The Widow by John Grisham

Published by Doubleday on  ‎ October 21, 2025

The Widow feels like a novel that John Grisham has written before. The protagonist is familiar — a small-town lawyer in Virginia who writes wills, files bankruptcies, and scrapes by on the limited fees that his working-class clients can pay. The lawyer is accused of a crime and hires a criminal defense attorney who takes his case to trial before the true criminal is unmasked. While much of the story is entertaining, it is also unremarkable — a common failing of Grisham’s work.

Eleanor Barnett, an 85-year-old widow, asks Simon Latch to prepare her will. She seems reluctant to give Simon any information, but claims that her first husband had accumulated stock in Coke and Walmart that is now worth millions. Her second husband, Harry Korsak, had two children from an earlier marriage but Eleanor refused to adopt them because they were troublemakers.

Eleanor reluctantly admits that another lawyer, Wally Thackerman, prepared a will for her, but she feels uncomfortable that the will created a trust that would inherit all her property. Naturally, Wally made himself the trustee. When Simon studies the will, he discovers that Wally also made himself the beneficiary of a bequest of nearly half a million dollars (supposedly as payment for past services). Of course, Wally buried that bequest in the will and neglected to mention it to Eleanor.

Simon isn’t quite as crooked as Wally, but he sees an opportunity. He drafts a similar will, minus the unethical bequest to himself. The will leaves Eleanor’s estate to a trust that Simon will administer. Simon includes a dozen uncontroversial charitable organizations as beneficiaries of the trust. Simon figures to earn some nice fees (at double his usually hourly rate) for administering the trust.

Simon doesn’t want his long-time secretary to realize that he’s acting unethically, so he types the will himself, has it witnessed when she’s out of the office, and tells her that he’s still working out the terms of a will with Eleanor. He also tells Eleanor that she shouldn’t tell Wally about the new will. In the meanwhile, Simon ingratiates himself to Eleanor, taking her to a variety of restaurants for lunch. Eleanor loves the attention and never offers to pay for lunch. Grisham creates interesting uncertainty about whether Eleanor actually has the wealth she claims.

Eleanor isn’t much of a driver, so it’s no surprise when she becomes a bit tipsy with her best friend (another elderly woman), crashes her car, and ends up in the hospital. When she dies from pneumonia, Simon figures his investment of time has paid off. His opinion changes when an anonymous caller tells the police that Eleanor’s death is suspicious. A police detective puts a halt to an impending cremation and, when an autopsy reveals that Eleanor was poisoned, Simon is arrested.

The reader knows from the start that Simon has been framed, but he sure looks like someone who killed his client. The secrecy surrounding his drafting of the will, the haste with which he called the mortuary to arrange the cremation, and the fact that he purchased the cookies that held the poison give the prosecution a reasonably strong case against him. It doesn't help that Harry's kids show up with a lawyer of their own, hoping to get the will set aside so they can inherit their stepmother's estate.

The last third of the novel delivers some of what I crave from legal thrillers: the theatrics, strategy, and dramatic “gotcha” moments of a criminal trial. Simon persuades a criminal lawyer to handle his case for a minimal fee. I was surprised the defense lawyer didn’t make more of the anonymous call — the only person who could know that Eleanor was poisoned is the killer — and was a bit shocked that the lawyer didn’t pursue what seems to be a crucial new piece of evidence that Simon’s law school girlfriend, now an FBI agent, uncovers during the trial. Apart from my reservations about improbable strategic decisions, I regard the trial scenes as the novel’s strength.

Grisham adds interest to Simon’s character by giving him a gambling problem and a failing marriage. While people tend to think of lawyers as wealthy, he makes clear that drafting wills and handling bankruptcies in a small town is not lucrative. Simon might be a broke gambler, but he cares about his children, so if he isn’t admirable, at least he isn’t evil.

