A Time to Kill: A Novel

• In this story, Grisham hits us with a subject that most might not like to discuss: child rape. Ten-year old Tonya Hailey is brutally raped and almost killed by two drunken rednecks; perhaps the saddest and hardest part to get through with the addition of little Tonya's dream of her father running to get her.
  
  After this horrid crime is committed, Tonya's father, Carl Lee exacts vengeance on the two rednecks, and kills them. He is put on trial, and lawyer Jake Brigance is introduced to us. He takes Carl Lee's case and must face his hated enemy, Rufus Buckley, in court. The days leading to the trial are filled with KKK threats, riots between blacks and the KKK, and several other chills and spills.
  
  Finally, the trial comes and the small town of Clanton, where the trial is held, is occupated by journalists, soldiers, KKK members, and thousands of blacks, as they all wait for the verdict on the edge of their seats....

• A Time To Kill, by John Grisham, is the story of a black man whose young daughter was brutally raped by two white, southern "rednecks". This book dramatically shows the reality of the racism that is evident in the South, even today.
  
  Carl Lee, the father of the young girl, is a black Vietnam War Veteran. He lives in Mississippi with his wife and children. One afternoon when Carl's young daughter, Tanya, was walking home, she was abducted by the two rednecks, beaten and brutally raped.
  
  The men were brought to trial. The jury, the witnesses, the judge were all white. Carl, expecting a verdict of not guilty, went to the courthouse armed to take his own revenge. After shooting the men he is arrested for murder and held for trial.
  
  During the trial scene's you could feel the emotions of the people in the courtroom, the anger, the sadness, and the helplessness. Whatever the emotion it could be felt.
  
  Carl's bold act of revenge and the trial kept me reading and trying to anticipate what the outcome would be. This book took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I could only imagine the anger and helplessness that Carl must have felt having his daughter violated in such a brutal way.
  
  This was a brilliantly written book that I would recommend to all readers.
  

The Testament

• Seventy-eight-year-old, three times married, three times divorced eccentric bazillionaire Troy Phelan takes his own life by taking a flying leap from a tall building in front of witnesses, but as he considers his brood of six offspring little more than parasites, he leaves his eleven billion dollar fortune to a woman named Rachel Lane, his illigitamate daughter. Josh, Phelan's, attorney and friend has to track down Rachel, not an easy task as Rachel is a missionary working with remote tribes somewhere in Brazil.
  
  Josh tasks one of his firm's best litigations lawyers, Nate O'Riley to find Rachel and deliver the news. O'Riley seems like the perfect choice for Josh as the man has been in and out of rehab and the firm is having a hard time dealing with him. This could be just the thing to help him get his life back together, plus it will give the firm time to figure out just what to do with him.
  
  However, even as O'Riley sets out for Brazil to track down Rachel, Phalen's six legitimate children decide to contest the will and they'll go to any lengths to prove that old Troy Phelen was out of his ever-loving mind when he did his Superman impression and left that crazy will.
  
  This is a typical John Grisham story. Lots of action. Lots of suspense. And the description of the Amazon river and Nate's quest are spine-tingling. Plus there is a scene that will have you never, ever wanting to go to a third world hospital in the back jungles of nowhere. Brrr. This is one fine book, one I couldn't put down.
  

• In "The Testament", we have an obscenely wealthy businessman committing suicide after devising the perfect plan to vengefully deprive a flock of vulture-like heirs from inheriting his $11 billion estate. Rather, he leaves it all to an illegitimate daughter working as a missionary to the Indians in the remote outback of Brazil. Our hero, Nate, is a burned-out lawyer just out of alcohol rehab sent to find the will's sole beneficiary.
  
  Even though she doesn't want the money, he returns to the States to defend her interests against those of the money-desperate ex-heirs and their just-as-greedy lawyers, probably the largest school of razor-toothed sharks ever encountered in a single volume.
  
