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The Pelican Brief

by John Grisham (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 158,311 ratings · 1,196 reviews

In suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisperon the front floor of a posh home... In a seedyD.C. porno house a patron is swiftlygarroted to death... The next day America learnsthat two of its Supreme Court justices have beenassassinated. And in New Orleans, a young lawstudent prepares a legal brief... To Darby Shaw it wasno more than a legal shot in the dark, a brillia...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published April 25th 2006 by Delta (first published 1992)

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Mar 26, 2008 Cathie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, read-and-loved, mystery

I worked at a law firm where part of the movie was filmed. When Julia Roberts's character goes into a law firm to ask for a particular lawyer only to find out that he no longer works there and she leaves, that is my old firm. It is an ornate marble lobby with a small stream of water in the middle of the lobby. She goes through a glass door and can either go up an escalator or up some stairs to the reception desk, which overlooks the lobby. The walls are all glass and she can see across the floor...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Kiersten rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a lot more suspenseful and entertaining than I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought it would be so boring, since John Grisham is so popular. It was incredibly suspenseful at parts. It was the first book I'd read by Grisham, so I really didn't know what was coming. I had three problems with it: 1) Although, like I said, the book as a whole was really suspenseful, I thought the end was a bit anticlimatic. 2) The environmentalism was a bit heavy handed. I'm all about preser...more

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Oct 17, 2008 Tom Barnes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Washington wakes up to the gruesome news that two members of the Supreme Court have been murdered overnight. The shocking part was in their diversity. The old, should have retired years ago, Democrat Justice Rosenberg and the younger Republican Justice Jensen. The fact that they were almost always on opposite sides of any issue left law enforcement with no clear political motive. The only clues left behind seemed to be ones of the killer’s choosing. A nylon cord used to garrote Jensen as he sat...more

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May 29, 2013 Luke Bunker rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2013, ibooks, fiction

This is my kind of book! This isn't the traditional legal procedural I've come to expect from Grisham, but it's one of his earliest and one of his best that I've read so far. I loved the interplay between Washington politics, New Orleans sleuthing, and a heavy touch of my more favorite genres, the espionage thriller. Loved it!

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Jun 16, 2013 Red Heaven rated it 3 of 5 stars

John Grisham is to novels as Kevin Costner is to movies: vaguely attractive, but also quite bland. This book is a prime example. After a great start, it becomes a slog to read while nothing much happens. Darby Shaw needed to team up (in person) with Gray Grantham as soon as her life was in danger. Instead she's hanging around New Orleans making a bunch of phone calls.

I really feel there is not enough story here for a 400 page novel, and so there is a lot of unnecessary padding. The heroes questi...more

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Apr 14, 2013 VaultOfBooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

By John Grisham. Grade: B+
In suburban Georgetown, a killer’s reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home…
In a seedy D.C. porno house, a patron is swiftly garrotted to death…
The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief… To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a mur...more By John Grisham. Grade: B+
In suburban Georgetown, a killer’s reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home…
In a seedy D.C. porno house, a patron is swiftly garrotted to death…
The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief… To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder – a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust – an ambitious reporter after a reporter hotter than Watergate – to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctum, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.
More than legal fiction, this is espionage. This novel reminded me of a Robert Ludlum novel – the fast paced chases, the convoluted scheming and plotting of the men behind the curtain, the atypical double-crossing – high-octane spy stuff, with a hint of legality – the John Grisham touch.

The plot is about the high-profile killing of two Supreme Court Justices –so silent and untraceable that even the FBI has no clue about it. One of the Justices killed was the legendary hero of constitutional law, which snowballed into the leading lady, Darby Shaw looking into the matter. Darby Shaw began digging up, made an innocuous brief of what could have possibly happened and that brief, via various channels, reaches the FBI – the ripple effect at its best. Suddenly, the world around Darby Shaw begins to crumble with a shattering explosion killing the man she loves, an explosion meant to kill her as well. Darby Shaw begins seeing people following her all over the place and she realizes she is part of something bigger, much bigger than she could possibly imagine. What happens as Darby fights against the odds, flirting with death while romancing with whatever life she has left, trying to get the people responsible to justice – read The Pelican Brief to find out.

