THE CHAMBER by John Grisham

 Adam Hall is a young lawyer in a giant Chicago law firm.  He volunteers his services in one of the most unpleasant cases he is ever likely to come across.

Time is running out for Sam Cayhall, the oldest man on Mississippi's death row.  Cayhall is convicted of a crime that even the bleeding heart lawyers from the big Northern firms can barely stomach - the killing of two Jewish children in a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing.

Cayhall's appeals are nearly over: he has refused all legal aid, preferring to defend himself.  At first he scorns Adam's advances, though the young man clearly possesses an amazing knowledge of death penalty legislation.

But despite the man's unrepentant racist views, Adam is persistent.  Over several days of argument, a fragile bond develops between the two.  For the first time in twenty years, Cayhall hints at new evidence in the case, evidence which suggests he was not responsible for the murders.

As Adam determines to turn investigator, the old man doesn't realise that the lawyer has a hidden agenda in defending him, an agenda that goes back to a  mystery twenty years old - to a time when their two lives intersected in tragedy...

Hard cover, fairly good condition.   The dust jacket is scuffed in places.  Slight foxing.  486 pages.