The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

Genre: Legal Fiction 
Released: 1998
449 pages

About the Book:

Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.

But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer. And a thief.

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐

Starts out with a hostage situation where Michael is held hostage with 8 other lawyers at the large firm. This experience changes his perspective on his life and job. As he seeks out answers to what led to this situation he ends up connecting with a lawyer for the homeless. His life begins to drastically change as this experience has made him rethink a lot of things. There is one heartbreaking situation that happens, that really makes a profound impact on Michael. A battle between the big money guys and those working with homeless ensues. I found some parts of the story that dragged a bit and could become repetitive. I did like the way it case ended, but the last scene frustrated me as there was no need for that to be included. There is a little bit of language, but overall it was a pretty clean read.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:  

   

The Broker

The Litigators

The Innocent Man

The Runaway Jury

The Summons

The Testament

The Whistler

Bleachers

Playing for Pizza

 

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Dell
Released: September 24, 2007
258 pages

About the Book:

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.

But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback–for the mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy.

Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player–any former NFL player–at their helm. So Rick reluctantly agrees to play for the Panthers–at least until a better offer comes along–and heads off to Italy. He knows nothing about Parma, has never been to Europe, and doesn’t speak or understand a word of Italian. To say that Italy holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I should have dnf'd this book. It started out alright but around the 60% mark it began to include descriptions of characters sleeping together and swearing. We are following Rick a NFL quarterback who has struggled in the NFL and goes over to Italy to play in their football league. There are a lot of descriptions about Italian food and cars, and obviously football. We do see Rick begin to expand his horizon and care about people other than himself, but not a whole lot and the ending was very abrupt with no real conclusion of what Rick decides to do beyond the next few weeks.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:  

   

The Broker

The Litigators

The Innocent Man

The Runaway Jury

The Summons

The Testament

The Whistler

Bleachers

 

The Broker by John Grisham (Review)

Genre: General Fiction 
Released: January 11, 2005
419 pages

About the Book:

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison.

What no one knows is that the President issued the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive, there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I listened to this on audiobook and I am so glad I did. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I had read it physically. We are following Joel Backman who has just been pardoned from prison and transported from America to Italy with a handler. He appears to be in a witness protection type program and is working with a language tutors to learn Italian. He doesn't understand why he has been brought to Italy and is suspicious of those around him. For a lot of the book we are following Joel learn the Italian language and explore the city of Bologna. But we also get snippets from others that shows us that Joel is in danger. I did not fully comprehend what exactly sent Joel to prison in the first place, why he was pardoned and all the political stuff that was happening, but I was intrigued to see what would happen with Joel. I was impressed with the way he was able to learn the language, outsmart those around him at times, and figure out how to survive with few resources. Does Joel survive in end?

There is some violence, a few swear words and sexual innuendo mentioned, but nothing that made me feel conformable.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:  

   

The Litigators

The Innocent Man

The Runaway Jury

The Summons

The Testament

The Whistler

Bleachers

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham (Review)

Genre: Legal Fiction 
Released: 1996
550 pages

About the Book:

Every jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to him. In Biloxi, Mississippi, a landmark tobacco trial with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake begins routinely, then swerves mysteriously off course.

The jury is behaving strangely, and at least one juror is convinced he's being watched. Soon they have to be sequestered. Then a tip from an anonymous young woman suggests she is able to predict the jurors' increasingly odd behavior.

Is the jury somehow being manipulated, or even controlled? If so, by whom? And, more importantly, why?

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐

There was really no one to root for. We are following a tobacco trial with a jury consultant who is trying to set up the jury in their favor and then a member of the jury who is trying to sway jury votes their way. The lengths that both parties go to are underhanded and manipulating. We don't really know the motive of one character's until pretty much the end. It has a political feel with the tobacco trial, tobacco is addictive and hazardous to health, but is the tobacco company at fault if people don't quit. The middle was a bit slow and a but boring at times, but the last 100 pages had me fully invested to know how the case wrapped and what happened with the jury. This book was written in the late 90s and it hasn't really aged well as some things are a bit dated. There were some descriptions included about personal visits for the jury members that I don't think were needed or added to the story. In addition to these scenes, there is a bit of language that does not make this a clean read.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:  

   

The Litigators

The Innocent Man

The Summons

The Testament

The Whistler

Bleachers

The Summons by John Grisham (Review)

Genre: Legal Fiction
Publisher: Dell 
Released: Feb. 5, 2002
373 pages

About the Book:

Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's forty-three, newly single, and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. He has a younger brother, Forrest, who redefines the notion of a family's black sheep.
And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench, the Judge has withdrawn to the Atlee mansion and become a recluse.
With the end in sight, Judge Atlee issues a summons for both sons to return home to Clanton, to discuss the details of his estate. It is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study.
Ray reluctantly heads south, to his hometown, to the place where he grew up, which he prefers now to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray. And perhaps someone else.

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Story starts a bit slow, but once I got to know the character of Ray and he finds the money that's not referenced in the will, I was intrigued. Where did the money come from, and who knows about it? Ray appears to want to do the right thing and doesn't know who to trust. His brother has been on a path of destruction for years, and the family lawyer can only provide so much insight. Ray's quest to find the source of the money leads him on a few paths with few answers. As the days pass, he gets very little rest, and the situation becomes more and more dangerous. How will Ray react, and can he figure out who is behind the events happening? It wasn't until the end that I started suspecting the person who turned out to be responsible. I enjoyed this read, and the twists kept me invested. FYI, there is a bit of language in this book, but nothing that made me uncomfortable.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other books from this author that I have reviewed:  

   

The Litigators

The Innocent Man

The Testament

The Whistler

Bleachers