Escapist entertainment and the topic of judicial reform don't exactly go together -- unless, of course, you're in the hands of John Grisham, whose new legal thriller makes a case for appointing rather than electing judges.

He does this through a compelling story weaving together lawyers, judges, billionaire businessmen and the unfortunate residents of a place cruelly but accurately dubbed Cancer County, Miss., because its cancer rate is 15 times the national average.

		"THE APPEAL" By John Grisham Doubleday ($27.95)

That's where a 34-year-old woman has just won a $41 million verdict against the chemical company that poisoned her town's water supply and killed her husband and young son.

Krane Chemical Co., once the largest employer in her town, dumped hundreds of gallons of carcinogens directly into the ground. The toxins found their way into the water supply, causing leukemia and cancers of the liver, kidney, urinary tract, stomach and bladder.

The book opens with the verdict, and Grisham writes, "There were gasps and coughs and soft whistles as the shock waves rattled around the courtroom," with the chemical company bigwigs glaring at the jurors, thinking vile thoughts of backwater stupidity and ignorance.

Winning the case, the husband-and-wife legal team of Mary Grace and Wes Payton were thinking they might escape certain bankruptcy and see their way back to the comfortable life they once had. But they know that the company, facing many more lawsuits, will appeal and it could be months before any money changes hands.

And that is where the appeal, and the Mississippi Supreme Court, come in. Carl Trudeau, the predatory, mendacious head of Krane, is invited to a secret meeting where he is informed that he likely will lose a second time by a 5-4 vote if the case lands at the court.

"The state has been notoriously sympathetic to plaintiffs for the past two decades and, as you probably know, has a well-earned reputation as a hotbed of litigation. Asbestos, tobacco, fen-phen, all sorts of crazy class actions. Tort lawyers love the place," a shadowy figure tells Trudeau.

So, why not buy a Supreme Court justice for the low, low price of $8 million?

Why not indeed, and that is where the story really lifts off as Grisham follows the efforts to quietly recruit and elect the perfect candidate, employ all sorts of dirty and perfectly legal tricks and try to change the course of justice.

"The Appeal" bears some resemblance, on its face, with "A Civil Action," the real-life story of contaminated water in Woburn, Mass., that was turned into a movie starring John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann.

But Grisham's book opens with the verdict and advances the story from there, taking it into the stormy waters that follow the verdict. He is particularly adept at skewering the electoral process and makes it clear why electing justices is a very bad idea.

Millions are spent in the political race in the book. It pits a moderate justice branded a flaming liberal by her opponent against an ambitious newcomer who regrettably leaves much of the decision-making to others.

After taking so much money, either from trial lawyers or corporations who are their targets, how could either make fair and unbiased decisions? Grisham asks.

"The Appeal" is set against a backdrop, real and fictional, of small-town life, a litigious society, electioneering gone amok, the flight of companies to foreign countries, the prevailing influence of Wall Street and the suspicion that yes, the rich really do get richer and the poor pay the price.

As usual, Grisham never delves deeply into his characters. But by rolling some of his interests -- the law, the court system, his home state of Mississippi, even baseball -- all together, Grisham has written his best legal thriller since 2003's "The King of Torts."

He seems particularly engaged here, and so was I.