Book Review of Ford County by John Grisham

In a departure from his usual genre of legal thrillers, John Grisham presents seven short stories set in Ford County, Mississippi. This is the location he used for his first novel, A Time to Kill. While the short stories are unrelated, each grips the reader's interest and keeps them turning the pages.

A Summary of the Stories in Ford County

Blood Drive tells the tale of three rural boys who travel into Memphis to donate blood to an injured friend. The lure of alcohol and women is too much and the trip turns into a comedy of errors with a somewhat disastrous outcome.

Fetching Raymond is an account of a Inez - a wheelchair-bound mother and her three grown sons, one of whom is on death row. The boys all have criminal records which their mother blames on their abusive father. In a borrowed van, Inez and her boys make a trip to Parcham Prison to visit Raymond who is scheduled to be executed at midnight.

Fish Files is a short story about Mack Stafford, a lawyer who receives a life-changing phone call. A big-town lawyer is offering a cash settlement for some old forgotten cases. Mack pulls the fish files from his archives and starts plotting a new life.

Casino tells the story of a wheeler dealer, Bobby Carl Leach. Bobby declares himself to be of Yazoo descent and donates forty acres of land to his "tribe". He then finances the building of a casino. Trouble arises when he takes up with a woman named Stella. Her ex-husband discovers he has a gift for playing Black Jack and sets out to ruin Bobby's casino.

Michael's Room is a tense story with a strange ending. Lawyer Stanley Wade encounters a man from his past and before he knows it, he's been kidnapped. The motive is to take him for a visit to Michael's room.

Quite Haven is a tale that tells a story that is quite believable. Gilbert Griffin has made a career out of working in retirement homes. His purpose is twofold: to expose abuse and low standards and sniff out old people with wealth and uncaring families. What will he find at Quiet Haven in Clanton?

Funny Boy is Adrian Keane, the gay son of a wealthy family in Clanton. Infected with AIDS, he comes home to die in peace, only to be shunned and sent away to be cared for by an elderly woman on the black side of town. This story reveals some of the prejudices and heartache the victims of AIDS face.

About John Grisham

John Grisham is a lawyer by profession and has written over twenty books. Only one of these is nonfiction. His preferred genre is legal thrillers but he has also written about sports, the depression years and a humorous story with a Christmas setting.

John Grisham is a gifted author who is able to write in a variety of styles. Ford County looks set to join his list of best sellers.

Ford County by John Grisham, Doubleday, 2009, ISBN 978-0-385-53245-7