At best, a Grisham book offers a veneer of seriousness and a strong jolt of clever escapism.

If only Clay had read the many other Grisham books that tell versions of this same story.

The message of the Grisham book is that those who dare to try to skip Christmas are punished severely.

That makes for a grand total of more than 55 million copies of Grisham books floating around out there.

But Grisham books move quickly.

And "The Chamber," the more recent of the two Grisham books, is by far the more padded and less credible.

In Francis Ford Coppola's film, based on the Grisham book, a young lawyer (Matt Damon) takes on an insurance company.

Grisham books raise moral dilemmas, and the theory is that readers like to discuss how they would act in the circumstances that engage the books' main characters.

Not that it took that much to sell a Grisham book to Hollywood.

Based on the millions of copies of Grisham books in print, it's hard to believe there is anyone in America who hasn't read at least one of his books or doesn't know their names.