Doubleday to Publish New John Grisham Thriller, THE FRENCH ILLUSION
Photo Credit: Ana Murphy
Doubleday will publish John Grisham’s new international thriller, THE FRENCH ILLUSION, on September 29, 2026. The announcement was made on March 12, 2026 by Grisham’s publisher, Suzanne Herz, and U.S. rights were acquired from David Gernert at The Gernert Company. The book will be published in hardcover and as an ebook, and in audio by Penguin Random House with Michael Beck returning to narrate. An announced first printing of 1,500,000 copies has been set, and Hodder and Stoughton will publish simultaneously in the UK.
Grisham says, “When I’m not reading legal thrillers, I enjoy espionage and spy stories. As a writer, I have been influenced by Ken Follett, John Le Carre, Robert Ludlum and Len Deighton. Many of the elements that make legal thrillers compelling – high stakes, hidden motives, intricate plots, and shady characters – also propel the best espionage fiction. THE FRENCH ILLUSION is my first attempt to follow the craftsmanship of some of the great international suspense novelists.”
About THE FRENCH ILLUSION:
#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham delivers a gripping, suspenseful page-turner about a Paris honeymoon gone horribly wrong—and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them, and why? It turns out this is not the first crime of its kind.
The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French Intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation. Propulsive and surprising, THE FRENCH ILLUSION is an unmistakable Grisham thrill ride—gripping and impossible to put down.
John Grisham Announced the News on CBS Mornings:
Some Grisham Statistics:
- Grisham has had 52 consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers
- 35th anniversary of THE FIRM
- Over 500 million copies sold worldwide
- Translated in nearly 50 languages
- Grisham’s most recent novel, THE WIDOW, has been on the bestseller lists for nearly five months with over 1.2 million copies sold thus far
About John Grisham:
John Grisham is the author of more than fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include THE WIDOW, FRAMED, and CAMINO GHOSTS. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. John lives on a farm in central Virginia.