The whodunit — the poisoner’s identity — comes out of left field. It isn’t an impossible solution but struck me as a failure of imagination. While the story is sufficiently engaging to earn a recommendation, The Widow nestles into the “good, not great” territory that more than half of Grisham’s novels occupy.

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The Dentist by Tim Sullivan

First published in Great Britain in 2020; published by Grove Atlantic on October 21, 2025

American crime novels featuring law enforcement protagonists too often depict the protagonists as tough guy action heroes. British crime novels featuring law enforcement protagonists tend to be more cerebral. George Cross isn’t an action hero (he bicycles to work and doesn’t carry a gun), but he’s a dogged detective. Substituting logic for fists, Cross fights his way to the crime’s solution by exercising his mind. British crime novels make readers smarter.

Cross is challenged by Asperger's syndrome, a condition that makes him socially awkward. He would prefer to avoid social interaction entirely because he finds it painful and pointless. Cross lives with his father, who indulges his need for consistency and doesn’t force him to make small talk.

Cross joined the police because he’s good at solving puzzles. He’s worked his way up to Detective Sergeant in the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset police. His current partner is DS Ottey, who has “become his apologist and translator with the rest of the world,” a role she does not relish. His superiors tolerate Cross because he is by far the best crime solver in the department.

Cross’ behavior will be amusing to readers but it’s infuriating to his professional colleagues, who regard him as rude. Some fellow officers might be jealous; others might be displeased with Cross’ obsession with order and procedure, an obsession that makes it difficult for them to cut corners.

Tim Sullivan walks a fine line here. Asperger’s is a condition that shouldn’t be mocked, but it does lend itself to comic moments (just as Adrian Monk’s OCD is fertile ground for sprouting laughter). Sullivan balances humor with sympathy for Cross’ plight. After all, Cross didn’t ask for Asperger’s. Trying to interpret social cues so he can behave “normally” is draining. The condition complicates his life, even if it contributes to the obsessive focus that makes him a good detective. A good HR department (the kind that would be condemned as pro-DEI in the US) has encouraged at least some departmental understanding of Cross’ challenges. Sullivan takes the time to humanize Cross, to show the reader how his coping mechanisms (including abrupt departures from social situations that overwhelm him) are misunderstood by those who have no use for empathy.

Because of his Asperger’s, Cross needs things to make sense. That’s the trait that makes him a dogged investigator. If something doesn’t make sense, he needs to understand why. “He followed a strict trail of logic when looking at a case, and couldn't let go when he uncovered a hole in that logic that couldn't be explained away.”

The story begins with the murder of a homeless man named Lenny. Cross and Ottey interview someone at a homeless shelter who last saw Lenny arguing with a man named Badger. They take Badger into custody for questioning, but Badger is intoxicated and doesn’t have a clear memory of his interaction with Lenny. He does recall punching Lenny and on the strength of that memory, confesses to Lenny’s murder.

Cross’ colleagues are satisfied to clear the case, but Cross is troubled because Badger doesn’t seem to know that Lenny was strangled. Cross “needed proof. He needed certainty. Above all, he had an indefatigable need to get it right, to have it in order. For the right person to be found and convicted.” In a tradition that is stronger with fictional police detectives than real ones, Cross continues to gather evidence, hoping to prove or disprove Badger’s guilt with reasonable certainty.

Lenny turns out to have been a dentist who disappeared years ago and was declared legally dead. Lenny was never the same after his mother, Hillary Carpenter, was murdered in her home. Lenny devoted himself to harassing the police, who seemed to be slow walking the investigation. A photo of footprints in Lenny’s backpack was evidence in the case, but why did he have it? For that matter, why did Lenny return home after being missing for so many years?

Cross decides he needs to solve Hillary’s murder, as it seems to be linked to Lenny’s murder. The only significant clue is a red Jaguar that sideswiped a parked car as it raced away from the neighborhood at the time the crime occurred. Cross becomes concerned that the police did too little to track down the car and identify the driver.

