As a reader, a personal relationship between the two seemed too obvious and Mr. Grisham is a much better writer than that, so I began to jump to my own conclusions. Of course, I was wrong and the truth behind the largess is stunning. I reread that part twice and I swear I did not breathe either time.Say what you will about John Grisham, but this man can write a courtroom drama. What unfolds in both the legal arena and the lives of those involved is both stupefying and mesmerizing. The people, the personalities, the humor, it all rings true. Bad choices are made that can derail the whole thing, but when you are fighting for the wishes of one man, a man with a secret that must be told, there is no stopping Jake in his fight for his client.

I have always loved John Grisham's books. I can remember when I was introduced to his writing when I read A Time To Kill. I read ALL of the time - I inhale books. I have been disappointed in the last few Grisham books. In fact, I was quite irritated to read his baseball ones. I felt he had abandoned his best writing : lawyer, courtrooms, small Southern towns. Well, I just finished Sycamore Row. Oh, my! It's a wonderful book. I loved how I could not guess how the ending would be. I will have to say Grisham is back 100%. This book will shoot to the number one spot on the best sellers list!

One of Grishams most intriguing, captivating novels ever. I hate to be trivial,but I simply could not put this book down. The characters are so realistic. Even the dog, AC - Ambulance Chaser! David Zinc, the protagonist,leaves a huge, very profitable law firm because so much is required of his personal time. He hardly knows his wife, and even though they both want children, because of.his time required by his job, he is seldom able to even try to have a child. One day he gets fed up and just walks out. Ultimately, he winds up, on the same day, with a much smaller law firm, and the excitement begins. Read it! You'll be glad you did.

I am a big fan of John Grisham and this book proves why. The development of the characters is beautifully done and shows them as the individuals they are. There are so many twists and turns in the plot and at times it almost seems to take too long to get to the next page. Just when you may think you have it figured out, Grisham takes a different turn. Grisham has never disappointed me and he will not disappoint you. He writes with a wry sense of humor and add reality. Great read and highly recommended.

Loved this Grisham book from start to end ! Really enjoyed all the characters from the "lady" in the bar to the two man law partnership. The story was interesting but what totally made it a hit with me was the intelligent use of humor throughout the book. Some parts of it reminded me of Laurel & Hardy .... for those of you who are old enough to know who they were ..this will make sense. For those of you much younger .... with a "people type" sense of humor ... it will be enjoyable too. While there was a serious story line , it was written in a "common sense" , humorous approach. Well worth everybody's time to read this !!

John Grisham writes books to educate as well as entertain American readers. I have read his books for years and find them exciting, passionate and wonderful. As an attorney, I find that John Grisham is distinguished from other 'legal thriller' writers who mis-educate by pandering to readers and distorting what must be understood about the legal system. He performs one other vital service -- Grisham reveals corporate policy decisions that ultimately entangle citizens in the domestic and international tragedies that cause all of us permanent harm. Knowledge is power. Thank you John Grisham for your dedication.You are truly an American Patriot. What your books often reveal is just that important -- whether we know 'it' or not.

This book is both smilingly humorous and as serious as a heart attack. No matter how the author described the partners in the "boutique firm," all I saw was Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathieu. The description of what my law brothers often refer to as "the dirty shirt practice" is more fact than fiction. While lawyers are perceived as wealthy and powerful, the majority struggle to build a practice and need to keep an eagle eye on cash flow. They dream of the big case just around the corner and have a tough-as-stone, one-person office staffer who knows more than their spouses about the lawyers. The description of the mass tort bar is equally accurate, as is evident by the barrage of TV ads soliciting clients to phone some 800 number if they have suffered a legion of injuries allegedly caused by some drug or medical device. John Grisham lays out these issues in a cogent and meaningful tale wrapped around two product liability cases, one involving a cholesterol medication tied to heart attacks, the other involving a lead paint coating on a child's toy tied to horrific brain damage. Despite these serious threads, Grisham's description of Oscar Finley and Wally Figg, and all the troubles that arise from involvement in a mass tort case, kept a smile on my face. I read this book nearly nonstop and was sorry to see it end. Thankfully, Grisham summarizes the lives of the characters after the story ends, which left me satisfied and pleased.

