A Google user
The clerk at the book store said that she had enjoyed this book more than the last several. Now I understand why.
I found the portrayal of the Lutheran minister to be well done. It would have been easy to overplay his inner conflict, but Grisham struck a good balance. The concerns of his wife were well done as well. The bishop, on the other hand, was a cartoon character at best, and the nickname, the Monk, didn't help.
The unrest in Sloan was portrayed well, as well as the resolution of that unrest. I might take a little exception to the way the white players joined the protest at the postponed football game. It set up all the football players at the funeral, and was only a little reminiscent of Grisham's earlier book, Bleachers.
From the web, I understand Grisham is now working on a screenplay concerning some convicts from Norfolk who may be innocent. It is to be hoped that there are enough differences from this book and from The Innocent Man to avoid predictability.
Speaking of predictability, I was not expecting Drumm to be executed. I figured there would be a reprieve to give time for him to be exonerated. I was wrong, and that heightened the emotional impact of the story. Well done.
A Google user
This book was terrible. John Grisham's coasting on his brand value and nothing else. The writing was sophomoric and he spends the entire book caricaturing Texans as death penalty-loving, racially backward, gun toters. His bludgeoning of Texans was tiring and, in the end, offensive to me not because I'm a Texan but because I'm an adult who enjoys good stories and good writing. Someone please stop this guy from writing anymore!