Rating: 
Summary: His Best by far
Review: John is now showing us the cold hard truth about death row lawyers. He did not make it sweeter than it should be. He made Sam nasty and horrible but still showing that he was a human and capable of emotion.
Rating:
Summary: Not typical Grisham, but just as good
Review: Klan rallies, corporate scandals, and the ACLU. I loved "A Time To Kill" but after a while, the same theme gets old. I wasn't too enthusiastic about picking up "The Chamber," However, this book has had a huge impact on me. Grisham finally puts the burning cross aside and takes a real look at the ugly face of hatred. As former Ku Klux Klan member Sam Cayhall sits on Death Row, his grandson struggles to save his life. But the real story lies in the relationship that the two develop as Sam's appeals slip through the cracks. I never thought I would feel pity for a Klansman, but Grisham gives us not just a different perspective, but the whole picture.
Rating:
Summary: Grishams Deepest, and darkest book Yet.
Review: After reading The Rainmaker and The Client, I was suprised at this one. Its about a Klan-member who, along with two other guys, set a bomb in a lawyers office and killed two children. He is sentenced to death, and his grandson comes to help him. Along the way, he learns all about their famalies dark past. This one is much more serious than his other books. It really resembles the movie Dead Man Walking. Oh yes, it is depressing, with moments of lynchings, shootings, bombings, and suicide. But still, this is my favorite John Grisham novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Death Row Psycho Drama
Review: The Chamber is another story written to appeal to readers who love realism, cold and unvarnished. Grisham is as always spell-binding. However, this story did not have the appeal that all of his others have had for me. It was simply too depressing. No doubt it is a message piece, but we get so much realism everyday and if you are looking for some "reading for pleasure" Grisham is disappointing in The Chamber.
Rating:
Summary: a rare Grisham foray into true literature
Review: First of all, I usually despise Grisham novels--they are at most entertaining pieces of pulp fiction. But The Chamber is a truly literary achievement. It explores the burden of the past, especially in the Southern context. You might even have some clue that Grisham is from the great state that produced Faulkner, Williams and Willie Morris.
Rating: 
Summary: Grisham's weakest novel
Review: A very thin story line, not entertaining, no excitement, disappointing. Not the usual Grisham quality, which is suspenseful, entertaining and brings you into a different world.
Rating:
Summary: Only 100 pages left to go....
Review: Oh my God....it has taken me a month and a half to get through this book. I dread going to bed at night to read it in spite of my dogged determination to get through it. While I find most of Grisham's stuff to be shallow but at least entertaining, the Chamber, however, is dull dull dull. Having bamboo shoved under my fingernails is sound pretty good as an alternative to yet one more evening struggling through this book. Next time you're browsing the Grisham section leave this one on the shelf you wouldn't want to disturb the dust.
Rating:
Summary: Well Defined Characters - Very Weak Ending
Review: This book left me wanting, unsatisfied, and thinking of half a dozen better ways to have ended it. The characters are well defined, even likable, and the theme is thought prevoking. The story is built on a house of cards that collapses from a weak ending.
Rating:
Summary: The average Grisham novel.....slow start, but good middle
Review: The end was weak.....almost sad and depressing to see what happens to Sam.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham gets serious
Review: He's a wealthy author now and can afford to try to get serious, and get serious he does with this compelling, but sometimes tedious meditation on the death penalty and one man's grueling demise on death row. Sam Cayhall, a vicious racist and Klan member, is defended from death by his grandson. Will the reader feel sympathy for this evil man? Will the suffering endured on death row and the passionate intervention of his grandson make Sam regret his evil life? I enjoyed this book but it is simply not a John Grisham book. He sets you up for a typical John Grisham denoument, but it simply never happens, and I felt kind of cheated at the end. Still, a sobering and saddening look at the death penalty, and a fairly good read.
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