Immediately after finishing the last chapter of "The Litigators," I read some of the reviews. It always amazes me how different people come away with radically differing views on a subject. I guess there is some truth in all of them.First the criticisms: At times I got the feeling John Grisham wrote a great short story and then screwed it up by filling in some of the chapters with trivial hyperbole merely to increase the page count. As a writer myself, I too plead guilty as charged. I suspect his first draft was a masterpiece. I can't say it's a book you can't put down. Too many times, I had to force myself to not skip unnecessary paragraphs. I would characterize the book as a roller-coaster ride, with the highs way above the mark and the lows mired in mud so dense you have to claw your way through to get to the other side. There were unnecessary characters introduced that could have well been left out. They served no purpose other than to slow down the pace.Now for the good stuff: On several occasions I found myself laughing out loud. Especially in the scene where the Senior Partner makes his opening remarks to the jury. That was completely unexpected and it set the stage for promises of more tomfoolery ahead. Grisham was writing from his soul at that point and reminiscent of the scene when the lawyer crashed through the courtroom ceiling in the movie "Trial and Error." From that point on, anything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and Grisham portrayed it brilliantly. He may not know it, but he has a real flair for comedy. I wish he would use it more often. There were several more missed opportunities. As I mentioned earlier, the overall story was superb and no doubt it will be made into a Hollywood movie, but my guess is the screenplay will be written into a comedic performance instead of a drama.I've tried to purchase more of Grisham's books on Kindle and I am thankful he saw fit to release this one as a Kindle product. I believe the majority of readers will continue to rate this book with five stars. I'm looking forward to more roller-coaster rides from Mr. Grisham.

4 stars! I read this book for a book club group. I found it interesting and thought provoking! I truly enjoyed reading it. Not being a native Southerner, I was not aware that the reprehensible treatment of black people lasted as long as it did. I'd liked to think that we've learned from our mistakes.

Just want you might expect from Gresham novel. Fairly predictable plot twists but not enough to detract too much from the reading experience. Some character inconsistencies - but again, not enough to detract from the novel. Enjoyed the local color and procedural narrative. Would recommend for a summer read.

John Grisham is above all a great story teller. Sycamore Row picks up the life of small town Mississippi attorney Jake Brigance three years after the conclusion of the Hailey trial that served as the story line for "A Time To Kill". Seth Hubbard, An elderly white man with terminal lung cancer and only weeks to live, hangs himself from an old sycamore tree deep in the woods of his large farm. The day after the hanging Jake, who had never met Seth, receives a concise hand-written letter from him along with an equally concise hand-written holographic will that bequeaths 90% of his surprisingly large (to everyone who knew him) estate to Lettie, his attentive black house keeper of three years and end of life care giver. Seth directs that this will should supersede the more formal traditional will drafted for and signed by him two years prior that left the majority of his estate to his two living and semi-estranged.adult children. Jake's tasking by Seth is to do everything within his ability to insure that his most recent will prevails and withstands the anticipated challenges by overlooked progeny and their team of slick, greedy and at times ethically-challenged big city lawyers.A jury trial ensues and this is when Grisham's writing excels technically. He clearly understands the ins and outs of the American judicial system, the thinking and behavior of the legal community, courtroom procedures and the special nuances of all of the foregoing in the rural south. The trial predictably takes many twists and turns and the over-riding question in the minds of all concerned is why would an uncommonly wealthy white man leave most of his fortune to a black maid whom he had known only a few years, totally neglecting his direct descendants in the process. In the end, of course, this question is answered in a totally plausible but somewhat predictable manner and the story ends on a satisfactory , though somewhat saccharine sweet note.This was a highly entertaining story full of unique, idiosyncratic and interesting characters. My main criticism of this as well as Grisham's other works is that the dialog between characters often seems somewhat artificial and forced and some of the characters are superficial and rather plastic or shallow. Regardless of these shortcomings Sycamore Row is an interesting and entertaining story that should have broad appeal to Grisham's followers and other lovers of legal thrillers.James McLamb

Grisham finally revisits Jake Brigance, the brash young lawyer from his first book, “A Time to Kill.” This time, with the story set only three years after the events of “A Time to Kill,” Jake takes on the case of a contested will rather than a murder case.Although it might seem like a contested will would be much less interesting than a murder, “Sycamore Row” works surprisingly well at building tension. When a rich old man dies and leaves his huge fortune not to his children, but to his housekeeper (who happens to be black), the entirety of Ford County takes a vital interest in the case, which forms the mystery at the heart of the book.It’s good to revisit with remembered characters from “A Time to Kill,” from the alcoholic old lawyer Lucien to bombastic Harry Rex. I’m not a fan of Grisham’s to the point where I love all his books. He’s written some real stinkers, in my opinion, and I’d given up reading him until this book came out. But “A Time to Kill” is my favorite Grisham novel, still, and the idea of revisiting Clanton and Ford County was just too appealing to pass up. I’m glad I didn’t skip this one: “Sycamore Row” is Grisham at his best.