The Dentist will appeal to fans of police procedurals. Cross and Ottey interview countless car dealers after learning that a witness recalled that the Jaguar had a dealer’s plate. The detective who led the original investigation, now retired, seems to have been deliberately obstructing it, but why? And how does Hillary’s murder connect to Lenny’s?

A credible plot seems to point to the guilt of an obvious suspect, but a final twist may surprise readers (like me) who prematurely congratulate themselves for solving the crimes. The pace never lags, but this isn’t an action novel. Characterization — Cross’ quirkiness combined with secondary characters who find ways to cope with him — is well above average for a thriller. It makes George Cross a promising new protagonist for crime novel fans to follow.

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The Tourists by Christopher Reich

Published by Thomas & Mercer on October 14, 2025

Mac Dekker was a field operative (more specifically, an assassin) for the CIA. In Matterhorn, the first novel in this series, “he’d been betrayed by his best friend and made to look like a Russian double agent. Unable to prove his innocence, he’d faked his death and escaped to the village of Zinal in the Swiss Alps.” Dekker’s best friend was a mole who, some years after Dekker’s disappearance, was responsible for the death of Dekker’s son.

Dekker begins the novel in Paris, where he plans to propose to a Mossad agent named Ava Attal. A month earlier, Dekker’s former boss at the CIA, Don Baker, appeared in Zinal and offered Dekker a return to his former status, complete with back pay, a promotion, and nullification of the “red flag” order to kill him on sight. The offer requires him to remain out of sight, avoiding contact with anyone from his former life, apart from his daughter, Jane McCall, who is serving as the CIA’s acting chief of station in Berlin. Dekker is happy with the deal because it gives him the freedom to live wherever he likes and removes his concern that an assassin’s bullet will find him if appears in public.

In Paris, Dekker takes Ava to a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower where he plans to pop the question. Just as he’s about to pull the ring from his pocket, Ava gets a call on her cellphone. She tells Dekker she needs to have a private conversation and disappears into the hallway. When she doesn’t return, Dekker searches the area, then returns to their hotel. Ava isn’t there because (the reader soon learns) she was abducted from the restaurant. Dekker searches her luggage and wonders why she brought a gun on their romantic getaway. Could it be that Ava was on a secret mission?

The story follows Dekker as he searches for Ava with the clandestine help of his daughter. A female assassin makes occasional appearances. She’s after Dekker, whose return to the CIA’s protection is short-lived after he breaks the rules by involving his daughter in his search for Ava. The red flag has been reinstated, another complication in Dekker’s life.

Interwoven with Dekker’s story are scenes involving Tariq bin Nayan bin Tariq al-Sabah, the second son of the emir of Qatar’s first wife. The older son, Jabr, has been groomed to take over when the emir dies. Prince Tariq won’t inherit the throne so he’s dedicated himself to spending money, hooking up with beautiful women, and hobnobbing with the elite. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. Tariq earns money of his own as a social media influencer. People are apparently fascinated with the myriad ways in which wealthy men can waste their money and the women who sleep with them.

Tariq is orchestrating one of those diabolical plots that are common in modern thrillers. Jabr has negotiated a treaty between Israel and Gulf countries that is supposed to bring prosperity for all. Tariq opposes the treaty, in part because he is jealous of Jabr, in part because he hates Jews. Tariq has made an unholy alliance with Israel’s defense minister, who believes the treaty will undermine Israel’s regional supremacy. This struck me as plausible; other readers might disagree. I'm not sure how many readers value plausibility in a thriller, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

Tariq plans to use a small nuclear weapon that ISIS pilfered from Israel, a nuke that can only be triggered with the right transmitter and codes that only Israel possesses. Tariq’s plan is to kill the participants at an international conference in Paris where the treaty will be signed, killing his brother and securing his position as emir while eliminating any hope of peace between Israel and the Gulf states.

