Listen, the ending didn't make a lick of sense, but While Justice Sleeps was gripping enough to carry me through a night of driving in a thick snowstorm in the mountains without losing my mind. Thirty-five on the interstate in the only lane that's even remotely clear, trying to stay in the tracks of the long-haul truckers forging a way through the snow (and avoid the pitfalls of the trucks that have run off the road into the trees, jackknifed in the ditch, etc)... and something something about a shitty Supreme Court justice with a terrible life and terrible plans, and the clerk who has to clean up after him. It was an experience!
Okay, so my tension may have colored my impression of the story. That said, I was unable to ignore some of the plot weirdness, and wasn't super impressed with the twists and turns of the mystery. I admit I didn't follow the plot the entire time. Maybe the ending does make sense! But the chess-based clues, the weird illness with a genetic cure, the idea that Supreme Court justices are, at heart, decent people who care about justice not politics... come on.
Pairs well with the podcast Five To Four, and 4/5 stars for Stacey Abrams--she should be the governor of Georgia and that crook who stole the election should be in prison.