"Sycamore Row" gives us something that John Grisham hasn't written in a long time -- a bona-fide courtroom thriller. Since "A Time to Kill", Grisham's legal thrillers have dipped into all sorts of other genres, political screeds, gentle character portraits, some outright adventures. This time, it's different. "Sycamore Row" actually follows a single case -- a contest over a handwritten will, attached to a suicide note -- from the discovery of the will, through depositions, discovery, trial (with tons of surprise twists), and even the inevitable appeals. This book is a good , if somewhat cartoonish intro, to the American legal system.Grisham freely acknowledges in the text that he's winking at the way actual trials develop and play out. The time-frame in the book is impossibly compressed, and all the characters know it. But it helps that these are characters we've seen before. Most of them come from "A Time to Kill" -- written almost 30 years before this one, the book Grisham wrote and published before he became famous -- but, because Grisham has dipped in and out of his fictional Ford County locale before, we know a lot of the characters from his other, lesser books (most notably The Summons and The Last Juror). It's fun following Jake Brigance around the late 1980s (because 30 years may have passed for Grisham but only 3 years have passed in the town of Clanton), in a world before cell phones or Google or 9/11.The book mostly propels along in 48 chapters, none of which take more than 15 minutes to read. Grisiham covers a lot of ground that he's covered before -- if you've read 3 of his other books, there's not a whole lot that's new here. But, because we're back in the courtroom, it's arguably a lot more fun than some of his other recent "legal" thrillers that have had nothing to do with the actual law.

We’re back in Clanton, Mississippi, but this time with attorney Jake Brigance, protagonist of A Time to Kill. After local businessman Seth Hubbard hangs himself, Jake receives a letter that Seth had mailed on the eve of his suicide, asking Jake to probate a perfectly legal handwritten will, leaving most of his $20 million riches to his black housekeeper Lettie Lang. A court battle ensues, led by a passel of lawyers representing Seth’s two adult children and a few grandchildren. The handwritten will supersedes a more traditional will that divided Seth’s estate among the family members, and their attorneys set out to prove that Seth was not in his right mind when he penned the handwritten will, due either to the influence of his housekeeper or the pain medication he was taking for lung cancer. Jake seems to have the outcome well in hand, given that he’s very friendly with Judge Atlee, who is presiding over the case. However, Judge Atlee wants a jury to make the decision, and a mostly white jury spells trouble for Jake, especially after Lettie’s drunken husband kills two teenagers in a highway accident. His chances get even worse when the opposing attorney uncovers disturbing facts about Lettie’s employment history and Seth’s dalliances with women. Jake has an ace up his sleeve, though, that even he doesn’t know about until late in the game. I found this all made for an absorbing read, but I think it could have been so much better. Grisham should have withheld from us the existence of the two surprise witnesses that blow Jake’s case out of the water. Then the ambush would have had as much impact on the reader as it did on Jake. Also, the question throughout the book is why did Seth change his will, and Grisham throws some very large hints our way, so that the introduction of this information at the trial is anti-climactic. Plus, the critical evidence takes a circuitous route to the courtroom, and its detour seems entirely unnecessary, except to make its arrival barely in the nick of time. I hope that the lack of suspense in this novel is not a sign that Grisham is starting to phone in his legal thrillers. That would definitely be less than thrilling.

I'm a John Grisham fan. Not one of his best stories, but still good none the less. Because of my current schedule I don't have the time to actually read text, but I listened to this book in my car headed to work and on a road trip. If you like John Grisham you will enjoy this item.

David proved to be just what was needed in a world of everybody for themselves get a buck anyway you can lawyerism. Witty, light hearted but shows what can happen on the other side of the coin. Not all lawyers are wealthy or hit it big. Good read

John Grisham never fails to make his characters come to life on each page. WALLY AND OSCAR ARE DEEPLY FLAWED and very human. They need to be rescued from their sad lives and sadder yet law practice. In walks David. He is drunk after walking out on his high powered ,but unsatisfying powerful law firm. David is rescued by WALLY and OsCAR who in turn rescues them. In between is courtroom drama and intrigue . This was a good and satisfying read.

