John Grisham’s. The Widow

Without question, John Grisham is the most prolific writer of legal thrillers in my lifetime. I stopped counting years ago, but I have not stopped reading them.  This latest one is one of his top ten, and it is a stand alone story about a small town lawyer in Virginia we’ve not heard of before.  Here is the plot summary from Amazon.

“Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.

Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t commit: murder.

Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer….”

Like so many of these novels it is something a morality play, and in this case the deadly sin which traps a decent lawyer is avarice– pure greed.   It is a vice that threatens many Americans who suddenly are presented with an opportunity to ‘get rich quick’ and legally as well.  But of course what is legal is one thing, and what is ethical is another, especially in a country which has recently opened the floodgates to all sorts of legal sports gambling, among other sins.

Like in many of these novels, the main character is no angel, but at the same time, he is also not a wicked person.  Indeed, on his better days he is a decent human being that loves his kids, and tries to do things as a lawyer to help other human beings, including quite a lot of pro bono work.  If you are looking for a born again Christian lawyer, Simon is not one, indeed the old joke about lawyers applies more to others who show up in this novel— namely ‘what you call a bunch of  amoral lawyers up to their necks in water?  Answer: Not enough water’.

What I like about this particular novel, is the fact that in this case the lawyer must save himself for going to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, but was found guilty of.  He is not a knight in shining armor riding to save some other lost soul caught in a legal trap.

As you would expect, this is a real page turner for 416 pages, one of 50 such Grisham novels that have made the number one bestseller list. I literally couldn’t put this one down.  It was a Christmas gift, and item from 2025 that was so popular even Amazon was in a Christmas mood and offering it for under 15 bucks.

Someday I’d love to do an interview with John, because he is a Christian person (even a Sunday school teacher like me), and I would love to probe with him how a Christian navigates a legal system that often allows or even in some cases encourages immoral actions, despite its attempt to uphold justice for all.