Professional book critics usually squirm uncomfortably in their reviews when author John Grisham gets out of the more familiar mold of legal thrillers with unexpected plot twists or more gothic looks at a South that is evolving on questions of race, equality or social justice. His novellas that center on sports often engender particular angst in that crowd. But as one who has followed Grishamâs remarkable career since âA Time to Killâ was published in 1989, the truth is that in many ways, I enjoy those nuanced, often-surprising paeans to sports more than the legal thrillers that are the sturdy foundation of the literary House That Grisham Built.