Troy Phelan is an eccentric old man worth 11 billion dollars who is planning to commit suicide. His three ex-wives and 6 children have proved time and again that they do not deserve to inherit that kind of money and whenever they were given any money it was all wasted in a few days.
The title refers to the last will (or testament) that Troy prepares. In it, he leaves all his money to his illegitimate daughter Rachel Lane, who is now a missionary in the remote jungles of Brazil. The other heirs immediately go to court to get their share of the money.
Nate O'Riley, an alcoholic lawyer just out of rehab is sent by Troy's lawyers to find Rachel. His journey through the jungles to locate Rachel forms the major portion of the story.
The last two Grisham books I'd read were completely different from his usual legal dramas and I liked them very much. This book lies somewhere in between, there are plenty of lawyers around and there is some courtroom drama, but there also is some element of an adventure story. Alternate chapters deal with Nate's adventures in Brazil and the legal battle that rages on in Washington.
The plot was interesting, and the ending was quite unexpected. Grisham did a good job balancing the adventure story with the legal drama. The courtroom scenes too were well done -- especially Nate tearing apart the bad guys in the witness stand.
The story seemed to drag a little bit in the portion set in Brazil. For a book that spends such a long time describing the natural beauty of the Pantanal region of Brazil, very little is said about the culture of the natives living there.
I liked the character Nate O'Riley -- alcoholic, drug abuse, twice divorced, a bad father, tax evader -- in spite of all his flaws, he was likeable. As for the other characters, there isn't much to say... very little time is devoted to developing other characters.
Overall, it was a good book. A little bit slow at times, but the ending came as a surprise. It's worth a read if you like Grisham's legal thrillers.
Rating. 7/10.
Showing posts with label John Grisham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Grisham. Show all posts
Review: Bleachers (John Grisham)
Bleachers is about a high school football team (American football, of course). Eddie Rake, the legendary coach of the Messina High School football team is now dying. Rake was responsible for transforming the team into an unbeatable unit during his 34 year reign as coach. Neely Crenshaw, one of the best players to have played on the team, and his old teammates gather at the football stadium and talk about the days when they played on the Messina Spartans team as they wait for Rake's death.
The team's less than cordial relationship with the coach forms the central theme of the book. As they talk about their days on the team, most of the players are unable to make up their minds about whether they loved their coach or hated him. Eddie Rake never makes an appearance in the novel and yet Grisham paints his character vividly through the conversations of the players.
Some time ago, when I reviewed Grisham's book, The Brethren, I mentioned that he would be better off writing his usual courtroom dramas. However, now that I've read Bleachers, I have to take back my words. The whole book revolves the team's reminiscences and almost nothing else, yet it managed to keep me interested throughout. I liked this book and if Grisham keeps on writing books like this, I won't miss those legal thrillers all that much.
Rating: 7/10
The team's less than cordial relationship with the coach forms the central theme of the book. As they talk about their days on the team, most of the players are unable to make up their minds about whether they loved their coach or hated him. Eddie Rake never makes an appearance in the novel and yet Grisham paints his character vividly through the conversations of the players.
Some time ago, when I reviewed Grisham's book, The Brethren, I mentioned that he would be better off writing his usual courtroom dramas. However, now that I've read Bleachers, I have to take back my words. The whole book revolves the team's reminiscences and almost nothing else, yet it managed to keep me interested throughout. I liked this book and if Grisham keeps on writing books like this, I won't miss those legal thrillers all that much.
Rating: 7/10
Review: The Brethren (John Grisham)
This is probably the first time that a John Grisham novel has failed to impress me. It's not actually a bad story, but it's not really as good as the rest of the Grisham novels I've read.
The plot of this book -- at least to me -- feels quite unrealistic. Three judges in a minimum security prison convicted of various offenses doling out justice within the prison?! And at the same time running a mail scam without being caught? The CIA selecting a man to run for President and then flooding him with campaign funds? And the Director of CIA himself working on the election ads!? You'd think the CIA had nothing better to do!
Grisham drags you through nearly a third of the book with two seemingly unrelated plots before you start seeing the connection. Then he ups the pace a little bit, but still I found this a very, very average book.
The book is different from the normal John Grisham books -- there's very little of legal jargon here, none of the courtroom battles or the "lawyer-hero fighting against all odds to save his innocent client" type stuff. This is my seventh Grisham book and I think this is the farthest he has ever ventured from his legal thrillers, and maybe he deserves a pat on the back for trying to explore a different genre. But give me the choice and I'll pick the courtroom drama any day.
My rating : 5/10.