Summary And Review: Sparring Partners by John Grisham

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In “Sparring Partners,” John Grisham provides us three tales. While Grisham is renowned for his legal thrillers, these tales did not strike me as belonging to the thriller category. Concentrating on people and their progress, they appear much more literary. Each includes the law, but each is about much more than the law.

For example, “Homecoming,” a Jake Brigance/Clanton, Mississippi novella, tackles the situation of Mack Stafford, a lawyer who has realized a typical lawyer’s he's tossed "the law" for a life in tropical paradise. Unfortunately, it forced him to escape with clients’ funds and forsake his wife and two girls. Now, he knows he’s made a dreadful mistake and wants to return home and looks to Jake Brigance to see whether it's safe. No criminal charges have been made against him. The issue is whether they will be should anybody hear of his reappearance. More important, having forsaken his girls and left them to face the embarrassment of his absconding, would he ever be able to restore their trust?

“Strawberry Moon” brings us into death row for the final three hours of convict Cody Wallace’s life. It is a poignant drama that questions the morality of the death sentence, particularly when meted out to a youngster cast aside by society. Fans of Stephen King's prison tales like "The Green Mile" and "Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption" may find it especially appealing.

“Sparring Partners” analyzes the family dynamics in a small and previously well renowned legal company where the dad is in jail for murder and his two sons, both 50 percent partners, detest each other’s guts.