PIC No. 119: Pails in Comparison (Sept. 2, 2026)
• Title: The Sound of Regret: A Novel
• Authors: Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson
• Publisher: Fox News Books (Aug. 26, 2026, 256 pages)
• Management Bucket #7 of 20: The People Bucket
Welcome to Issue No. 119 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.
About a year ago, I reviewed Trey Gowdy’s first novel—and I was hooked! Click here to read my review of The Color of Death, by Gowdy and Christopher Greyson.
No surprise, I even found at least 10 leadership and management lessons you could share around the water cooler or at staff meetings. And no spoiler alert: The Color of Death follows the setbacks and successes of an Assistant DA sleuthing for motive, means, and opportunity (MMO)—in a small town in South Carolina.
GOOD NEWS! Assistant DA Colm Truesdale survived and is back in The Sound of Regret. And no way—life is not simpler or easier in his next assignment. All the themes of MMO are alive and well—only more so. You’ll love Truesdale’s unfiltered thoughts (sometimes shared out loud and inappropriately with others):
“For goodness’ sake,” Truesdale mutters to himself, “why can’t cops talk like normal people? I get it—you used your ‘education and training’ just like they coach you to say at the academy. Do people ever just get out of cars or is it always exiting said motor vehicle?”
Spoiler alert! Imagine this: a very large Bible is collected as evidence at a crime scene. Is redemption close—or does the Bible distract us with a red herring? Or does motive, means, and opportunity (and a homicide) provide teachable spiritual lessons? Count on plenty of twists and turns in this fast-moving page-turner.
And yes…I found at least another 10 leadership and management lessons (and dozens of laugh-out-loud lines). Talking about law school:
“Constitutional Law was a difficult course no matter who taught it. A whole new vocabulary but no matter what words were chosen, the answer was always wrong. They called it the Socratic method. No wonder they put that guy to death.”
MORE GOOD NEWS. I enjoy viewing Trey Gowdy’s Sunday evening interviews and commentary. He’s humble, humorous, self-deprecating, and I like the way he thinks. So how did he get to be such a great observer of the human experience—and the ability to express it in writing?
• “His lifeless eyes stared up at heaven. Heaven didn’t appear to be staring back.”
• “There was something about going to high school with someone that made you feel connected for life.”
• “Judge John Cannon banged his gavel three times, which to lawyers translated to ‘Out. Of. Patience.’”
• “Dressed in a crisp, white shirt, blue tie, and open, gray suit jacket his lawyer no doubt bought for him at Goodwill before the trial…”
• “Why defense attorneys coach their clients to look at the jury is a mystery to me.”
• “Judge Cannon yelled while slamming his gavel so hard the handle finally separated from the head.”
And all of the above? That’s just Chapter One!
Warning! Start reading this—and you won’t put it down:
• 60 very short chapters (about four pages per chapter)
• An Assistant DA with EQ? Once again saying too much, out loud, Truesdale admonishes himself, “Dadgum, why do I have to add little digs at the end of everything?”
• Truesdale’s faith vs. his wife’s faith: “I’m not a religious person. Not formally, that is. Ally handled that for both of us. Not sure that counted, but that was my thinking. I hadn’t bothered God in a long time. I doubted today was the right day to start. But I was out of ideas and out of time.”
If you’re ready for one more “fun” book to read—before jumping back into that pile of other must-read books you’ve neglected—read this one. You’ll love it.
PAILS IN COMPARISON QUESTIONS:
Reading this book reminded me of the People Bucket, and other must-read books in the 20 Management Buckets organizing system.
[ ] The Color of Death: A Novel, by Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson (Read my review.)
[ ] Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade, by Trey Gowdy (Read my review.) Note: I named this my 2020 book-of-the-year.
[ ] The Seventh Key: Unlocking the Life God Created You to Live (A Novelette), by R. Scott Rodin (Read my review.)
[ ] The Temptation to Do Good, by Peter Drucker (one of two novels he wrote). Read my review.
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for The Sound of Regret: A Novel, by Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 29 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.
MORE RESOURCES:
• John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
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• Management Buckets website
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• John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)
NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.
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