One day David Zinc just can't face going into the 600-person legal factory where he slaves 12 hours a day on boring international bonds, and decides to go get drunk instead. He stumbles into Finley & Figg almost by accident, drunk, and takes a low-paying job with them, and turns his life around - and theirs too. I love this book. It shows how small law offices work, and how big law offices work. He gets clients (almost by accident) and makes a living for his family. I love this book.

Grisham can write with the best of them. A hallmark of a great book is "the stoplight factor" - meaning you can't wait to see what's next. I became engrossed in the story and enjoyed being entertained by a master of courtroom drama.

Simply put, this is a fun book. David zinc is a young Harvard educated lawyer who gets fed up with his high stress job at a large law firm. The book opens with David going to work one day and having a near breakdown, at which point he decides he's had enough ... and immediately departs by dramatically diving head first back into the elevator and disappearing without notice. By the end of the day he has become completely drunk and finds himself at the office of Finley & Figg, a small law firm that prefers to think of themselves as a "boutique law firm," but in reality are just two ambulance-chasing lawyers operating on a shoestring budget. David joins this firm, which shortly embarks on a class-action lawsuit against a large pharmaceutical company in hopes of receiving a big payoff without having to go to court. Of course, things don't work out exactly as planned.This book was extremely entertaining and it kept me wanting more.

Like most Grisham novels, the characters are well developed, you quickly learn to like and dislike them as the story requires. It is a very well written book with a tight plot, full of legal niceties you can take or leave as you please. The main story, as was the case in Time to Kill, is the relationships between black and white folk in the Deep South, with the secondary tale the legal story of a handwritten will and its subsequent challenge by the family who were cut out. There's a few twists and a not entirely unexpected twist at the end that fills a lot of story gaps and a detailed and somewhat dull trial. Overall, not as great as Time to Kill but a satisfactory and absorbing sequel with many familiar characters.

This is a story well read by Michael Beck, who also provides the narration for other Grisham thrillers. But the only thing I didn't like (and hence my three-star rating) is that sometimes the audio ended a disc in the middle of a chapter, forcing me to insert the next disc in order to hear that chapter's conclustion

Grisham is back! Really? That’s what I wanted to believe as well. At first, Sycamore Row is full of atmosphere: the southern little town, the colorful waitress, the flavorful dialogues. So I am happy to find Grisham again, and with a humor bonus on top of that, at least at first. Not that he is humorless in other works, but here the rural settings seem to stimulate his wit and sass, despite the morbid start of the novel and its important topic. We are in the 1980's, in a Mississippi little town where the sheriff and one of the judges tend to stretch the law one way or the other, and where racism has far from disappeared. Readers who know Grisham well have visited the place already, and met most characters in A Time to Kill, Grisham’s first novel. Here, a black woman is about to inherit millions from a white man at the expense of his family. Some issues arise from this. The duty to one’s family is one. A significant anti-racist statement is another. You could add this: the freedom to do what one wants with one’s own fortune. What is more important in life—the personal or the civic? What if the personal and the historic were one and the same? All these problems are posed, somewhat addressed, never really explored. Too bad. Sycamore Row could have been fascinating, the stuff of great literature, with such a title, too! But if it is gripping in the beginning and interesting in the end, what it is in the middle is too much like small towns and not enough like good writing: so dull and soporific that you want to get drunk with Lucien—the alcoholic and debarred lawyer of the novel. At the end of each one of his novels, Grisham usually addresses his readers, evoking the epopee of the writing of that particular book. Here, he tells us that his wife Renée, “was not too keen on a sequel” of A Time to Kill, which many readers consider his masterpiece. Renée, I believe you were right.

Grisham is a master at writing novels, but he's not with this book. The story centers on a man's will that is written to exclude all his family members and leaves the estate to non-family. I'm being vague in case you are planning on reading the book. This could have been a short story, there are so many fillers, like Brigance's house buying story line, Portia's studying to become a lawyer, and the drinking habits of an old lawyer, had these been left out, it would have been a short story - very short.The characters have depth as do all of Grisham's characters but the story line lacks an interesting plot. I kept waiting for huge "didn't -see-that-coming" ending that would get me to say OH WOW, but that never happened. There really is no plot, just alot of lawyers trying to jockey their side in the game of who legally inherits the money. It 's just an ok story not a great read and definitely not worth paying anything over $2I get frustrated when you pay good money for a kindle edition book from a very well known author who seems to have had a deadline in a contract and just put a lot of fillers in to give you 300 or so pages. It seems more and more popular authors are writing with a 'deadline mentality' . This is one of those books in my opinion. I like the author but THIS book - is not up to his standards and I am very disappointed. IMHO I say skip it there are too many other great books out there.

