I finished John Grisham's "The Appeal" last night.

[Bake]

For those unfamiliar with the Mississippi judiciary, Mississippi politics, corporate greed, et al., this book is dead on the money.

Great read; compelling story. But it pretty much made me hate what I do for a living.

Bake

[applegrove]

1. I'm reading the Brethern. I actually think I read it about a decade ago..it seems a little familiar

to me. But I don't know for sure. Shows you how much paperbacks stick in my mind.

[NightWatcher]

2. I couldn't believe that the judge's wife was the killer

kidding, I've never even read a Grisham book

[pokerfan]

3. Grisham books are the closest thing to books on tape

They practically read themselves to you.

[leftyclimber]

4. There's a lot of speculation

that he based this on on coal baron Don Blankenship pretty much buying a seat for a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who refused to recuse himself when there was a $50M suit brought against Massey Energy, Blankenship's company. Blankenship is a world-class turd who doesn't even live in West Virginia but thinks that he should run the place.

The U.S. Supremes just accepted the case. Someone posted about it in GD earlier this evening, but I couldn't find the link just now.

[Bake]

5. A combination of cases

The case tried in "The Appeal" reminds me of two actual Mississippi cases: in one case, DuPont Chemical was accused of dumping dioxin and poisoning the ground water in Jones County, MS; in another, a manufacturer of electrical transformers was accused of dumping PCBs in pits near its plant in Crystal Springs, MS, which polluted the ground water and even killed the lake nearby (no fishing allowed; you wouldn't want to eat anything out of that lake and you sure wouldn't want to swim in it!).

The book also reflects the rightward shift of the MS Supremes over the last few years, although there has been no suggestion that I am aware of that a seat on the Court was "bought."

Again, a great read.

Bake

[NV Whino]

6. I finished it last night, too

It was hard to get through because it was so on the money. If I wasn't depressed before I read it, I sure as hell am now.

[Bake]

7. No shit.

Like I said, it kinda makes me hate what I do for a living.

Bake