Reading Corner's Reviews > Sycamore Row

This was my first John Grishaw book and I never read the first book in this series, A Time To Kill but I was pretty disappointed after reading this book. Many reviews and some of my friends rated this as a definite must-read, highly praising the plot but I found many parts boring. The story wasn't very gripping as it's a story about the legal struggle over the legitimacy of a will. Seth Hubbard hangs himself, leaving a newly written will which leaves a massive sum of money to his housekeeper and numerous parties. However, he doesn't leave anything to his kids or grandkids which erupts a legal battle that questions Seth's state of mind when he was writing the will and whether he was coached.

The plot description definitely grabbed my attention as I assumed it would involve more exciting aspects but this wasn't the case. The only real exciting moment of the book happens at the end but at the point I was disinterested in the looming mystery of why Seth really did it. The opening really dragged on with little excitement along with the middle of the book. I wouldn't label this book as a thriller as it really wasn't a page-turner.

However, I did enjoy Jake's narrative as I think he is a fantastic character along with many others in the book.For me, the characters are the best part as they're written so well and the interaction between them is just brilliant especially with Jake and Harry or Jake and Ozzie.

References to the first book did spark my interest and I think I'll follow up on on that book as apparently it's much better than this one.I enjoyed parts of the book but on a whole it was a disappointment due to the high expectations that are attached to this novel.In terms of law fiction, the novel excels and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in that area but personally, I wouldn't categorize it as a thriller.