A very typical John Grisham book indeed. The story revolves around Ray Attlee who is a law graduate who prefers to teach in a University instead of practice in a courtroom. He is also a hobby plane enthusiast and has acquired his solo license and likes to just take a Cessna up in the air above the clouds and enjoys the sense of complete peace and solitude that comes with it.
Unmarried and unattached, he lives a comfortable life on his salary, and even has teamed up with a few of fellow enthusiasts and just bought a plane that he co-owns with the rest.
His father is Judge Reuben Attlee. A strict judge, who rules without fear or favour, straight as an arrow, revered by the community – in small town Clanton – as a demi-God. But Ray and his brother Forrester felt always that the judge completely ignored the family. He had no time for his children, he dominated and neglected his wife until she died. But now, old and weak and retired long ago, he lives alone, almost estranged from both his sons. The sons live in different cities, away from the famous father.
Forrester has gone down another path in life, becoming a drug addict, living wildly, disappearing for a while from view and reappearing, checking out of rehabs after the family checks him in – fully addicted to drinks and drugs and even facing some jail time.
One day, Ray is summoned by the Judge (the father), and when he reaches his home, finds him dead. He discovers a few boxes in the store room stacked with cash, estimated to be 3 million dollars, with no explanation in the will or anywhere how the money came to be. As Judge Attlee has spent almost all of his money in charities, it is even more mysterious. Ray decided to hide the money, so that his wayward brother would not get this to spend on drugs or worse, and there starts a dreadful sequence of events. Someone came by, who missed the money and trashed his house. He is followed everywhere, and any storage space where he stashed his money is known to his unknown enemies, who send him pictures of the last garage or storage space he used.
Ray’s investigations reveal only one gap in his father’s illustrious career: a quiet work he undertook in a faraway city on a tort law, the details of which are missing from all records. Ray decides to pay the defense lawyer in that case, who is living in the lap of luxury due to a very successful career, convinced that the answer to the mystery is there.
The story keeps your interest and is also populated by people like Harry Rex, a four-times-married lawyer friend of the Judge who is the executor of the will (only the house is left by the Judge in the official will, left equally to both sons). At times, it seems to stall, as many of Grisham’s novels do, and pick up pace, only to slacken a bit again. The ending of the book is more interesting than other Grisham novels, hiding a very nice suspense till almost the end.
I would give it a 7/10
— Krishna
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