Editorial Product Review:Item Description:In the corridors of Chicago's top law firm:
Twenty-six-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case.
Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison:
Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances -- except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson. While the executioners prepare the gas chamber, while the protesters gather and the TV cameras wait, Adam has only days, hours, minutes to save his client. For between the two men is a chasm of shame, family lies, and secrets -- including the one secret that could save Sam Cayhall's life...or cost Adam his.
'A dark and thoughtful tale pulsing wit moral uncertainties... Grisham is at his best.' --
People.
'Compelling... Powerful...
The Chamber will make readers think long and hard about the death penalty.' --
USA Today.
'His best yet.' --
The Houston Post.
'Mesmerizing... with an authority and originality... and with a grasp of literary complexity that makes Scott Turow's novels pale by comparison -- Grisham returns.' --
San Francisco Chronicle.
Amazon.com Review:'The decision to bomb the office of the radical Jew lawyer was reached with relative ease.' So begins Grisham's legal leviathan
The Chamber, a 676-page tome that scrutinizes the death penalty and all of its nuances--from racially motivated murder to the cruel and unusual effects of a malfunctioning gas chamber.
Adam Hall is a 26-year-old attorney, fresh out of law school and working at the best firm in Chicago. He might have been humming Timbuk 3's big hit, 'The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades,' if it wasn't for his psychotic Southern grandfather, Sam Cayhall. Cayhall, a card-carrying member of the KKK, is on death row for killing two men. Knowing his uncle will surely die without his legal expertise, Hall comes to the rescue and puts his dazzling career at stake, while digging up a barnyard of skeletons from his family's past. Grisham fans expecting the typical action-packed plot should ready themselves for a slower pace, well-fleshed-out characters, and heavy doses of sentimentalism.
Product Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
More related to this product:
click for more
More related to this product:
Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
-
Well written but needed a better ending
This is a story about deep, dark secrets that a family has hidden from each other and the world. A subject that is controversial and one that everyone has an opinion about, the death sentence. It is a character study of a man from when he joined the KKK, as a teenager, until his final days on death row. This seventy-year-old grandfather, after three trials in Mississippi spanning more than twelve years and another twelve years of appeals, doubts if Adam Hall a twenty-six-year-old attorney can save him from his last breath being cyanide gas. During his first interview with Adam, he recognized a voice that sounded like his son that committed suicide and indeed it was his grandson that he had never met.
Two of my favorite movies are The Firm and The Pelican Brief, both based on books by Mr. Grisham. I place The Pelican Brief in my top ten movies ever.
This novel is NOT a thriller. It does not have a lot of action or plot twists, but it is well written and certainly kept my interest. I would have given it more stars but I did not like the ending. I was let down when I turned the last page as I was keyed up for a ........ Not only was the ending a total surprise to me but several items did not have closure.
Author al-Qaeda Strikes Again
Customer Rating: 
-
The Chamber is John Grisham's best-selling book - ever.
I was a John Grisham fan. My personal favorite is his first book, A Time to Kill, later adapted into a successful film.
The Chamber is John Grisham's best-selling book - ever. From beginning to end, it is an engrossing read. The reader flies through the 600+ pages, as Grisham paints a picture of a family wrecked by the sinful racism of the father.
The Chamber tells about a fictional character named Sam Cayhall, condemned to the gas chamber because of a crime he committed in the late 1960's against a Jewish lawyer. Cayhall was an accomplice in setting a bomb that destroyed the lawyer's office and unintentionally killed the lawyer's two twin boys. With just a month before his execution date, Cayhall's grandson, a fresh, young lawyer named Adam Hall, arrives on the scene to save the day.
The Chamber forces the reader to wrestle with the idea of the death penalty. The crimes are described in horrific detail, and we later discover that Cayhall was guilty of even more egregious sins than the one for which the government wants to execute him.
If you skip the book and decide to rent the movie, be aware. The movie isn't half as good as the book. (I know everyone always says this, but trust me on this one.)
This is, in my opinion Grisham's last work worth reading.
I gradually tired of Grisham's writing. His approach has become overly familiar and formulaic. Many of his books read as if the author was planning for an immediate movie adaptation of the current novel (the Stephen King Movie of the Week syndrome) while he was writing. As a consequence, I simply stopped reading his subsequent books. Grisham can produce page turning prose with the best of them, but after awhile the repetition became monotonous for me. After reading six of his books, I stopped cold.
It was not so much a case that Grisham was not entertaining, he was, but as a reader I had the sense of having been there and done that. Some gifted authors have a talent for writing books that always seem to be fresh and new, even when employing the same set of characters, while others seem to fall into a predictable, if profitable rut. Someday, I may check out another Grisham book to see if I was incorrect in my original assessment.""
Customer Rating: -
John Grisham's Best-Seller
I have long been a John Grisham fan. My personal favorite is his first book, A Time to Kill, later adapted into a successful film. Some of Grisham's books are heavily influenced by Christianity. The Testament and The Last Juror come to mind. The Chamber is John Grisham's best-selling book - ever. And for good reason. From beginning to end, it is an engrossing read. The reader flies through the 600+ pages, as Grisham paints a picture of a family wrecked by the sinful racism of the father.
The Chamber tells about a fictional character named Sam Cayhall, condemned to the gas chamber because of a crime he committed in the late 1960's against a Jewish lawyer. Cayhall was an accomplice in setting a bomb that destroyed the lawyer's office and unintentionally killed the lawyer's two twin boys. With just a month before his execution date, Cayhall's grandson, a fresh, young lawyer named Adam Hall, arrives on the scene to save the day.
The Chamber forces the reader to wrestle with the idea of the death penalty. Thankfully, Grisham does not make Cayhall out to be a victim. The crimes are described in horrific detail, and we later discover that Cayhall was guilty of even more egregious sins than the one for which the government wants to execute him.
As the characters remember past events, the picture of sin and its consequences becomes more and more disturbing. Cayhall's son commits suicide. The Jewish lawyer whose sons were killed in the bombing is paralyzed and later kills himself. Cayhall's daughter becomes an alcoholic and spends significant time in rehab. While the father shows no remorse for his actions, the children suffer under unbearable guilt and shame. I have never read a book that so clearly demonstrates how God visits the iniquity of the fathers to the next generations.
But there is redemption here, too. As the book progresses, Cayhall's defenses begin to fall. He becomes repentant. He looks forward to his visits with a young minister. He affirms the Apostle's Creed and places his faith in God. By the end, he is ready to face death and to meet his Maker.
I heartily recommend The Chamber for its picture of sin and the destructive force it leaves in its wake, but also for the redemption that can come to even the most hardened criminal.
If you skip the book and decide to rent the movie, be aware. The movie isn't half as good as the book. (I know everyone always says this, but trust me on this one.) The redemption scenes are absent from the movie, as well as the minister's role. The consequences of sin are minimized. The directors added action to the movie that is not found in the book, and this makes the movie much less compelling.
Customer Rating: -
The Chamber Review...great!
A wonderful book although I am late in reading it based on the publication date.
It kept me up late reading it and the characters were well written.
Slightly disapppointed in the late Rollie appearance which I thought Lee was tied to but never the less Sam protected his family and I sort of liked him at the end and felt bad for him.
The beginning of the book was quick moving and I enjoyed the pace.
Hats off to John Grisham.
Staci
