Review: Grisham’s ‘The Guardians’ is a suspenseful thriller
The prolific writer's latest novel explores the world of defense attorneys working for little pay and prestige to help innocent people who are incarcerated.
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The Guardians
By John Grisham
Doubleday. 384 pp. $29.95
Reviewed by Jeff Ayers
In John Grisham’s latest novel, The Guardians, a former priest named Cullen Post works for an organization called Guardian Ministries that scours court transcripts and personal letters from convicts to determine if someone is wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he or she didn’t commit. If the organization believes without a doubt that the potential client is innocent, it will do everything it can within the boundaries of the law to free an innocent person, investigating and pushing for a new trial.
Quincy Miller has been in prison for 22 years — and still claims his innocence. A young lawyer was murdered, and suspicion quickly turned to Miller pulling the trigger. He says a fellow inmate fabricated a story about Miller confessing, and his ex-wife claimed that he owned several guns, which also wasn’t true. Another witness lied about seeing him flee the scene. Miller swears he never owned a gun, wasn’t anywhere in the area that night, and that a key piece of evidence that later disappeared was planted.
It’s a bit much to believe that so many people would be involved in a miscarriage of justice, but Post believes Miller and begins to dig into what happened that fateful night.
Grisham again delivers a suspenseful thriller, this one touching on false incarceration, the death penalty, and how the legal system shows prejudice. The team of characters is first-rate, and Miller’s attitude and mannerisms will have readers questioning what truth means in the world of the legal system.
From the Associated Press.