"The jury was ready"
That's how the latest offering from John Grisham begins and engulfs you in another round of politics, greed, and money. The modern law never looked so much untrustworthy and politicised.
Although this is a pure work of fiction, Grisham remarks in the author's note, "I must say this story has a lot of truth in it." With American presidential elections running in background, this novel has been released at a very suitable time. Giving readers a glimpse of what looks to be the ground reality of modern politics and law.
'The Appeal' starts with a surprisingly big verdict by Hattiesburg jury against Krane Chemicals which was accused of polluting Cary county's small town Bowmore's water supply by dumping toxic chemical waste. Thus making it 'cancer county' with the rate of cancer fifteen times the national average.
Payton & Payton, a local husband and wife legal firm, which represents plaintiff to take on Krane reaches on the verge of virtual bankruptcy in course of trial.
In a crusade to save himself and his company, Carl Trudeau, owner of Krane chemicals decides to buy himself a seat in Mississippi supreme court for a few million dollars to support his appeal against the runaway jury verdict. He hires Troy & Hogan, a firm specialising in setting up judicial elections. He once remarks, 'I swear to you on my mother's grave that not one dime of Krane's money will ever be touched by those ignorant people.'
Will Carl be able to save his company, will Paytons survive bankruptcy?
All this, you will find in the novel.
The Appeal takes you through the surprisingly ugly corridors of politics and law. It leaves reader thinking on the consequences on this electoral process and judicial system.
Grisham once again emerges as a true king of modern legal thrillers, whether it was his last legal thriller The Firm or his non fiction The Innocent Man.
Verdict is out!.
_2 p.m.: Geology 104 begins in a large lecture classroom in Cole Hall. More than 160 students are registered for the class. _Shortly after 3 p.m.: A man dressed in black and carrying a shotgun and two handguns steps out from hiding and begins a "very brief rapid-fire assault" before killing himself, says NIU President John Peters. Campus police are on the scene in "less than two minutes," says NIU Police Chief Donald Grady. _3:20 p.m.: Officials post a message on NIU's Web site saying there is a report of a possible gunman on campus and warn students to "get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear." _3:40 p.m.: NIU officials say all classes are canceled and campus is closed. _3:50 p.m.: School officials confirm there has been a shooting on campus and several people have been taken away by ambulance. Officials urge people not to come to campus. _4:10 p.m.: Campus police report on the Web site that the scene is secure. _4:14 p.m.: Campus police say the immediate danger has passed and "the gunman is no longer a threat." _4:31 p.m.: NIU officials ask all students to call their parents as soon as possible. _5:12 p.m.: Police say at a news conference the shooter is dead by a self-inflicted gunshot. _5:43 p.m.: NIU officials say 18 victims have been transported to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb. They say four victims are in critical condition. _7:58 p.m.: Peters confirms at a news conference that the gunman killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others before fatally shooting himself. He says there is no known motive. Sources: NIU Web site, news conference.
A black-clad former student turned a university lecture hall into a Valentine's Day massacre Thursday, killing five people and injuring 16 others before turning a gun on himself, in the fifth US school shooting in a week, authorities said.
Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, he calmly stepped out from behind the curtain at the front of an auditorium just minutes before a geology class ended, officials and witnesses said.
Screams filled the hall as he sprayed a hail of bullets from the stage of the auditorium filled with dozens of students at Northern Illinois University, in a suburb of Chicago.
"It started and ended within a matter of seconds," university police chief Donald Grady said at a press conference.
Police were in the room within two minutes of getting the call but did not have time to fire a single shot as the gunman was already dead on the stage.
"We have no apparent motive at this time," Grady added.
Witnesses described the shooter as a white male dressed in black around six-foot (1.8 meters) tall.
"He was aiming towards the crowd but I don't think he was aiming at a specific person," a witness named Sheila told WBBM radio.
"He was quiet. He just stood on the stage in front of everybody and just started shooting.
"I saw him holding the gun and it was huge. I thought it was fake and then I realized he was really shooting at people and I got down," she said. "I saw a lot of blood. I have blood all over my clothes."
All of those shot were students, including the instructor who is a graduate student, university president John Peters said.
The shooter killed four women and one man, three of whom were dead by the time paramedics arrived, he added.
Six victims remain in critical condition while eight were discharged within a few hours, hospital officials said.
The shooter was enrolled as a graduate student in sociology last year and then transferred to another state institution, officials said.
"The information we have right now indicates he did not have any record of police contact or a prior arrest record," Peters told a press conference.
The massacre follows school shootings in Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee and California that left a total of five dead.
It comes 10 months after 32 students and faculty were shot down by a mentally disturbed student at Virginia Tech University in the deadliest massacre ever at a US school.
Northern Illinois University was placed on a security alert in December after police found threats on a bathroom wall laced with racial slurs, references to the Virginia Tech shooting and a warning that "things will change most hastily" in the final days of the semester.
But Peters said he did not think Thursday's shooting was related to the threats and said that while security has been heightened there was not much more officials could have done.
"I don't know of any plan that can prevent this tragedy," he told reporters. "Unless we lock every door I don't know how we can keep people out."
Students described now-familiar scenes of panic spreading across campus.
"I saw a lot of confusion," said Dominique Broxton, 22, describing the scene from her dorm room. "Students were running. People really didn't know what was going on."
Broxton said she could see two wounded students from her dorm room.
"The ambulance took away two students on the ground right outside my dorm," she said. "I don't know them. They looked bloody. Where I am right now, there are a lot of police, at least a dozen. There are police cars and trucks everywhere."
"There is an intercom system inside the dorm. Someone came on and stated that someone had been caught. They said they caught the shooter and that we should remain calm and stay in our rooms."
Chicago has long been noted for the Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, when seven people were executed by machine-gun in a Mafia killing during the city's gangster heyday.
Northern Illinois University, chartered in 1895, is a teaching and research institution with a student enrollment of more than 25,000 and nearly 1,300 teachers. It has 862 international students from 88 nations. CREDITS: AFPA Timeline of the Shooting at NIU
A man opened fire Thursday in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen others before taking his own life. The following is a timeline of events: