John Grisham's The Innocent Man

I've followed Grisham's career for years. He is a few years older than me but we both attended the same law school. I've met him a time or two and he spoke to a law school class of mine one day. There is absolutely no chance he would recognize or remember me. But I still find his recent project interesting. I remember a blurb from something I read several months ago where Grisham said he called Doubleday and told the folds there that he had the idea for his next book after reading an obit in the New York Times.

Here is a link to an article in the USA Today from October 10. You can see Grisham's politics in this article -- and in his new book. There's nothing new about that. Just read The Chamber. I heard that recently on Charlie Rose's TV show Grisham gave credence to the democratic mantra that the War on Terror in Iraq was conceived before 9/11 but that 9/11 simply gave the opening President Bush needed to invade. If he actually said this, then certain I disagree with him. But who am I to argue with John Grisham? My politics are clearly evident in my books as well.

And as a writer I saw some other interesting tidbits. First, Grisham has 235 million books in print worldwide. That's a lot of books! Second, he's not going to publish a book of any type next year. I guess with 235 million already in print what's the need. Lastly, and perhaps the most interesting, is that he said "[Y]ou never know where a story's going to come from . . ." Even in my short career I know that to be a true statement.

I can't find the link again, but a few days ago Drudge reported that The Innocent Man scanned over 172,000 copies the first week. I read in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal that it was number one on the non-fiction bestseller list -- ahead of Bob Woodward's book. Looks like Grisham has another resounding success on his hands.

Jerome