The Chamber and The Rainmaker are daring entries in Grisham's canon for two reasons. First, neither exactly fits the thriller genre; thus they both test whether Grisham's legions of fans will continue to buy his books when he goes in new directions. The huge bestseller status of both (and of A Time to Kill when it was re-issued) demonstrate that Grisham's popularity extends well beyond his reputation as a good suspense writer. Second, in the conservative 1990s, Grisham takes politically liberal stands that many readers will not endorse. Most Americans support capital punishment, yet Grisham ridicules the legal machinations that surround the death penalty in The Chamber. The 1980s and 1990s have witnessed a growing pro-businesses atmosphere, leading to efforts in Congress to scale back the regulations imposed in previous decades; in 1995 Congress hotly debated a bill to limit awards in civil lawsuits. The spirit of...