Review: Sycamore Ridge by John Grisham

SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham, published in 2013 by Doubleday a division of Random House books.

How do you connect to a book that starts off with a suicide in the South, that leaves a black maid over 24 million dollars and cuts off his own children? I knew this book would be full of southern drama. The main character is a white lawyer, Jake, who recently had his house burned down by white supremacists because he won a case for a black man. He is quickly thrown into a new case by a handwritten letter and a handwritten will that the man who committed suicide sends to him through the mail, that reaches him the day after the man kills himself. Jake is not happy because he is not sure he likes the fact that this man gave nothing to his children, but he knows that it would mean a case that may bring some money his way. All he has to do is make sure that the will is accepted and that the first will is thrown out, the one that leaves all the money to his children.

The story weaves in several facts, the prevalence of lynchings in the south, the suppression of blacks even though it is 1989, the hate crimes, such as burning down houses, making threats, and the portrayal of blacks as poor, alcoholic and conniving. The latter is not a fact but it is how the characters are portrayed and falls into the way racists see the African Americans.

I had a hard time with the book. Having just experienced death in the family and children of the deceased acting snarky, I wanted to see if justice prevailed. The whole book was centered around Lettie Lang a black woman who was the aide and maid to Mr. Hubbard when he was dying of cancer. Did she influence his changing of the will? Did she do this with special favors? Did she know about the will changes? In one part of the book, she is happy to be mentioned in the will but did not expect that she would receive it all. All she wanted to do was give the majority back to the family, but it was not up to her. The main focus was Seth Hubbard's mind working or was he muddled the day he made the new will.

I have to admit I am not into the ins and outs of tricks, games and tactics that lawyers use to skew the facts. At one point I was thinking can we please get this book moving. I just want to get to the end. About halfway through the book it starts to get interesting again. But I felt that some things were drawn out way to long. All in all a good book, not sure about the very ending. I did like the trial outcome and subsequent events that lead to a good resolution, but the last chapter was somewhat kitchy.