I got this book from Amazon as a bargain-priced eBook. I hadn't read a Grisham book in a long time, but I remembered the swift pace of his storytelling. Well, he is still a good storyteller, but what I didn't remember was that he was such a pedestrian writer. Some of his paragraphs were embarrassingly awkward, and if it had been a print book I was reading, I might have taken a red pencil to the text. I see that this is the second Jake Brigance story and he did make a number of inside allusions to an earlier story but I would certainly not rush out to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of Jake.Bottom line: If you have time to waste, this will fill the bill.

I enjoy reading Grisham even if many of his books are formulaic. This is a shame really because he has done some outstanding writing including The Innocent Man, one of the finest examples of crime non-fiction since In Cold Blood. I also thought some of his early works such as A Time to Kill and The Pelican Brief were very well written. This one seems a tad lazy although the character development is good the plot borders on boring. I guess I kept waiting for something to happen but it just meandered to a close. Not a bad read but nothing to get excited about.

A good read with a weak ending. Typical Gresham book. Big companies are evil and lawyers are heroes. Probably my last Gresham book unless he creates a better story line.

it took all I had to get through this book...I skimmed page after page. The pages became redundant..same stuff over and over...it's side stories and finale are implausible. don't waste the time I did on this book. Read "The Last Juror." So far, the only book of Mr. Grisham's that was worth the money I paid for it.

The Litigator is second Grisham book in recent times that refuses to give the redeeming moments to protagonists.So, the good guys are portrayed as rank outsiders, underdogs, minnows that almost demand some life victory from the author God. The bad guys are detailed as scheming tyrants, unscrupulous professionals that you expect to be slammed down in the last 5% of the book for all their purported sins. The story develops nice and easy as predictably the odds against the heroes are turning smaller and smaller, almost to the vanishing point.And you are almost at the end of the book, you get a flicker, you expect a flare and the good guys just perish. The bad guys dont turn out to be as bad. The good guys are given some rewards for being a part of the book in some side story.Too real life for a pot boiler.

I have read several of John Grisham's novels and have enjoyed them for their pace and in most cases suspense. "The Litigators" is of a different genre. It is a pleasant caricature of life in the legal world where the main protagonist, David Zinc, a Harvard trained lawyer fed up with his lot at a large Chicago firm, goes on a bender and ends up going to work for a pair of low grade sleazy but lovable ambulance chasers. The characters are all flawed but yet impossibly we'll grounded, kind and honorable, certainly rare personalities in the legal profession at any level. David's new firm attempts to enter the arena of mass tort litigation taking on big pharma using a frivolous claim the that a new cholesterol medication is causing cardiac pathology, in the hopes of a quick payday. They bumble along in a comedic fashion hoping for a settlement until forced to go to trial. Where they are hopelessly incompetent and overmatched. Because this is a modern fairy tale, things somehow seem to work out in the end for all concerned. Pure but enjoyable pablum.

Extolling the beauty of character attorney Nadine Karros at every turn got to be nauseating and very unlike a Grisham character. Grisham's appeal to me throughout his career is depicting the everyday man. It was off-putting to continually be bombarded with Ms Karros's beauty, intelligence, wit, cunning, style, figure, savvy, etc. Im a huge Grisham fan, read ALL his previous books but this is now my second mediocre review. Just too simplistic. Especially for Grisham. Its not bad, just so average. I didn't have to anxiously wait a whole year for this, Grisham's annual release. Any non famous author delivers this type of effort year round. Nevertheless, still no one tops Grisham's wry humor. That is what keeps him ahead of the pack even with sub-par outings such as the Litigators. Hoping next release will have a much more sophisticated plot.

