GRAY MOUNTAIN by John
Grisham
This book has something for, and about, everyone – rich people
and poor people, innocents and the guilty, environmentalists and clear cutters,
big law and legal aid, murderers and the murdered, the cheats and the honest,
those who love and those they love. Because Grisham is a good writer he can
take all these disparate ideas and combine them into a cogent and quick moving
novel.
Gray Mountain used to be a primeval wonderland of pristine acreage
in the Appalachian Range, but now, after the land has been taken over by big
coal, it is a wasteland of detritus and denuded mud leveled into a “stump” of a
mountain. Additionally, big coal is the bad guy in an ongoing dispute over
black lung and the minors who suffer loss of health and loss of jobs. The downturn of the recent recession makes
its appearance and enables suddenly unemployed, but talented, big city lawyers to
become legal aid interns in backwater
hamlets.
The characters are human and well developed. The
conversations and situations are believable and convincing. The good guys and the bad guys are obvious,
so if you are a proponent of big coal or cutthroat lawyers you might find
yourself cringing a bit.
Altogether a well written, fast paced mystery with a bit of
romance and a lot of environmentalism.
5 of 5 stars
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