The Chamber (1994) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Sam Cayhall: death row inmate; antagonist of novel
• Adam Hall: Grandson/Lawyer of Sam Cayhall
• George Nugent: Assistant Warden in charge of the execution of Sam Cayhall; assistant superintendent at Parchman
• Lee Cayhall Booth: Sam's daughter and Adam's Aunt also an alcoholic; married into Mississippi society; mother of Walt
• E. Garner Goodman: Pro-bono attorney at law firm Kravitz & Bane who assists Adam
• Jeremiah Dogan: Sam Cayhall's co-conspirator in the Clanton, MS bombing; Imperial Wizard for the Klan; killed in house fire
• Eddie (Cayhall) Hall: Adam Hall's father; Committed suicide.
• Marvin Kramer: Add a description of this character.
• Steve Roxburgh: Attorney General of Mississippi
• Lucas Mann: Attorney for Parchman; sympathetic towards Cayhall
• Carmen Hall: Sister to Adam; granddaughter of Sam Cayhall; psychology student at Berkeley
• Daniel Rosen: Kravitz & Bane attorney who attempts to fire Adam
• Donnie Cayhall: Sam's younger brother; one of three in family to visit Sam
• US District Judge F Flynn Slattery: Federal judge
• Todd Marks: Reporter at the 'Memphis Press'
• Phillip Naifeh: Parchman warden
• J. B. Gullitt: Fellow inmate of Sam's in death row; raped and killed homecoming queen
• Joe Lincoln: Black sharecropper shot by Sam; father to Quince
• David McAllister: Governor of Mississippi
• Teddy Doyle Meeks: flawed gas chamber execution in Mississippi
• Dr Anson Swinn: Professional testifier
• Ruth Kramer
• Hez Kerry: Director, Southern Capital Defense Group, quasi governmental agency
• Hank Henshaw: Death row prisoner at Parchman
• Roland (Rollie) Wedge aka John Doe: Unidentified co-conspirator of Sam Cayhall
• Clovis Brazelton: Cayhall's first attorney who was able to get an acquittal; secret Klan member

Quotes edit see section history

• “We have four weeks. You can do a lot of talking in four weeks. Adam Hall”

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• The bomb had defined his life, he knew that much. It had taken him away from Mississippi and deposited him in another world with a new name.

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• Weird things happen with our absurd judicial system. Courts rule this way one day and the other way the next. The same judges reach different conclusions on familiar issues. A court will ignore a wild motion or appeal for years, then one day embrace it and grant relief. Judges die and they’re replaced by judges who think differently. Presidents come and go and they appoint their pals to the bench. The Supreme Court drifts one way, then another.

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• For two centuries the U.S. Supreme Court allowed legal executions. Said they were constitutional, covered nicely by the Eighth Amendment. Then, in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court read the same, unchanged Constitution and outlawed the death penalty. Then, in 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court said executions were in fact constitutional after all.

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• Contents Cover Title

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• his lawyer, that little hunchback fart with eyeglasses pinching his nose—” “Larramore.”

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• And Sam Cayhall understood this. He hired a skilled trial advocate from Memphis named Benjamin Keyes.

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• His client was about to die at the hands of the government, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

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• How in God’s world could Sam Cayhall have become anything other than himself? He never had a chance.

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• The second member of the team was a Klansman by the name of Sam Cayhall

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• election of David McAllister as the district attorney in Greenville. At twenty-seven he became the youngest D.A. in the state’s history. As a teenager he had stood in the crowd and watched the FBI pick through the rubble of Marvin Kramer’s office. Shortly after his election, he vowed to bring the terrorists to justice.

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First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Debt of Honor.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. John Grisham (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3557.R5355 C47 1994
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Authors, A-Z › ( G ) › Grisham, John
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Law › Criminal Law

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• John Grisham: Author's website

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Chamber (IMDb): (1996) Starring Gene Hackman, Chris O'Donnell, Faye Dunaway; Directed by James Foley