Sooley

Is John Grisham deliberately trying to alienate his international fans? It certainly looks that way. Eight years ago, he wrote the absolutely appalling baseball novel, 'Calico Joe', which, as an Englishman unfamiliar with the game, I struggled to follow, finishing the book with the opinion that I had just finished one of the worst books I have ever read.Now, with 'Sooley' ,John Grisham appears to have written the second most tedious book he has ever produced. A totally incomprehensible novel,(to non-basketball fans, at least) taken up with detailed narrative about the basketball matches that the eponymous central character plays in.As a long-time John Grisham fan, I found this book extremely disappointing, and not of the usual standard that we have come to expect from this author. Unusually for me, seventy-three pages in, I found the book so mind-numbingly boring, I threw it in the bin. Stick to courtroom thrillers in future, Mr Grisham!!!!!!!!!!

I pre-purchase Grisham as soon as Amazon lets me know that another novel is coming. Oh, I wish I hadn't wasted my money. This is the most disappointing book the man has ever written. Grisham, supposedly an international author, goes into endless, tedious detail of basketball - a sport that is significant in only three or four countries throughout the world. Chapter after chapter is devoted to move-by-move analysis of a game that most people couldn't care less about.I buy Grisham for fantastic thrillers about people and the law. I'm guessing that he's either climbed onboard the woke bandwagon or decided that's where the money lies. If he wants to write this type of novel he could at least use a pseudonym - or make it very clear that he has abandoned the genre that made his name.Unless you're a hard core basketball fan with a desire to understand the implications of a vicious ethnic conflict DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.

I know little about basketball and this book has taught me a lot. It needs to be read with a dictionary or google for interpreting the terms as therir is no glossary in the book. I jump bombs and knew what a slam and a dunk were and hence a slam-dunk but now understand bombing and what "finding only net" means too!I have not finished the book yet so no spoilers from me!John Grisham can tell a good story about anything and his research is amazing. I need to be reminded constantly that this is fiction it is so real.

I bought this book because I like John Grisham's work, the way he writes, and his convoluted plotlines.But there ought to be a disclaimer, on the front cover, and on the first page as well, warning the prospective reader that, if they are not up-to-speed on how basket ball is played, how the very sport is organised, as well as the term of the bloody game; you would need a sports dictionary before you begin.A great disappointment!!!!

Slightly concerned by reviews, but as I have read many Grisham books, decided to go with my own history. The book doesn't let you down. JG's. familiar page turning writing and a story line that grips you , whether you know something or nothing about basketball.Did not foresee the ending coming at all.Great story from the best author of the last twenty years IMHO.