coolreads # Retro Books # Gray Mountain

Gray Mountain
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 9781473613003

Year Published: 2014


Gray Mountain is set during the 2008 recession. The protagonist, Samantha Kofer, is a third-year associate in one of the major law firms in New York - Scully & Pershing.

The collapse of Lehman Brothers sent the panic tsunami effect across Wall Street and many associates in her firm lost their job overnight, including Samantha. The only option for disemployment is to be put on a furlough for a year, and in the meantime, work with a charity service without pay.

John Grisham has proven himself to be an excellent writer of legal thrillers, since his bestseller The Pelican Brief in the 90s was made into a movie and became a blockbuster hit.

This book features a bright young Ivy Leaguer who finds herself in a dilemma. Her perfect world turns into a nightmare overnight. And the real world she now finds herself in turns out to be a hardscrabble coal patch in Appalachia, where traditions count and money talks.

The little town where Samantha lands in is chilly and gloomy, a far cry from her comfortable life in New York. It is the kind of place where black lung disease floats in the air along with the bullets from goon squad.

Here, the good guys are few, the bad guys many, and those baddies are busy doing bad things wherever they can - from poisoning streams and wells, to killing teenage girls with their big trucks to murdering folks who get in their way.

Can Samantha save the day working with Mattie Wyatt at Mountain legal Aid Clinic in Brady, Virginia where she goes from working for millionaire corporations to being the lawyer of poor people, whose well being depends on her will and hard work?

Meanwhile, Donovan Gray, a nephew of Samantha’s boss, is a talented lawyer and a man with a tragic past. He runs a law firm that fights against the strip mining coal business which is a sensitive issue since the economic stability of the whole town depends on it. Also, the negligence of these corporations is causing the most damage to the welfare and lives of the people.

Samantha’s association with him will eventually involve her in a case that could take a huge strip coal corporation down.

Grisham excels on matters of legal procedure and local colour in Gray Mountain. The book speaks about strip coal mining and the impact it has on the environment. It describes the devastation of the grounds, the contamination of the earth and water and the consequences all this has on human health.

Gray Mountain not only entertains but also educates and offers readers an insight on strip coal mining together wIth the dIre implications it brings to the residents of the towns that operate such activities. It deserves to be read.