The Chamber
ISBN: 9780099179511
Description
Adam Hill is 26 years old and in his first year at a top Chicago law firm. He volunteers for the toughest assignment any lawyer could ask for. His prospective client doesn't want Adam or his law firm. He is an unrepentant and outspoken racist with a violent past. He is on Death Row for the murder of two Jewish children in a horrific bombing in 1967.
Reviewed on 18th June 2009
Probably the worst Grisham I've read yet. There were moments of interest but no real surprises, no plot twists and a dismal ending.
In this one, a young lawyer finds his long-lost grandfather on death row and goes to help him escape the gas chamber... with just twenty-eight days to go. Sadly, the text on the cover about a twenty-year secret is a bit of a misnomer, as the only secret is that Adam is Sam's grandson, and that comes out very quickly at the beginning.
The characters are all very two dimensional. The young genius lawyer, his evil lawyer employers, his unrepentant client, the alchoholic aunt, the sister who only turns up once, the rich uncle who wants nothing to do with it, the ex-mility prison director, and the real murderer who makes threats but in the end is underused.
And finally the end of the book comes, and it's dry and dull and there's no excitement. And once it's climaxed it dribbles through the last few pages with nothing happening. Overall, this book just seemed like a bit of a racist rant at the start and an anti-death penalty rant towards the end.
