Grass Roots

by Stuart Woods

Book Overview

In this breathtaking thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods, attorney Will Lee returns to his southern roots--and gets involved in a political firestorm that could make or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671667394
• ISBN13: 9780671667399
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 459 Pages
• Weight: 1.82 lbs.

Customer Reviews

exciting thriller

When highly regarded Senator Ben Carr of Georgia suffers a debilitating stroke, his loyal chief of staff, Will Lee runs for the office. His opponent in the Democratic primary is the state's governor Mack Dean; if he wins that his most likely Republican foe is an extreme TV star fundamentalist. However, Will places his personal campaigning on hold when Judge Boggs asks him to serve as a public defender on a hate crimes homicide case in Meriwether County where he grew up and his ma still lives in Delano. The case is a racially charged murder that could impact his election chances as his client is a white male accused of killing a black female. Meanwhile a former cop hunts a vigilante group assassinating people involved in what they interpret as porn peddling gangland-style. This too impacts Will's chances of winning the election as the issues of soft on crime and pornography surface. Each of the three prime threads is gripping and easily could have served as fully developed novellas in differing sub-genres: political, legal and investigative. However, the fun in this tale is how Stuart Woods cleverly interweaves the three seemingly diverse subplots into a cohesive exciting thriller. This reprint of a 1989 tale holds up nicely two decades later. Harriet Klausner

Nostalgia for 60 year olds

I bought this book to recall the halcyon days of my secondary schooling in the years 1957 - 61. Then the book was an assigned text for all students in English in New Zealand. The language and the concepts were then frankly beyond the comprehension of 15 year olds. As I grew older, I became aware of the position Kipling held in the Late Victorian era, and the period following the end of the First World War. I came to understand a little of what the British Empire meant in those times, and the great debt owed by the world to the British Army which subdued Iraq, Pakistan, and the Indian Continent for almost 200 years. Without the benefit of the bomb, with a tiny armed service, and a desire to provide fair and equitable government, the Raj governed fearlessly through the efforts of the thirds sons of many of the great English Families, while the fourth sons provided the humanity of the Church. Patterns we could well emulate again today! This was bread and butter to Kipling. In his early years as a huge supporter of the system, as a spiritualist after the death of his son in the First World War, and in his later years as the designer of the huge Military Cemetaries established in France and Belgium after the War to the Empire's dead, he truly became in his own words a "Builder of the Silent Cities". In 2006, the concepts of his writings are remote from many. In terms of the trials of people, and their attempts to rise over their circumstances through a sense of duty and moral propriety, Kipling's works are without peer. For those starting out to discover him, start with "Stalky and Company", and move to this book, and his other works as extended learning. I hope you come to love his simple characters as I have, and that your School System, and its weird sense of Boyhood Literature does not destroy the desire to read Kipling until your late 60's This book has brought great joy to someone in the prime of life, and brings back some important memories of Scouts, Church and Honour in a time when these are so sadly lacking.

Compelling reading...just great.

I do not think that Stuart Woods has ever disappointed me. "Grassroots" is intricately plotted with absorbing parallel stories that work their way to the same bad guys. Mr. Woods writes in a way that makes the pages fly by. It's easy to pull for the good guys and it is impossible to work up any sympathy for the villains. The protagonist (Senatorial candidate Will Lee) is scheduled to reappear in Mr. Woods' next novel ("The Run"). After reading "Grassroots" I shall be first in line when "The Run" hits the stores sometime in May. Mr. Woods has a most entertaining series currently going with bon vivant lawyer Stone Barrington that I find to be great fun.

Exciting and interesting sequel to Chiefs

I agree with what one reveiwer said - Stuart Woods is a slam-bang storyteller! I've read all his books and have enjoyed everyone of them. This book seems so realistic, you can just picture the characters in your mind. For a fast-paced page turner, that you don't want to end, read Stuart Woods.

One of the finest collections of short stories in english.

Rudyard Kipling writes concisely and with great insight on a wide range of issues. With each story only taking up a few pages the depth of characterisation is superb. 'The gate of one-hundred sorrows' is one of the finest short stories ever written.