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A review by collieluvr
Sycamore Row by John Grisham
4.0
One reason I've been reading so many novels by John Grisham is that I find the plot twists & turns intriguing. And while I did like this book, I could see where it was going by the time I got about 1/3 of the way into the story. That doesn't necessarily detract from the story but it was disappointing at the time and then again at the end when I realized my prediction was accurate. So I docked it 1 star for that reason.
The idea behind the story is that a wealthy man commits suicide once his cancer has been diagnosed as terminal. He writes a hand-written will that leaves everything to his black housekeeper and he explicitly cuts off his relatives. Naturally his children decide to contest the handwritten will. The main question is Why? Why would he have done this after he'd already prepared a proper will that would minimize the tax hit to his children and grandchildren? And THAT is what the novel is all about. The book also explains the intricacies of estate law which, apparently, doesn't differ much from one state to the next.
I will leave it to future readers to find out for themselves how the jury decides who will inherit the money and why he took this action.
The idea behind the story is that a wealthy man commits suicide once his cancer has been diagnosed as terminal. He writes a hand-written will that leaves everything to his black housekeeper and he explicitly cuts off his relatives. Naturally his children decide to contest the handwritten will. The main question is Why? Why would he have done this after he'd already prepared a proper will that would minimize the tax hit to his children and grandchildren? And THAT is what the novel is all about. The book also explains the intricacies of estate law which, apparently, doesn't differ much from one state to the next.
I will leave it to future readers to find out for themselves how the jury decides who will inherit the money and why he took this action.