Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses alcoholism, suicide, and racism against Indigenous people.

Grisham uses Troy Phelan Sr. to generate the inciting incident that sets the plot in motion. By leaving his estate to a daughter that no one knew he had, he initiates the contest over his will and Nate’s search for Rachel. Thus, though he is only alive for the first two chapters of the novel, his presence looms large across the narrative.

Through Phelan’s first-person narrative, Grisham makes his cruelty apparent. Phelan does not try to mask that he is filled with hatred toward his family and servant, Snead. He lists his many business and financial successes, aware that they have made him miserable but unable to liberate himself from his attachment to them. His study of Zoroaster suggests an awareness of the need for spiritual fulfillment—connection to something beyond his material possessions—but it has not transformed his character in a substantial way.

His isolation is also conveyed through his contempt for his family. He shows no affection for anyone around him and is only tolerant of people whom he believes are not trying to extract anything from him. This initiates the theme of

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now