The Guardians by John Grisham

The Guardians by John GrishamBook reviewRating 4/5Spoilers NoneGenre Fiction but based on true storyMust give credit to John G for churning out novels at regular intervals like a factory! Especially since I have been stuck with one for the past three years!After the last Novel called the Reckoning, I had given up on JG but here he returns with a bang! All the sleuth stuff, digging for clues, dissection of expert witness, the lawyer inner codes and court room drama! No one can play it more real than JG!In the events of a recent encounter which deeply disturbed me, this novel is a guide on how law can go so wrong!It’s mind boggling how many innocents are stuck in jail because of the system and because of some crooks in uniform who use their power and position to frame anyone!It also does not help that most who are innocent are poor and can never afford a posh lawyer who can defend them!The novel is about a lawyer who quit practice being a public prosecutor and went into depression to turn to religion and find his calling in getting innocent people out of jail!They have a team which of course has like minded people who don’t work for money but only for that satisfaction they get when the fruits of their labour is realised and another innocent person is released!Many of them have been sentenced to death and of course to add drama they are having the last meal when they get the stay!So you have the regular and uniform police system in every part of the world so how can Florida be left out!
So you have crooked cops under the payroll of drug mafias who for some of the greens can plant evidence, then splatter animal blood over it!, Get false witnesses, make snitches snitch for them!, Make up eyewitness by bribe or scare!, And finally get some self proclaimed expert to make some mumbo jumbo to fool the bored Jury!
This is deja vu for many! Imagine if this is what happened to the recent encounter and it was actually someone else who had did the crime! Makes me shudder everytime!Even your biggest enemy must never get caught in the web of cops and court!So the chief story is of a black convicted by almost white jury for the murder of a white Lawyer! No evidence was of course required at the time since the bias would immediately pronounce him guilty! And the poor guy spent more than 20 years in jail for a crime committed by someone else!Many of JG novels end up in gloom and not so happy ending! But this one does not disappoint you is all I can tell without spoiling!In the middle of the novel when they free another innocent guy, you will definitely get moved even if your heart is made of stone!Since the novel is based on true people and story, it does get real and really sentimental!
Grab it with both hands and next time you see an arrest or encounter just fervently hope like me that he or she is the actual guilty party and not just an innocent victim!For them the only hope is the guardian!