  Suffice it to say that Nate is one of the most appealing characters conjured by Grisham in a long time. By the end of the book, he finds professional, spiritual and emotional redemption stemming from his surprisingly brief encounter with Rachel, the elusive missionary daughter, and a somewhat longer bout with dengue fever. That, in itself, makes this story worth reading. The fact that the truly avaricious get their comeuppance is frosting on the cake. A delicious read!
  

The Client

• This book is incredibly well written and the plot is riveting. Mark Sway is an 11 year old boy who is out teaching his brother how to smoke. While out the boys meet the lawyer of Barry "The Blade" Muldano.
  
  Mark's life is forever changed as he learns the most sought after secret in the U.S. Now Mark's brother is in the hospital in shock, and the F.B.I. and the mafia are on his tail. The only other person that Mark can trust and that knows his secret is Reggie Love. A 4 year lawyer who specializes in child law. Reggie is coming off a bought with depression and the loss of both her children to a nasty divorce.
  
  Now the race is own as Reggie attempts to protect her new client from the F.B.I. and his life from the mob. The clock is ticking.
  
  Can Reggie save the day and keep Mark safe. The plot of this book is well developed and the detail is exquisite. This is one of Grisham's best and I have read them all. I could not put the book down and if you like Grisham books or suspense neither will you.

• Mark Sway and his brother Rickey have snuck into the woods behind the trailer park where they live in North Memphis.
  
  Here they discover W.Jerome Clifford.Clifford is trying to commit suicide by using a hose on his exhaust pipe and putting the hose into the car and the exhaust will kill him.Mark keeps disconnecting the hose.
  
  Clifford finally catches Mark.He puts him in his car and reveals a secret that will make Mark the center of attention in a huge criminal investigation.
  
  He tells Mark that he is a lawyer who represents Barry(the blade)Muldanno who is under indictment for murdering U.S. Senator Boyd Boyette.
  
  Clifford also tells Mark where the body is buried.Clifford is finally able to commit suicide.Mark's brother Rickey goes into shock and has to be hospitalized.
  
  After the suicide Mark is pursued by everyone.The U.S. Attorney Roy Foltrigg wants to make him talk.The F.B.I. wants him to talk.Mark hires an attorney,Reggie Love to protect him.Several attempts by Foltrigg are made to force Mark to talk.
  
  The New Orleans make several attempts to scare Mark into not talikng.Mark is actually jailed for refusing to divulge information by Juvenile Harry Roosevelt.In the meantime it is up to Reggie Love to protect Mark from the Mafia and the legal system.This turned out to be ab excellent book.The ending is also outstanding.Read this.
  

The Appeal

• "The Appeal." Grisham's first legal thriller since the Broker (2005) is a gripping and compelling read that will be hard to put down. It is also timely since it highlights the underbelly of today's election politics.
  
  The story centers on a small Mississippi law firm who wins a big verdict over a chemical giant, Krane, that has spread carcinogenic pollutants. Krane, fearful that this verdict, if not overturned, would set a precedent that would eventually destroy it, goes into action.
  
  It files an appeal that will find its way to the state supreme court, and hires a "dirty tricks" firm to unseat a sitting justice believe to be unfriendly. This is a viable strategy since Mississippi elects their Supreme Court justices and 69% of its voters know little about the court's candidates.
  
  The "Appeal" provides a believable primer on how to rig an election - pick a victim; promote an unknown candidate with no visible record; and ambush the victim by painting him/her as a extreme ideologue (this liberal judge will destroy the family). Done well...and the election process is subverted.

• In this book (I wouldn't call it a novel) Grisham exposes the nexus between big business, politics and the law. While these have always been recurring themes in his books, this time in "The Appeal" it is the sole focus of the book.
  
  The book starts with a chemical and environmental pollution case in small town Bowmore, Mississippi, now nicknamed Cancer County, where Krane Chemical is the accused and Jeanette Baker the plaintiff.
  
  Jeanette has lost both her husband and son to cancer. This makes hers the strongest case to start with for her lawyers - Wes and Mary Payton.
  
