A Novel
by John Grisham
An idealistic lawyer makes dangerous enemies as he fights to free an innocent man sentenced to life in prison in this "suspenseful thriller mixed with powerful themes" (Associated Press).
In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. There were no witnesses, no one with a motive. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young Black man who was once a client of Russo's.
Quincy was tried, convicted, and sent to prison for life. For twenty-two years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence. But no one was listening. He had no lawyer, no advocate on the outside. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister.
Guardian accepts only a few innocence cases at a time. Cullen Post travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients forgotten by the system. With Quincy Miller, though, he gets far more than he bargained for. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith Russo, and they do not want Quincy Miller exonerated.
They killed one lawyer twenty-two years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought.
"Terrific ... affecting ... Grisham has done it again. Such creative longevity is not that unusual in the suspense genre, but what is rare is Grisham's feat of keeping up the pace of producing, on average, a novel a year without a notable diminishment of ingenuity or literary quality." —The Washington Post
"Grisham again delivers a suspenseful thriller mixed with powerful themes such as false incarceration, the death penalty and how the legal system shows prejudice. The Guardian team of characters is first-rate."—Associated Press
This information about The Guardians was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and
a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball
player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted
gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After
graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for
nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal
injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives
and served until 1990.
One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham was inspired to start a novel. Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill
and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was
eventually bought by Wynwood ...
... Full Biography
Link to John Grisham's Website
Name Pronunciation
John Grisham: jon GRISH-uhm

If you liked The Guardians, try these:
by Walter Mosley
Published 2019
From trailblazing novelist Walter Mosley: a former NYPD cop once imprisoned for a crime he did not commit must solve two cases: that of a man wrongly condemned to die, and his own.
by Charlotte Link
Published 2015
An immersive, atmospheric crime novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author, Charlotte Link.
by Richard North Patterson
Published 2009
The spellbinding story of an American lawyer who takes on a nearly impossible casethe defense of an African freedom fighter against his corrupt governments charge of murder
He has only half learned the art of reading who has not added to it the more refined art of skipping and skimming
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.