Book Review

Ford County by John Grisham
Fiction, 340 pgs., $7.99 USD, Copyright 2009 by Belfry Holdings, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-440-24621-3
Published in the United States by Dell, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York

I enjoy reading John Grisham. Mr. Grisham has twenty-two novels with his name on the cover, and this collection of short stories is arguably his best work to date. The stories are all set in Ford county, a right lively place by all accounts. A Time To Kill was based in Ford county, and I can see some distinct similarities in Grisham's style between the two works. Here's an overview of Ford County:

• Blood Drive: When a local boy is injured, three resident geniuses take off in a pickup truck to donate blood. Remember, the reward isn't in the destination, it's in the journey. I laughed until I choked on my bourbon when I read this one.

• Fetching Raymond: The family must go and pick up Raymond, but they need to borrow a van to get the job done. Raymond is not what you think he might be.

• Fish Files: This one is great, has excellent characterization and a grand finale.

• Casino: Just a little better than Fish Files, again with a great finish.

• Michaels Room: Explains what might happen when the civil suite is well and truly over and the dust has settled.

• Quiet Haven: Are you old? Are you afraid of being warehoused in an 'assisted living' facility? Vengeance is best taken cold.

• Funny Boy: Prejudice and mercy in a small minded town.

Grisham's strength is in his characters whom we learn about by Grisham's descriptions and by the character's actions. In addition to this, the plots are strong and solid, the situations realistic. If you've read anything by John Grisham in the past and enjoyed it, you'll really enjoy this one. If you haven't, this would be a good place to start.