Sycamore Row by John Grisham: The Mystery of the Rich Man Will (Book Review)

By: Joana

Previously published on her private blog

Title : Sycamore Row Author : John Grisham Publisher : Bantam Books Genre : Legal Thriller Cover Design : Maria Carella First Published : 2013 Pages : 454 (author's note included) RATING : 4/5

A wealthy man in Ford County named Seth Hubbard committed suicide in 1989. 2 days before he died he changed his prior will that was prepared by a big law firm in Tupelo in 1987. He wrote a new handwritten will and left 90% of his wealth to his black house keeper (Lettie Lang) and nothing for his children, ex wives, or grandchildren. The big question is why on earth would Seth leave nearly all of his fortune to his black maid? What did Lettie did to worm out her way to his will? And, what does it all have to do with a piece of land called as Sycamore Row?

This is my very first Grisham novel and now I am already deeply, madly in love with this one. Grisham is smart, funny, and seems to have this ability to craft complex and interesting characters. The idea of the story itself is so good I still can't believe it. I have to admit that at the beginning of the book I felt a little bit bored because this book is slow paced as heck I can't wait for the surprise elements to finally emerged. I usually love books that are fast paced and full of intelligent twists. This one had almost make me desperate and gave up on it but I continued on and I am really grateful I did.

The characters are all awesome. All of them are new for me because I haven't read A Time To Kill but now I promise myself to go read it as soon as possible. From all of the character I love Portia Lang the most. She is a beautiful, strong, independent young woman who is open minded and reasonable and I just cant help but loving her. Growing up in a difficult situation, running away after high school and joined the army for 6 years, has been visiting so many places in the world during her service period to the army and finally back to her hometown after doing some jobs in Europe to go study law. She is just awesome.

In most stories I somehow often root for the antagonists. The antagonist here also captures my heart. Wade Lanier played a dirty game during the lawsuit process but I admire his efforts in doing everything he could, in making surprises for his opponents in every turns. Some people are born to be like him. They are meant to be the bad guys. On the other hand, I don't really like judge Atlee. In my imagination he must be an old traditional conservationist white man whose mind and judgments are undoubtedly fair, but also boring to death.

Last,but not least I also love Harry Rex so much. This divorce lawyer has all the traits I love in a man. He is funny, smart as heck, easy going, good at negotiating, and sincere. He was not by any means pretentious. I admire Seth Hubbard's efforts, idea ,belief, and his action by writing his last will to straighten the justice, to mend his family's wrongdoings in the past. I admire and respect him so much because of this.

For those who had never read Grisham books before I think it is better for you to read his first book A Time to Kill first before reading this because actually Sycamore Row is a kind of sequel to it. For those who are always asking for what age this book is recommended for, I have to be honest here that sometimes I don't get it why people even ask something like that. Everybody can enjoy a book regardless of their age because a 12 years old whose mind has already well developed could enjoy this book more than a 35 five years old whose mind is dull and never have the inner will to sharpen his own mind by reading books like this. So, my conclusion is that this is a really good book that must be read by everyone. I'm not exaggerating this but I definitely put this on my "50 books you have to read before you die" list. Highly recommended, especially if you are a big fan of thrillers like me.