  There are plenty of mass tort specialists and ambulance chasers waiting in the wings for the decision on this case, so they can all get themselves a piece of the pie (30% to the lawyers) while the Paytons themselves are over 400,000$ in debt by virtue of working and following up on this case (to the exclusion of all others).
  
  The jury orders damages of 41 million dollars to be paid to Jeanette and here is where the plot actually takes off.
  
  It is an intriguing ride that Grisham takes us on and is an excellent medium to learn how the Supreme Courts in the US work. Most states choose their Supreme Court justices by election, which leaves plenty of room for interested parties to skew the process. How that happens, is the meat of this book.
  

• Mary Grace and Tom Payton are a husband and wife legal team and for years they've been representing a woman in Bowmore, Mississippi who lost both her husband and child to cancer which was supposedly caused by Krane Chemical's deliberate chemical spills into the town's water supply. The cancer rate in Bowmore is fifteen times the national average, everyone in town drinks bottled water, even the public pool has been closed.
  
  On the face of it one would think the case was open and shut and that Krane Chemical should settle and be down with it, but the chemical company is a subsidiary of a conglomerate which is run by Carl Trudeau and he's just not the settling kind. There is nothing nice, good or even remotely likable about Trudeau. He's a corporate insider who buy and spits out companies like licorice.
  
  Wes and Mary Grace have been working the case for years, taking on everything Trudeau throws at them. They've gone the extra mile for the cause, they've had to let other clients go, they've sold their house, they lives have become this case. They believe in their client, in what they're doing, but when they win, Trudeau's attorneys are not worried, because they believe they'll win on Appeal.
  
  Trudeau will stop at nothing, the Payton's are determined and there you have the setup for this might versus right, good versus evil story that will keep you glued to your chair, eyes pinned to the pages, heart pounding as you pour through this story. Nobody does suspense and intrigue the way John Grisham does.
  

The Associate

• I've been a big fan of John Grisham books. Always looked forward to each and every new book he's put out. Even enjoy going back and reading some of those written long ago (i.e. The Firm). After reading the description for this book, I pre-ordered it, and eagerly waited for its release and arrival.
  
  Once I got into the book, it was really hard to put down. The overall plot is about a law student, named Kyle, who is blackmailed into taking a job offer at the largest law firm and supplying secret information about a high profile case to the blackmailers. The book was very well paced, and kept me wanting to keep reading.
  
  As I neared the end of the book, I was very curious to see how he'd finish it up in so few remaining pages. Unfortunately, like others, I was also disappointed. The book just ended with so many questions (reminds me of some Without a Trace episodes). I wonder if Kyle will get killed? What about the blackmailers?
  

• We've come to regularly expect an interesting, rewarding novel dealing with the legal profession from John Grisham. The Associate is no exception. The reader is treated to a look at the protagonist's course of three years of law school, the honor of being editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Review, the dilemma of choosing between an idealistic post-graduate course or a highly-paid Wall Street law firm position, a cursory look at the rigors of the New York Bar Exam and the daily (and nightly) grind of a first-year associate at the "world's top law firm." All through the eyes of Kyle McEvoy.
  
  Although Kyle plans to join a small Virginia public interest firm after graduation, he is blackmailed into accepting a proffered associate position with a top Wall Street law firm because of a youthful indiscretion (along with his three roommates) while in college. The purpose is to place him in a position to steal and deliver sensitive information regarding a law suit filed by a client so the defendant can better counter the legal action. The question, of course, is how Kyle can escape violating the Code of Ethics and other moral and legal duties.
  
  All this makes for an interesting, and even, exciting plot. What isn't answered is just who is the "handler" forcing Kyle to betray everything he believes in. Kyle does come up with a half-brained theory which just doesn't ring true: that he is some government spy. Unfortunately, no matter what we believe, it is a little far-fetched, especially when Kyle accuses him of murdering one of his roommates.