The Guardians
By John Grisham

Hardcover 384 pages, Doubleday (October 15, 2019)

Reviewed by Shirley Baugher
February, 2020

About John Grisham

There is a reason John Grisham is one of our most popular contemporary authors, and one whose works are always on the Best Seller lists. He gives us characters who, though likeable or detestable, are always memorable. His plots are engrossing, and sense of timing impeccable. It is almost impossible to stop reading until the bad guys have been brought to justice and the protagonist has put a period on the last problem to be solved. But, fair warning, it is impossible to read just one Grisham novel. Once you have finished one, you will want to read another, and another, and another; until, like me, you have read them ALL!

John Grisham did not set out to be a writer. As a child, he dreamed of being a professional baseball player. He soon realized he did not have the right stuff for that calling, and turned to the law. He graduated from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, and established himself as an outstanding criminal defense and personal injury attorney. In 1983, he was elected to the Mississippi State House of Representatives, where he served until 1990. His career took a dramatic detour after he sat through the trial of a twelve-year old rape victim. The details of the case haunted him, and he began to wonder what would have happened if the girl's father had killed the rapist. He put his thoughts on paper, and before he knew it, he was writing a novel about his fantasy. He would get up every morning at 5:00 a.m. and spend several hours writing before he went off to his "day job." Three years later, in 1987, his version of the trial was published as A Time to Kill. (I know many of you are now experiencing an "aha" moment.)

At first, no publishers were interested in the book, but eventually it was optioned by Wynwood Press. They printed only 5,000 copies and brought it out in 1988. Grisham did not spend time waiting around for big sales. The day after he completed A Time to Kill, he started his next book—the story of a hotshot young attorney who joined a law firm that was not what it appeared to be. That book was titled The Firm, and had a much better reception than its predecessor. With The Firm, Grisham hit the jackpot. He sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, and publishers were falling all over themselves get the book rights. Doubleday won out. The Firm spent 47 weeks on the New York Times best seller (NYT) list and became the best selling novel of 1991. The movie, which starred Tom Cruise and Gene Hack-man, filled the theaters.

Grisham started turning out a book a year. After The Firm, he wrote The Pelican Brief and The Client, both of which hit number one on the NYT best seller list. His reputation as the master of the legal thriller was established. The success of these books brought about a reprinting of The Firm by Doubleday in both hard cover and paperback. This time around, it was a best seller. Other Grisham books include: The Chamber, The Rainmaker, Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, The Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, The Last Broker, Playing for Pizza, The Appeal, The Associates, The Confession, The Litigators, Calico Joe, The Racketeer, Sycamore Row, and Gray Mountain. All were international best sellers. Nine of his novels have been made into movies.

I recently visited the LBJ Ranch and the LBJ Library in Austin and the Roosevelt homes in Hyde Park and Oyster Bay, New York. Presidential libraries are often a part of our car trips. They make this book and author event even more meaningful to me. I hardly need to recommend the work of a respected author (who has struggled with her own professional troubles), but I cannot praise more highly the study of U.S. history through travels to places like Springfield, Illinois and meeting with authors, as FAW enables us to do.

In 1996, Grisham took a little time off from his writing to go back into the courtroom. He represented the family of a railroad brakeman who had been killed when he was pinned between two cars. He won the case and the jury awarded the family nearly $700,000—the biggest verdict of his career.

While John Grisham continues to write, he also devotes himself to charitable causes. He helped raise nearly nine million dollars to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He also pursues his early passion for baseball. The little boy who dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League Commissioner. He has built six ball fields on his property in Oxford, Mississippi and has hosted 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.

The Guardians

John Grisham's latest book, The Guardians, published in 2019, is based on a true story. A New York Times best seller, it tells of a young black man, Quincy Miller, in the town of Seabrook, Florida; wrongfully convicted of killing a local lawyer, Keith Russo. Quincy has spent 22 years in prison maintaining his innocence. But no one believes him; and he has no money for an attorney, no friends, no family, and no advocate in the outside world. In desperation, he turns to a group called The Guardians, a small nonprofit organization run by Cullen Post who is also an Episcopalian minister.

Cullen travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients who have been forgotten by the system. He meets with Quincy at the prison in Seabrook, Florida and is convinced of his innocence. He decides to use The Guardians' meager resources to have Quincy exonerated. To do so, he must unravel the State's case, and this is not going to be easy. Unknown to him, there are powerful people who do not want Quincy Miller freed and who do not want anyone looking into the death of Keith Russo. They would have no qualms about killing anyone who got too close to the truth.

Cullen Post, or Post as he refers to himself, is relentless in his pursuit, not to find the real killer, but to exonerate Quincy. When he finally has enough evidence to rip the prosecution's case apart, he manages to secure a new trial for Quincy. Still, the going is not easy. He has to get prior witnesses to refute their original testimonies. This is particularly tricky since the witnesses are afraid they might be convicted of perjury. He has to find proof that the original testimonies were overreaching, speculative, and not based on science. And he has to have the state's most critical piece of evidence, a blood-spattered flashlight disallowed. This is worse than challenging because, even though witnesses testified, and the prosecution insisted, that it was undoubtedly the murder weapon, it was never found. Even worse, he has to defeat the state's new prosecutor, who is both competent and determined.

How can he do all these things? You'll have to read the book to find out—but I guarantee you will be glad you did. Grisham is a good writer, and this is a compelling story—well worth your time.