The Widow by John Grisham Book Review

 The Widow 

by John Grisham 

Published Year: 2025

Page Count: 416 pages 

Medium Used: Kindle Scribe

Genre: Court Room Drama, Suspense, Crime Thriller, Murder Mystery, Contemporary Fiction, 2026-read.

Rating: 3.25/5

I guess I cannot write a review, driving my points across, without introducing all the main players in the story. Simon Latch is an estate lawyer - attorney and counselor at law - dealing in wills and bankruptcy cases from a small town of Braxton, Virginia. He has been at his gig for over eighteen years and is working his routine cases without much enthusiasm. He has a strained relationship with his wife, Paula and he seems to care enough for their kids to not miss any of the major events in their lives. He hasn't got divorced with his wife because they simply haven't got the money to go through with the proceedings. He regularly plays video poker and gambles small amounts at a joint run by a bookie Chub. His secretary Matilda has been working for him for over twelve years and they have managed to keep their relationship purely professional. 

An old widow, Eleanor Barnett, walks into his office one fateful day and requests him to draft a will for her estate. She has previously got a will drafted by his rival Wally Thackerman but she suspects him to be shady and doesn't fully trust him. Simon soon learns that this is not his usual will when she claims to have millions squirreled away in stocks and liquid assets. Precisely, she claims that her late husband had around sixteen million dollars as stocks in Coke and Walmart, another four million liquid cash in a bank in Atlanta. Simon is more than intrigued, more than consumed with greed. It becomes clear that the widow doesn't want to show him any "proof" for these assets. She wants him to accept her word for it and draft a will leaving her money to no one in particular - she simply has no one in the world to leave it to. On one hand, not trusting her to be so wealthy and on the other hand, not wanting her to go find another lawyer, he agrees to make her will without seeing the proper documents.  Like Wally Thakerman, Simon sees a way for him to get his hands on the money and drafts a will that would put all her money into his hands as the sole trustee to her trust and executor of estate. She has two stepsons - Jerry and Clyde - but fully intends to cut them off. Simon drafts the will and gets its legalized without the knowledge of his secretary. After this, she insists him to take her out for lunches for which he pays. She shows little sign of wealth in her lifesyle or house or manners and this often raises his suspicion. She meets with an accident while drunk driving and ends up in hospital with broken ribs and badly injured leg. Again, she has no one to care for her other than Simon. So he becomes a frequent visitor and when her condition seems to be deteriorating, he makes her sign the power of attorney and advance directive to him. He gets the last word to say when or if she is to fall into a comatose state and that's what happens. After her death, he calls up the mortician to come pick her body for cremating. Little does he know that some anonymous caller would tip off about the unusual circumstances surrounding the her death and gets him indicted for her murder by poisoning. He finds a pro bono criminal lawyer, Raymond, and they war through the multiple courtroom brawls in bid to win and have Simon off the life in prison or worse, death sentence!

I felt that Simon's character development should have been more worked through - I mean he is so callous and indifferent with his wife, doesn't  bother disciplining his kids to avoid bickering with his wife, gives into his greedy urges with Eleanor, goes digging into her house for proof of her stash when she is lying sick in hospital; sure he has done whatever he has done for Eleanor always with an eye on the money that would one day be his but still he comes off as someone looking only after his needs and interests; maybe all lawyers are the same but I would have liked to have a better hero for my story. Eleanor is a widow that makes big claims with little to show in proof and all along kept me wondering if she really had the dough and if not what her end game really is. Her character is well-written and I could sympathize with her frailty and vulnerability even if there are lingering doubts about her wealth and intentions.

I felt this book was supposed to be an emotional drama that strangely lacked emotion. Even when Paula and Simon weren't bickering each other's heads off, they were brutal and hurtful to each other. They couldn't manage to stay in one room without getting into arguments. Clearly, they have overstayed their time together and I felt more than once that they would just bite the bullet and get a divorce. I learned a lesson here that it is better to call it quits when there is still some semblance of goodwill than let things drag on leading only to bitterness. Simon is indicted for the murder of Eleanor and might get convicted if they don't play their cards well - he worries about his kids as he naturally should and also contemplates suicide rather than going to prison. Again, I felt a lack of real emotion and fear behind this. His behavior and actions didn't convey the paralyzing fear and  nerve wracking tension that should be present in his case. He somehow didn't make a very convincing main character for me. He played his life game as he would one of his video poker games, I felt. 

Once the veil is lifted on who actually poisoned the widow, instead of feeling a jaw dropping thrill at the twist, I felt let down. The author must have thought he was blending different worlds and delivering a thrilling punch to the reader but it only seemed to veer off from the main plot. I wonder where he got the idea and urge to take this plot direction. 

Overall, not so great. Mediocre work from a world famous writer. But I guess we can condone him because writing really original work is getting tougher for authors with so much literature getting published and all novel ideas claimed by someone or the other. Its not all bad with this book either - Mr. Grisham has managed to deliver substance too - I learned a lot in regards to the courtroom procedures and about Thallium toxin that can kill and leave no outward symptoms. Do check it out!  Cheers! Do let me know what you think in the comments below.