Most depressing book you've ever read?

[Staph]

10. The Appeal by John Grisham

It tells the story of a chemical company gazillionaire who knows that he will soon be sued for the cancers caused by his company's carelessness in disposing of the chemicals that it produces. So the owner proceeds to buy himself a state Supreme Court justice, so that any verdict for the dead and dying will be overturned.

The book is a total downer. But worse yet, it's a close parallel (or perhaps a retelling) of a real situation in West Virginia, where coal baron Don Blankenship (of Massey Coal, the owners of many non-union coal mines, including the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 miners were killed in 2010) contributed $3 million in 2004 to elect his own West Virginia Supreme Court Justice, Brent Benjamin. Three years later, Benjamin was the deciding vote to overturn a $50 million jury verdict against Massey.

When I read the book, I kept waiting for the happy ending. I kept waiting for justice for the townsfolk who had their lives ruined by this uncaring corporation. I'm still waiting.