The Widow by John Grisham

"The grinding machinery of American justice was often slow to start, but once the disparate elements finally came together at one time and in one place---the courtroom---there was no stopping the train wreck."

      -from the novel
 

I am a fan of John Grisham; I've enjoyed many of his novels so it's not surprising that I found this book a page turner. 

While many of Grisham's legal thrillers involve a lawyer serving a client, this one features a struggling small-town attorney, Simon Latch, who is charged with murder in the death of his client, 85-year-old widow Eleanor Barnett. She had come to him to make a new will and indicated she had millions in stocks and no family unless you could consider two no-good stepsons, and she did not want them to be heirs to the fortune.

With the help of his well-known defense attorney, a former girlfriend who happens to be an FBI agent and a quirky denizen of the dark web, Simon must prove his innocence. This reader had a lot of empathy for Simon. He is not only facing the possibility of a long prison sentence but also a ruined reputation and great emotional damage to his family. The Widow is very suspenseful, and I am rating it a 5.