Christopher Reich flavors the novel with regional history, some of which he invents or embellishes in interesting ways. Reich creates detailed histories of key characters. The reader is challenged to decide whether Ava is a good guy or a bad guy, assuming those terms have clear meanings in the Middle East. None of this bogs down a story that moves at a steady (but not frenetic) pace.

Paris is the intersection point between the story of Ava’s abduction and Tariq’s plan to explode a tactical nuke. The mystery of Ava’s abduction is unsurprising but deftly executed. Action scenes at the story’s end require the protagonists to engage in a clichéd race against the clock, but what would thrillers be without those races?

The novel would probably make a decent movie, albeit one that would need to be dumbed down a bit, as political nuances in the story don’t translate well to Hollywood films. I prefer Reich’s financial thrillers because they play to his strengths (he was an investment banker before he started selling novels), but The Tourists is nevertheless a successful espionage novel, one that is consistent in quality with Reich’s body of work.

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Picket Line by Elmore Leonard

Published by Mariner Books on Sept. 30, 2025

Picket Line is a “lost” novella. A longer-than-necessary introduction explains the story’s history. Envisioned as a screenplay, Elmore Leonard wrote a prose version of the plot in 1970 and eventually turned that document into a novella. After several collaborative attempts to market the story as a movie (including brief interest from Clint Eastwood, who wanted to tell a different story), Leonard sold the novella to an online startup that folded before it could be published.

As the introduction explains, the novella begins with “a memorable opening scene depicting the Rojas brothers’ altercation with a racist gas station attendant.” The gas station employee explains his boss’ refusal to allow migrants to use the restrooms: “They go in there mess up the place, piss all over, take a bath in the sink, use all the towels, steal the toilet paper, man, it’s like a bunch of pigs were in there.” With a subtle threat that doesn’t quite invoke violence, Paco and Chino persuade the employee to allow a family of migrant workers to use the facilities.

Paco and Chino are from California. Paco is Francisco Rojas. Chino is Francisco de la Cruz, an ex-con with a grudge against the white power structure that denies opportunities to Mexican Americans. The introduction suggests that Chino was originally modeled on Cesar Chavez.

For reasons that are initially obscure, Paco and Chino are driving to Texas. When they’re stopped by a deputy sheriff, they claim that they plan to get work picking melons. The cop tells them they might get jobs at Stanzik Farms, although some of the migrant farmworkers are on strike. They take the Stanzik job, but Chino’s true goal is to meet someone he knew from his time in prison.

The labor leader who organized the strike is Vincent Mora, a character who takes over the Cesar Chavez role in later drafts of the story. Mora turns out to have a hidden past, one that might paint him as a man of peace or a coward, or both.

Other important characters include: Bud Davis, an Anglo making a half-hearted attempt at melon picking, who “with his muscular arms and shoulders and cut-off pants and tennis shoes — like he was at South Padre Island on his vacation — couldn’t pick his nose”; a Black picker from Detroit named Clinton who “was broke and needed money to get home”; an exasperated foreman named Larry Mendoza and a violent foreman named Ray Doyle; and Connie Chavez, who uses her bullhorn to implore the melon pickers to replace their sacks of melons with a picket sign (“Attention! Oigame, senores! Your foreman has returned from the toilet. Try to look happy while you work for a stinking dollar ten cents an hour.”). Connie is brash, funny, and fearless. She’s by far the story’s best character.

The story develops themes of social justice while recognizing the differing approaches that might be taken to solve injustice. Mora emphasizes that he’s trying to organize a union, not lead a revolution, while Chino is more aggressive. Mora scolds Chino because he doesn’t “want to bargain with the man, you want to punish him, kick his teeth out and burn his fields — the East LA pachuco out to teach the gringo a lesson. Do you know what you’re doing? Using La Causa as an excuse.” Chino knows the strike will be met with violence, and while Mora advocates turning the other cheek, Chino expects to see blood on the ground and would prefer that it be the blood of those who oppress Mexicans.

