Sycamore Row: A Novel

John Grisham

Oct 2013 · Jake Brigance Book 2 · Sold by Vintage

About this eBook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham returns to the iconic setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill, as Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a controversial trial that exposes a tortured history of racial tension.

“Welcome back, Jake. . . . [Brigance] is one of the most fully developed and engaging characters in all of Grisham’s novels.”—USA Today

Seth Hubbard is a wealthy white 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 defense attorney Jake Brigance 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 many 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?

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

Ratings and reviews

Captures every racial stereotype you could think of for Black people. The Black men were either criminal losers that drank too much and were prone to fits of domestic violence, or flashy, arrogant, blow hard, race baiting, ambulance chasers, or the former athlete beloved because of his past achievements on the field. Nowhere was there just a regular husband, father, worker, decent citizen. The Black women were your typical long suffering, strong women who didn't need or have a decent man in their lives.

On its own, a great book. But one could seriously play the "Hailey Trial Drinking Game" and be completely wasted by the time you get a quarter if the way through the book. Constantly referencing the previous novel takes away from the overall enjoyment of this one. Still a good read, just know the past will be register at nauseum.

John is back. Great story. Lots of twists and turns. Haven't enjoyed a book of his writing, since the earlier ones. The few books where he ventured off legal course were snoozers. So happy he decided to return to the things he knows and can write superbly about.

About the author

John Grisham is the author of numerous #1 bestsellers, including The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Innocent Man, The Whistler, The Boys from Biloxi, and many more. His books have been translated into nearly fifty languages. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. He lives on a farm in central Virginia.