Popular author, John Grisham, introduced his latest novel, Gray Mountain, in October of this year. It is proving to be a very controversial work, since Grisham’s liberal ideology is not so subtly reflected in this novel. The storyline revolves around the main character, Samantha Kofer, who in 2008, has the fast track upward career on Wall Street with a high powered , prestigious law firm. Suddenly, the recession hits and her law firm downsizes, furloughing Samantha without notice, and escorts her out of the building. She is offered a position with no pay for one year as a legal aid, with a slight chance that after that period of time, she might get her Wall Street job back.
Samantha experiences a cultural shock when she moves from Manhattan to a very small town, Brady, Virginia. Being in the heart of Appalachia, the area is one that she had only read about. She is to work at the legal aid clinic where she is supposed to help “real people”. She must actually represent ordinary clients in the courtroom, where she quickly finds out that small towns can be hiding some big secrets.
The author’s liberal leaning political views comes through when he is describing Samantha’s journey “into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, where laws are often broken, rules are ignored, regulations are flouted, communities are divided, and the land itself is under attack from Big Coal. Within just a few weeks, Samantha realizes that she is embroiled in litigation that could turn deadly.
Gray Mountain concentrates on Grisham’s relentless, negative case against what he calls Big Coal. This biased novel comes on the heels of his previous novel, Sycamore Row (2013), that takes a very critical look at racism in Mississippi (Grisham’s home state). There has been much controversy surrounding Gray Mountain with anti-coal people and those who believe coal mining has significantly improved into a safer, cleaner industry.
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