...for the paperback. I've always bought John Grisham's books as soon as they are released and have read them as soon as I can in hardback, and I've loved almost all of them. This one was different. It took me so long to read this one, whereas with his others I've finished them in no longer than two to three days, usually two.The good things about this book are its humor and the character of David Zinc. Not just that he is a character in the book, but his show of integrity and intelligence, and his willingness to walk away from a huge law firm with hundreds of lawyers who spend 80 hours a week billing by the hour. About halfway through the book, it picks up a little speed, but it never gets to the usual page-turning tension and suspense that Grisham's other books have done.Finley and Figg are laughable, as they are intended to be, with their "boutique law firm" that is almost, but not quite, a real law firm. Finley and Figg are literal ambulance chasers and are lucky to be making five-figure incomes. They never see the inside of a courtroom and hope they never do.Once Figg finds out about the drug Krayoxx, a cholesterol reducer that has been linked to heart attacks, he goes on a mission to find people affected by the drug and hopes to join a class action suit against the pharmaceutical company that makes it. From there on out I thought the book got lost in and bogged down with lawyers, patients, and back and forth phone calls among all of them. Then the defense team steps in and they have to be kept track of, as well. The writing just wasn't as clear as in previous books.I certainly won't say that I won't read the next Grisham novel, because I will. I've always loved John Grisham's books and look forward to each one. This one just wasn't my cup of tea or my dose of Krayoxx.

If you've ever wanted to slog through every tedious step of executing a contested will, this is the book for you. This book has no mobsters, no assassins, no stalkers, no FBI intrigue... Just lots and lots and LOTS of lawyers eating sandwiches and talking about a will. Somehow I made it through the whole thing, so I can tell you that all you need to read is the first 20 pages and the last 20 pages, and you haven't missed a single thing. The 600 pages in the middle are just filler. What a waste of time and, even worse, a waste of an opportunity to follow up with the cast of A Time to Kill.

Who wrote this? Not the John Grisham I remember. After taking a long hiatus from his books, I saw the high ratings and thought I'd give it a try. I kept expecting it to get better. How many times did we read a re-hash of the situation at hand? A white man hangs himself and leaves his surprisingly huge fortune to his black housekeeper and a tidbit to his brother, negating a previous will that had left his millions to his ungrateful (and boring) children. Jake Brigance is hired via a letter received after the man's death, that he is to be the lawyer for the estate, incurring the wrath and consternation of just about everyone from miles around. John or whoever ghost wrote it seemed to think that we didn't understand the elements of the situation so it had to be discussed with other attorneys, the cliched guys at the cliched cafe, the woman who inherited it, the angry children, the angry children's many lawyers, the judge, Jake's ex-partner, the daughter of the woman who inherited the estate, the townspeople, the sheriff, Jake's wife....no, I'm not exaggerating. EVERY. SINGLE.ONE of these people had a discussion about the outrageous will Jake was trying to defend. The same words were said over and over and over. I kept thinking, "SOMETHING has to happen!" and almost at the end, it did. I'm giving the story two stars because the story behind the inheritance is mildly interesting, and I actually found myself getting engaged in it. But the three quarters of the book that is filler pages, before the end, is anesthetizing. It's a hard slog.

The story started with a bang: great characters, great plot. After that it all went down hill with too much information that rambled all over the place. I kept reading it, but I guess I'm a slow learner since I realized some time ago that Grisham books aren't what they used to be. The ending was disappointing and made no sense. We spend hours reading only to have the story end with a questionable testimony that everyone seems to immediately buy in to. It felt like a poor short story that grew into a wordy-too-much-information book.

I'm a really big fan of John Grisham. I think that I've read just about every book that he has written. Well, the ones that have been out long enough so that I don't have to pay the new Amazon high prices for the new ones. That's a different story though (pun intended).I have to say that I was really disappointed in this one. It was more like reading a paper from a bored high school student that had to contain 'x' number of words. There just seemed to be a lot of filler in it. Sometimes the story (which wasn't all that interesting) went on and on. Then the ending just hit you and well, that was that.It's just not up to the quality of what I have come to expect from Mr Grisham. I've got to say though that I still really admire his principles in writing novels. I know that I can take my kindle to a doctor appointment or other public places (using the larger font),, and not being embarrassed by someone glancing over and seeing the page filled with cuss words or gross minute descriptions of some sex act. Keep up the high principles JG and I'll keep buying your books. Not everyone can hit it out of the park every time, so I look forward to your next book! Thanks again for your high principles!

