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Audio CD Description "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.

Customer Reviews Grisham Remains Consistant Adam Hall learns how to not hate a hater. Cayhall kept my interest through out his "unvealing". This will raise questions about right and wrong At first, I thought the title referred to a judge's chambers, but this is actually a book about the gas chamber. It took me a litttle while, but after the halfway point I was really connected with the characters and involved with the book. Grisham manages to make the reader just as torn as the other characters about whether Sam deserves to/should die in the gas chamber for his crimes. I got totally immersed in the book, and spent a lot of time contemplating the death penalty in general. This is a masterful story and a good book for anyone who wants to look at the grey areas of the law and what is right and wrong. Not Action-Filled But Thought Provoking I have to admit that this isn't one of my favorite books. I've tried to analyze the reason for this and the only thing I can come up with is that I found this story depressing. My relationships with my grandfathers were much different than that portrayed in this book, which left me with the feeling of not completely understanding (ok, I know that's shallow on my part, but combined with the depressing factor, it's relevant). I also can't understand the depth of the hatred this book shows of its main character. The story is about Adam Hall, an attorney right out of college, who finds out that his grandfather, Sam Cayhill, is on death row for killing two people. As he probes into the case further, he unearths the facts that Sam Cayhill is an active member of the Klu-Klux-Klan and has a hatred for all non-white people, besides being a person few would actually like. Adam decides to try to appeal his grandfather's case and stop his execution. As Adam dug further into his grandfather's life, the reader was shown the hatred racists have for their fellow man. It seemed when you would finally get used to this individual being a racist, another skeleton was found in his closet, and another demoralizing aspect of this character would come to the surface. While into this story, I found myself wondering if people really existed that were as closed-minded as Sam Cayhill. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is YES. Then as I followed the struggle of Adam trying to help his grandfather in court, I wondered why this young man would keep putting himself through the emotional turmoil, especially with a grandfather that has no intentions of having any kind of relationship with his grandson. Cayhill acted as if it was an inconvenience for him to even speak with Adam. The difference between this Grisham novel and his others is the speed of action. There is very little action and it moves a little faster than a snail. I don't mean to imply that you shouldn't read this book, but you do need to realize that it is not a typical action filled, keep you on the edge of your seat, type John Grisham novel.