The writing is not characteristic of John Grisham – there is nothing law-like about the novel except for the backdrop. The more I read, the more I felt like I was reading a spy novel – something which is not very John Grisham. The Pelican Brief is good only if you ignore the writer’s name on the book, only if you allow the author breathing space to experiment with his characteristic writing style. The book had flair – the chases, the conspiracy, the characterization The plot is the kind which grows on you gradually – the very subtle, inconspicuous mention of the pelican brief, the slow unravelling of the plot, the build-up – it’s as if the plot is almost lulling you into it.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the one thing about The Pelican Brief is that it has no unexpected turns – something very uncharacteristic of a thriller novel. Every turn, every pawn, every move was in sync with the previous one. As a result, the novel proceeded like a plateau – not plot-wise but event-wise Unfortunately, because there were no highs, not even in the chases and fortunately, because there were no lows as well. This could probably be attributed to the fact that John Grisham has not tried his hand much at such novels.

Technical features aside, The Pelican Brief is a good attempt at a cut-and-dried thriller novel but lost its sheen because of the name on the cover of the book.

Originally reviewed at http://vaultofbooks.com/(less)

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Apr 11, 2013 Nabil Dabbagh rated it 5 of 5 stars

I expected nothing but greatness from Grisham, and he didn't let me down (though that doesn't mean I don't have some small critiques).

Though The Pelican Brief was filled with suspense, the beginning to mid section of the novel did feel a little slow, but as the chapters go the book started sticking to my hands. (NOTE: Do not -- I repeat -- do not, read the last 5-7 chapters before going to bed. Give yourself enough time. I made the mistake to start reading the end at 11:30pm and didn't put the b...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Bhagirath N rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's the first John Grisham novel that I have read and have to say that it was pretty good read. Practicing law himself, Grisham covers the order of events of a law firm conscientiously.

The plot is mainly set up in three states: New Orleans, Washington D.C. and Louisiana.
The story begins with the mysterious death of 2 justices (both of whom receive death threats from at least 30 different groups as is the case with other 8 justices of the Supreme Court). The protagonist then writes a brief whi...more It's the first John Grisham novel that I have read and have to say that it was pretty good read. Practicing law himself, Grisham covers the order of events of a law firm conscientiously.

The plot is mainly set up in three states: New Orleans, Washington D.C. and Louisiana.
The story begins with the mysterious death of 2 justices (both of whom receive death threats from at least 30 different groups as is the case with other 8 justices of the Supreme Court). The protagonist then writes a brief which has her version of who's behind the assassinations. Falling into the wrong hands it almost kills her and certainly kills many other innocents (both close to her or even vaguely knows her).
Then there is this ambitious reporter, another protagonist of sorts, who has these "sources" always giving him right information at the right time. He gets an unknown call from a very terrified lawyer who says he knows who's behind the assassinations of the justices but was too afraid to spill. One day he wishes not to tell anything to anyone and leave it at that (ultimately gets killed). The protagonist also decides to tell the reporter about the brief. Then starts the extremely dramatic adventure of both the protagonists to solve this murder mystery.

The characterization, frankly, could have been much better.
The protagonist, Darby Shaw, an early twenties teen dating her con-law professor, is shown as this profound, smart and top-ranking law student who is also extremely beautiful. And indeed she was smart. But during the course of the story you find her annoying at times.

The killer is shown as a fastidious and extremely skillful assassin who in the course of the story gets killed in a rather silly way.

As for the second protagonist he is sketched as this typical reporter who is waiting to prey on this big story, a story which proves to be even bigger than the "watergate".