First off, PLOT SPOILER ALERT!Observation #1: I found it completely unbelievable that witnessing the lynching of a man in his childhood preyed on Seth Hubbard's mind his entire life to the point that he needed to "get right" by leaving his estate to the surviving grandchild of that man. It's just incomprehensible to me. This book is set in 1988 when I am certain few white southerners would have batted an eye at the lynching, burning or beating of a black person. Sure, a child witnessing an event like this would have been traumatized momentarily but it would have passed as the child absorbed and eventually reflected the culture in which he was raised. Please note I am not saying this is acceptable, but I traveled extensively in the deep south in my teens and early 20s during the Civil Rights era and the ugliness and hatred I saw will stay with me until my dying day. In most parts of the south the Civil War has never ended and I doubt it ever will.Observation #2: This entire book could have been a short story if only Seth Hubbard had explained in his Will why he was making the bequest to Lettie Lang. Again, I guess we are to believe that 60 years after the fact he was still so overcome with shame over what his forebears had done that he simply couldn't bring himself to put it down in writing. Ain't buying it.I have read all of Grisham's books and will continue to do so, but this one just didn't ring true for me and I felt kind of skunked by the ending.

I am a big fan of John Grisham, especially his "A Time to Kill". When I heard 'Sycamore Row' was going to return to Ford County and star Jake Brigance again - I was thrilled!However, as other reviewers have posted: the ending was VERY predictable. I don't want to spoil the ending for anybody, but I wasn't even surprised at the 'revelation', because I had seen it coming. (and of course it had to be about race again, didn't it? I was a bit tired of the same old White against Black conflict. It had been wonderfully written and executed in 'A Time to Kill', but felt too much of a soft-washed copy this time around.)And although his writing is humourous and so very Grisham's style, it never really build up any suspense. I wasn't as enamored by this book that I couldn't place it down, the way I have been by other Grisham novels.At the end, I realized that the biggest joy I felt when reading this book was revisiting all those beloved and quirky characters from 'A Time to Kill'. It was so nice 'seeing' Jake Brigance, Harry Rex Vonner, Lucien Wilbanks etc etc again and knowing what had become out of them since the years that have passed in the setting from 'A Time to Kill'. So I felt nostalgic of 'going down memory lane' so to speak, but this aspect shouldn't have been the best part of the book. Sadly, it was.I still adore and respect the author greatly and will be looking forward to his future works.

Not John Grisham's best work. It never gets interesting. I did finish it only to be disappointed. Leave this one on the shelf.

Difficult to continue to the end. Depressing, repetitive, legal mumbo jumbo. Cannot recommend this book to any fan of Grisham

I'm a John Grisham fan, but this book was so full of nonsense, and an unbelievable storyline that I almost gave up on it. I did finally manage to finish it, but I would not recommend this book.The two main characters, Wally and Oscar are two bumbling "lawyers" and I use the term loosely who think they have a get rich quick legal case. This book was more of a believe it or not comedy than a mystery or thriller.

Well, I finished it. And I don't know what to think. It kind of drolled on and on, I forced myself to finish it. Certainly was not his best, and I think the only thing that held me to the book is A) I don't give up on books, unless they REALLY suck, and B) It was based in Chicago, and he was pretty accurate with all his references.

I have read many of John Grisham's books and enjoyed every one BUT this book will probably be my last. It was a struggle to get through until I reached about chapter 31 or so. The buildup to the trial was boring with Wally dragging David all over Chicago to get clients and the trial was a waste until David was on his own and actually asked some good questions of the witness. Everyone knew what the outcome was going to be so why did it take so many pages to get there? The characters came across as a bunch of bums with David being the exception. The only part I really liked was David & Helen's search for Nasty Teeth and the lawsuit against the toy company that sold them.

I haven't read Grisham in a while, I found his writing was a bit boring, but I decided to give the Litigators a try. I can honestly say that the first 97% of the book felt like I was reading the background info and the character development. Only in the last few pages were a few exciting paragraphs that felt rushed to get the story over with. I must say I was very disappointed, there was very little actual plot going on. It was like reading a year in the life of _______. Sorry, but this book totally missed the mark for me, if you like action and an exciting plot and not just a well developed character, you will not like this book.

I hate to say this, but by far my least favorite Grisham novel. It felt like he was trying to recapture the story of A Time to Kill but instead gave us a dull legal story. But still, I will continue to read his novels - one miss out how many novels isn't too bad.