Leonard was still inventing his style at this point. The novella doesn’t include much of the dialog that later became Leonard’s trademark, and it includes a bit more exposition than his later work. Frankly, this is a style I prefer. An ambiguous ending gives the novella an unfinished feel, perhaps because it was meant to evolve into something bigger, but Leonard vividly captured the emotions and courage of migrant labor organizers, as well as the brutality and racial animosity of those who opposed them.

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Final Orbit by Chris Hadfield

Published by Mulholland Books on October 7, 2025

Set during Gerald Ford’s brief presidency, Final Orbit gains its thrills from China’s efforts to enter the abandoned Skylab to capture a secret weapon as astronauts from the US and Russia are cooperating in a mission that calls for the docking of an Apollo spacecraft and its Soyuz counterpart. Throw in an attempt to assassinate Ford while he’s visiting NASA in Houston and a Chinese attempt to launch a missile from Russia and you’ve got a conspiracy to turn the Cold War into a Hot Mess.

Kaz Zemeckis accompanies Nixon to China. Kaz is identified as “air crew,” but he’s there to spy for the Air Force Space and Missiles System division. He is accompanied by Dr. Jimmy Doi, an Air Force flight surgeon who speaks Chinese and Japanese. The Chinese assign their own spy, Fang Guojun, to shadow Kaz.

Three years later, Kaz is a military liaison to NASA, serving as the Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for a joint Soviet-American mission. The CAPCOM’s job is to talk to the astronauts from Mission Control. A Russian Soyuz vessel docks with an Apollo capsule and their crews exchange pleasantries. That event is taken from history, although the fictional version of the mission is a substantial departure from reality. Chris Hadfield adds a woman to the Russian crew and kills half the astronauts in this alternate history, but the novel’s foundation is based on actual events.

In addition to envisioning an accident that kills some astronauts, Hadfield adds a Chinese plot to board Skylab (the space station by that point had been abandoned) and steal a secret weapon. For plausible reasons, a person connected to the Air Force is working as a spy for China, accounting for China’s knowledge of the secret weapon. The spy’s identity is a bit too obvious.

China’s first manned space mission sends Fang Guojun, now an astronaut, into space to dock with Skylab and steal the weapon. The weapon’s nature is a bit murky, as is the explanation for leaving it on Skylab, but that’s the story.

When the American military detects the Chinese capsule and figures out its intent, the Apollo capsule is instructed to dock with Skylab, ostensibly to offload the dead bodies so that the space shuttle, when finally constructed, can recover them. Of course, a surviving American astronaut must keep the purpose of the diversion a secret from the Russians, lest America’s strongest rival learn about the secret weapon.

The Chinese also scheme to launch a missile from Russia, assuming (apparently correctly) that the American military is easily deceived. That subplot goes nowhere and its purpose is a mystery. An attempt to assassinate Gerald Ford (as if anyone would have noticed), a joint enterprise of the Chinese and America’s Weather Underground (seriously?), also adds little of interest to the story.

The plot is too far-fetched to encourage the willing suspension of disbelief. A scene near the end, when Kaz takes a moment away from his consoles to fight a spy, is a little silly, since the task could have been left to law enforcement. Turning Kaz into an action hero suggests a desperate attempt to add more thrills to the story. In a remarkable coincidence, Kaz also encounters suspicious behavior at a Chinese restaurant that gives him insight into an attempt to set off a bomb at NASA.

Hadfield performs a clever feint at the end, leaving the reader to believe that the story will not have a happy ending. Far be it from me to disclose how the story resolves, although I will caution readers that the story ends a bit too neatly.

Despite my difficulty buying into the story, I enjoyed the technical aspects of spaceflight. Hadfield’s substantial experience as an astronaut informs the story’s detailed background. The tension surrounding the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission gives Final Orbit its thriller status and encouraged my sustained interest in an improbable plot.

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