In Braxton, Virginia, John Grisham’s protagonist Simon Latch hasn’t had the opportunity to practice much of that which he learned in law school. He manages to keep his solo practice afloat by writing wills and filing insurance claims. That is until the day when Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow, walks into his office and shows him a copy of her will that was written by Wally Thackerman, the lawyer across the street. Eleanor, or Netty as she insists on being addressed, simply feels uncomfortable with Thackerman’s efforts.
My initial impression was that The Widow (2015, 416 pages in hardback format) was going to pit lawyer against lawyer, but that wasn’t the case. And that revelation is not a spoiler. In the first couple of chapters, we can see that this book is going to pit the protagonist against himself, the basic principle of the law, and his own ethical framework. There’s no innocent person accused of mass murder to be defended, no international drug dealer to be exposed. Yet Grisham keeps the tension piled on as Simon interacts with Netty and struggles with his own conscience.
It only takes a couple of minutes of skimming through Thackerman’s work to see that, upon Netty’s death, a nice little gift of $485,000 will go to the lawyer across the street. But that’s not such an outrageous amount as Simon questions Netty, and she reveals the fact that her late husband worked for Coca Cola and participated in a program by which employees could acquire Coke stock.
However, after Mr. Barnett believed that he had enough Coca Cola stock, he began acquiring Walmart stock. Now, she estimates, her inherited holdings are worth about $20,000,000. To Simon, all those zeroes mean “life changer.” Of course, he wouldn’t do anything as blatant as Thackerman; he’d be more creative.
Matilda Clark has always been Simon’s receptionist and secretary, the person who types up all the wills and claims. But Simon types Netty’s new will himself and holds on to his copy of the document so that Matilda, Tilly to him, doesn’t ever see it. The document has been signed by Netty and witnessed by the “girls” who work next door.
I could say that Simon’s new client turns out to be more trouble than she’s worth, except that she’s worth a lot. To keep Netty happy, Simon takes her to lunch and they have a wonderful time together. But lunch becomes a weekly event, even when Simon has more important things to do. And, to complicate the situation a little, each luncheon meeting has to take place at a different ethnic-food restaurant, with Simon always picking up the tab.
Oh, by the way, Netty had been married and divorced from a man whose last name was Korsak before she married Barnett. But we don’t know that until Korsak’s sons, Clyde and Jerry show up in Braxton. Uh-oh.
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Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.