I have read nearly all of John Grisham's books and always enjoy the screen adaptations, but this one seemed as though someone else wrote it. It lacked "edge" and was predictable from the beginning. Compared to his other books this one was definitely not a page turner. However, it was educational as to just how tedious law research and practice can be.

I enjoyed this book and found the characters fully formed and fully flawed. Grisham , unlike many others in this genre, knows the trial process and is able to exploit its quirks and black holes for example the raw power of a trial judge. At the same time the plot moves the characters towards an unexpected but truly logical conclusion which answers why a bitter old man would disinherit his kids and leave a maid 20 million bucks.

I have read Grisham in the past and enjoyed his work. A Painted House comes to mind. This coming of age story was compelling and hard to put down. Sadly, Sycamore Row doesn't measure up to these standards. The premise is interesting enough. The family maid that inherits the family fortune? Grisham approaches the tale from a legal angle, his strength and one that usually works. There is also a lot of back story on the maid. Not a bad framework for an interesting story but this one plods along and fails to hold my attention. Not halfway through, I may or may not finish. Certainly not a good indictment of the book. While the price was cheap, I rue the purchase.

I have a really hard time believing that Sycamore Row was actually authored by John Grisham. I have to wonder whether it was largely penned by someone else and Grisham's name was slapped on it. The book does not read like Grisham *at all* and I cannot be the only one who found this to be the case. I have read every single Grisham novel to date. While some are clearly better than others, this one is just way out there in left field.Where to start. The pacing is off from normal Grisham. Perhaps one of Grisham's greatest talents is the pacing of his novels. This one was up and down, and the down parts were downright boring. I had to force myself to keep going at times and that is something I never experience with Grisham.The characters are two dimensional and uninteresting. In prior Grisham novels, his characters range from very real to so-so, but these characters have nothing to them, and they are not believable.The entire plot of the story becomes clear about half way through, and the remainder of the book is just a rote exercise in flipping the pages to get there. Again, not like Grisham at all.There are flaws in the plot and characters which do not reconcile.I could go on, but that's enough. Anyone who has read a lot of Grisham must be able to see that this is not him.

This book is great if you love being reminded in every chapter that Grisham wrote 'A Time to Kill'.The author cashes in his previous greatness and gives us a completely predictable story with zero depth to the characters. Add trite prose throughout the story, and I'm sad I didn't put the book down when I first realized the book is a bust (around chapter 15). Instead I completed the book, hoping that something unexpected or interesting would happen.From the author to the reader: Hey, I wrote a good book once. You should give me money and I'll waste a week of your life.

Poor character development, boring story line and very predictable, hated the tied up in a bow ending. Would not recommend.

It was just so slow! I found it very boring, and just kept thinking something was going to happen.

I've been a Grisham fan and have enjoyed his books in the past. I read the Litigators after reading and enjoying Gray Mountain. The Litigators was a major disappointment! I have to agree with other reviews that this book was pure formula with a story that was not all that engaging. I had to force myself to finish it. The story line of big firm lawyer opts to pass on the big bucks for a small time law firm just doesn't have much depth without a more interesting back story as there was in Gray Mountain.

John Grisham has lost his touch. I can't even bother finishing it. The characters are unlikable, the story hardly compelling. Complete waste of time and money

This latest work by John Grisham is, in a word, boring. Nothing about the story is compelling. The characters, and all of the images painted around the characters, are tired cliches. There are NO surprises (everything is predictable) and the only reason I could find for completing the drudgery of reading this story was my own ethic that I complete what I start. Even when it is, as here, painful. If you are looking for a story with even an iota of freshness, forego this purchase and read something (or anything) else.

I am not sure why anyone is giving this book 5 stars. This book is outright boring! Grisham spends several chapters on the court proceedings of a tort case against a drug manufacturer and repeatedly remarks how bored our main characters are listening to this endless testimony and then proceeds to force us to read the boring play by play of it. I skimmed through most of these chapters and the only reaction from me was a slight ironic groan every time I read, "and the jury was half asleep after all this." Yeah, me, too. This is not The Firm, or Runaway Jury and certainly not A Time To Kill. There is not any excitement beyond the first chapter. No mystery. No legal prowess--in fact, all the main characters are either quack ambulance chasers or the new guy who has never been to court. There is no big court room drama. Even the little side story is a case that gets settled without any dramatization. It's a simple enough read if you are interested in the bare bones of how not to file a mass tort case and loss it in court. Other than that. Forget it. Seriously. Forget it.