Delightful novella, thought provoking, warm fuzzy ending...

Certainly a departure from the "normal" Grisham fare, this nice little Christmas story, easily read in an hour and a half, has a little more substance than we expected. It's about a stereotypical suburban couple, the Kranks (which for a while we thought was a pun), who make the brash decision to forego Christmas in all of its trappings -- gift exchanges, office parties, house lights and adornments, card sending, tree decorations, etc, etc -- and instead spend far less money to cruise the Caribbean for 10 days. The pressure from the neighbors, office staff, friends, traditional "gift" receivers like the firemen and such, is so enormous they almost buckle, but their steadfast hold on their decision for the first half of the book gives more than ample pause to examine the familiar traps we may similarly have fallen into ourselves.

Then an unexpected development with their daughter, supposedly in the Peace Corps in Peru and out of sight for at least a year, plays havoc with their plans. The outcome and resolution is hilarious at first, then somewhat heartwarming, to put quite a twist on a story one was hardly sure of its direction.

We thought it to be a highly entertaining book and quite a nice change of pace for Mr. Grisham who seems to (ala "A Painted House") want to expand away from his normal stomping grounds. We imagine he sold a bazillion of these books, but if you missed it somehow, it's a fine read and would itself make a nice holiday gift!

{Update -- and the Tim Allen / Jamie Lee Curtis 2004 movie "Christmas with the Kranks" a later but fun adaptation!}