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John GrishamA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses alcoholism, suicide, and racism against Indigenous people.
Grisham uses Troy Phelan Sr. to generate the inciting incident that sets the plot in motion. By leaving his estate to a daughter that no one knew he had, he initiates the contest over his will and Nate’s search for Rachel. Thus, though he is only alive for the first two chapters of the novel, his presence looms large across the narrative.
Through Phelan’s first-person narrative, Grisham makes his cruelty apparent. Phelan does not try to mask that he is filled with hatred toward his family and servant, Snead. He lists his many business and financial successes, aware that they have made him miserable but unable to liberate himself from his attachment to them. His study of Zoroaster suggests an awareness of the need for spiritual fulfillment—connection to something beyond his material possessions—but it has not transformed his character in a substantial way.
By John Grisham
A Painted House
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A Time For Mercy
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A Time to Kill
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Bleachers
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Calico Joe
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Camino Island
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Gray Mountain
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Playing For Pizza
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Skipping Christmas
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Sooley
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Sparring Partners
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Sycamore Row
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The Appeal
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The Boys from Biloxi
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The Brethren
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The Chamber
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The Client
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The Confession
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The Firm
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The Guardians
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