John Grisham has written some wonderful legal novels. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, his latest efforts have been mediocre compared to his earlier works. The Guardians has all the ingredients of a great legal thriller, however, it lacks the fire, originality and great characters of those earlier books. The Guardians tells the tale of Cullen Post, a lawyer/minister pursuing a career as a pro bono lawyer for an innocence project, The Guardians Mission. As one would expect, he lives a life of near poverty while working tirelessly to free innocent prisoners from prison, his only benefit being psychic income. He has a number of cases working at all times and we move from one to the other throughout the book, which can get a little confusing if you read the book, as I did, in short bursts over a period of time.
The main story revolves around a questionable murder conviction. It involves corrupt small town local government, a drug cartel, crooked lawyers, witness tampering, evidence theft, etc., all the usual stuff Had Mr. Grisham stuck to this story, with these ingredients and embellished it using his abilities as a fine author I think the book would have been more enjoyable. Instead, we move from case to case with new characters being introduced throughout the book making it difficult to become invested in the central plot or the characters in it. To me, Cullen Post is not a protagonist I really care about and his clients are pitiable people caught in terrible situations, often not of their own making, who are victims of the system. The story doesn't build to a climactic end, rather it just sputters out as justice is served. I'm not compelled to recommend this book as I was with so many of Grisham's earlier novels.
Racy Tracy
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Odis Jones