Although nothing unrealistic is shown you,at times, feel that "oh common, serioulsy??" thing.

On the whole the story is a genuine page-turner and though there's no twist in the tail, the story proceeds at a very fast pace and there is a lot of drama in each page. And even though a period of mere 7 days has been penned down in around 200 pages almost half of the book the story keeps you glued.

I guess it's a perfect weekender for those avid readers out there who wish pass their time reading a novel sipping a latte (at a coffee shop or at home). (less)

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Jan 25, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

The story begins with the dual assassination of two ideologically divergent Supreme Court Justices. Justice Rosenberg, a liberal, is killed at his home while the conservative Justice Jensen is killed inside a gay porn movie theater in Washington. The circumstances surrounding their deaths, as well as the deaths themselves, shock and confuse a politically divided nation.

Darby Shaw, a Tulane University Law School student, conducts research on Rosenberg and Jensen's records, as well as cases pendin...more The story begins with the dual assassination of two ideologically divergent Supreme Court Justices. Justice Rosenberg, a liberal, is killed at his home while the conservative Justice Jensen is killed inside a gay porn movie theater in Washington. The circumstances surrounding their deaths, as well as the deaths themselves, shock and confuse a politically divided nation.

Darby Shaw, a Tulane University Law School student, conducts research on Rosenberg and Jensen's records, as well as cases pending before the Supreme Court. Shaw suspects that the real motive might be simple greed, not politics, and writes a legal brief speculating that the assassinations were committed on behalf of Victor Mattiece, an oil tycoon who seeks to drill on Louisiana marshland which is a major habitat of an endangered species of pelican. A court case on appeal, filed on Mattiece's behalf to gain access to the land, is expected to make its way to the Supreme Court.

The two slain justices had a history of environmentalism — their only common view — and thus Darby surmises that Mattiece, who has a pre-existing business relationship with the president of the United States, hoped to turn the case in his favor by eliminating them, thus leaving the president in a position to appoint new justices more likely to rule in his favor. Darby shows the brief, which becomes known as the "Pelican Brief" to Thomas Callahan, her law professor and lover. Callahan shows it to an FBI lawyer, Gavin Verheek. Both Callahan and Verheek are killed soon after.

Afraid that she will become the next target, Darby goes on the run. She tries to hide by taking on some disguises, but nearly gets killed. Eventually, she contacts Gray Grantham, a reporter for The Washington Post. Grantham believes her story and sets out to help her prove that the Pelican Brief is correct. Meanwhile, the president and his Chief of Staff, Fletcher Coal, try to cover up the White House's connection to Mattiece. The FBI looks to Darby into protective custody in order to verify her story.

Eventually, Grantham obtains videotaped testimony from an anonymous lawyer who calls himself "Garcia", as well as a document that points to involvement by Garcia's law firm which worked for Mattiece. With this evidence, Grantham and Darby approach the Post's chief editor. The story prominently appears in the next edition. FBI chief Denton Voyles is ecstatic and shows up at Coal's residence early in the morning to confront him. Darby settles on an island in the Caribbean and is joined by Grantham, who agrees to stay for at least a month.
(less)

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Oct 30, 2012 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I recently re-read The Pelican Brief. Also known as John Grisham’s love letter to Julia Roberts. (He wrote the character of Darby Shaw with Julia Roberts in mind). Did he write the character of Gray Grantham with Denzel Washington in mind? Methinks probably not.

You probably know the plot - two Supreme Court justices get knocked off. A Tulane University student named Darby Shaw comes up with a theory as to who is responsible for the killings. She's spot on, and has to go on the run to save her ow...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Nikole rated it 4 of 5 stars

When two Supreme Court Justices are assassinated just mere hours apart, the U.S. Government is at a loss to find the culprit.

In New Orleans, a second year law student decides to do some investigating of her own. Three days later, the Pelican Brief is born. It makes it's way to D.C. and soon after the law student finds herself running for her life. She trusts no one, except an investigative journalist from the Washington Post.

