A strawberry cheesecake with a side of Grisham

Spent this past Saturday in the Valley, brunching it, lounging about, mini-golfing, and snacking on things I wouldn't normally indulge in. Before heading out to putt around a mini course my friends and I decided to appease our sweet-tooths and head on over to the Cheesecake Factory in the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Upon being seated I spot Tom at a table with a The Appeal by John Grisham. He's reading while waiting for his food to arrive and reading in public like this helps him pass the time especially when he is alone. If he were dining with someone then, naturally, they would be participating in good ol' conversation. Tom starts telling me about his current read. It's about a lawsuit on behalf of people who died due to a contamination in a town. The people hire a guy to go up against the big company responsible for the contamination and I believe the big company also hird someone to go up against the couple who filed the appeal to ensure that they don't win.

I asked if this book was made into a movie since the storyline sounded familiar but Tom noted that Grisham books are so formulaic that we've heard these types of stories many a time. So far he's read 5-6 Grisham novels and despite the plot formulas Tom finds the books relatively good.


Tom is a big fan of mystery books and always has been. On top of enjoying Grisham novels he also enjoys authors like John Connolly, Carol O'Connell, Ann Tyler, and Doris Lessing.

Growing up he was a big fan of the Hardy Boys and other mystery-related books. And when asked what book he'd like to write of his own it would definitely be in the mystery novel vein. If he were to adapt a book into a movie he'd choose Evan Hunter's Criminal Conversation. "It would look great on screen."