Crooked Politicians, Murder, Conspiracy Keep Readers on Campaign Trail
by Randall Murphree
August 21, 2006
(AgapePress) - - This debut legal thriller is far ahead of the rest of the class. Jerome Teel's plot and his people are equally strong in this fast-paced story that grabs the reader's attention and doesn't let go. The Election (Howard Books, 2006) centers around a presidential election campaign that includes scandal, conspiracy and murder. And the author is a natural at telling a gripping story. Teel practices law in Jackson, Tennessee, and he admits that John Grisham was his inspiration. "When I was in law school at the University of Mississippi, a new author spoke in one of my classes," Teel said in an exclusive interview. "His name was John Grisham, a fellow Ole Miss law school alum. As I listened to him speak, a seed was planted in me, and I set a goal to one day write a novel."
In addition to Grisham, Teel cites Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum among his favorite authors. He reads the leaders in the genre and no doubt learns from them, but Teel incorporates into his story a spiritual depth rarely found in secular novels. Among Christian novelists, Joel Rosenberg, who also writes political thrillers, is one of his favorites.
There's no telling how many lawyers across the nation, and especially across the Midsouth, have cited John Grisham as their role model and dreamed of following in his footsteps to fame and fortune in fiction. Unfortunately, Grisham would probably be embarrassed to read most of their mediocre efforts.
But this one, he would be proud of. Its unlikely hero is Jake Reed, a young lawyer who stumbles upon a diabolical plot that implicates a presidential candidate in a contract murder. Thus Reed finds himself overwhelmed in political intrigue that was far beyond his imagining.
Reed and his wife Rachel are rearing their three children in Jackson, Tennessee, where they enjoy a simple but busy lifestyle. Reed's youth and idealism make him a personable hero and at the same time a formidable foil for the novel's villainous politicians and their secret power-hungry backers.
It doesn't hurt that the young attorney is also a sucker for the underdog. His client Jed McClellan, charged with a crime he didn't commit, certainly fills the bill in this story.
Teel's writing style is easy reading, but the strong storylines quicken the pulse and keep the reader's interest. His character development is superb -- sometimes with directness, and other times with more subtlety. For example, he introduces one main player with these lines scattered over a couple of pages:
"Randolph Winston was from old East Coast money ...."
"The opulent conference room at Apollyon was dimly lit at Randolph's direction. He couldn't tolerate much light."
"'Send him up,' Randolph ordered."
Old money, opulence, preference for darkness, ordering people around -- makes us think we know the man well with just those few words.
The Election's fact-action plot and vividly drawn characters are undergirded by Teel's third strong element -- theme. There is a clear delineation between right and wrong. And even beyond that, Teel weaves into the rich tapestry of his story a powerful theme of conversion and redemption.
Teel says he was motivated to write fiction because he had a story he wanted to tell, and he chose Christian fiction because he "wanted to write a novel that I would be proud for my mother or my children to read."
He confesses that writing the book was the easy part; finding a publisher was an even greater challenge. Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, offered him a contract in late 2004. The Election is scheduled for release September 5.
Meanwhile, Teel is busy working on novel number two, which is tentatively titled The Divine Appointment. It focuses on a Christian president and his efforts to secure confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee.
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