I've read some really great John Grisham novels (The Last Juror) and I'...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Remi Immler rated it 3 of 5 stars

It all started out when two Supreme court judges have been assassinated. The names were Rosenberg and Jenson. Why were they killed? The police have yet to find a connection between the two shocking murders. One of the judges, Rosenberg was going to be dead anyway due to natural causes in an upcoming time. Judge Jenson on the other hand, was liked by most people. Will the FBI ever find the killer. The President and associates have now been under an immense amount of stress from the deaths. As th...more It all started out when two Supreme court judges have been assassinated. The names were Rosenberg and Jenson. Why were they killed? The police have yet to find a connection between the two shocking murders. One of the judges, Rosenberg was going to be dead anyway due to natural causes in an upcoming time. Judge Jenson on the other hand, was liked by most people. Will the FBI ever find the killer. The President and associates have now been under an immense amount of stress from the deaths. As they go down the list of suspects, they have uncovered nothing. Yet the FBI has been hopeless so far, a student at Tulane university has there hands full opening the wrong files that could get him on the assassinators list. This curious and very bright students name is Darby.
As Darby digs and digs for answers, she starts to find similarities between the cases. Finally, she unlocks the answers the FBI have desperatly been searching for. Victor Mattiece was the assassin. He worked for an oil company that both Jensen and Rosenberg had opposed due to the amount of endangered brown pelicans dying. Being the scum he is, Mattiece tried to convince the president to appoint new judges that would agree with his beliefs. Darby then gives her "Pelican Brief" to her professor to asses and look over. After he reads it, he give a copy to his friend Gavin Verheek, a lawyer with the FBI. The copy then gets passed to the director of the FBI, to the vice president and finally the president himself. Shortly after the president recieving the copy, a bomb intended to kill Darby instead kills her professor and lover Thomas Callahan. Darby resists getting in the car, telling Thomas that she refuses to drive hime with him due to his temper and lack of respect. Callhan turns the key and BOOM, he is dead. Darby is now forced to be in hiding, fearing her life is in danger. He is put in witness protection on the run forever it seems.
This book to me is not my favorite of John Grisham, but it still was a well thoughtout plot and thriller. The way Grisham constructs this book makes me wonder how he could come up with all of the stories about government conspiracies, assassinations of important people and the difficult lawsuits. He has to be one of the greatest writers of all time due to his originality. This book is a great representation of why he writes amazing stories(less)

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Feb 17, 2010 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book chronicles a conspiracy brief that a young law student wrote about an oil tycoon who killed two Supreme Court Justices because they have pro-environmental leanings namely, to save the endangered Pelicans from oil company drillings. The book is a page turner with a lot of action in between. The oil tycoon makes a mistake in trying to make sure no one knows about the Pelican brief by killing everyone thus tranforming an unlikely theory into a believable occurance.

The conservative Republi...more The book chronicles a conspiracy brief that a young law student wrote about an oil tycoon who killed two Supreme Court Justices because they have pro-environmental leanings namely, to save the endangered Pelicans from oil company drillings. The book is a page turner with a lot of action in between. The oil tycoon makes a mistake in trying to make sure no one knows about the Pelican brief by killing everyone thus tranforming an unlikely theory into a believable occurance.

The conservative Republican President's inital enthusiasm for the death of two liberal supreme court justices turns into horror as he realizes a big donor through various PAC to his campaign ordered the assisination of the two Justices as well as people who associated with the Pelican Brief. He preceeds to unwittingly dig himself into a hole by telling people in the FBI to ignore investigating the Pelican brief because it would look bad for his reelection image. So to a certain extent, the president becomes collateral damage to the bringing down of the oil tycoon. The President seems to be an amalgam of past President's from Reagan's charismatic but grandfatherly cluelessness to Nixon angry paranoia.

The book also showcases the danger of being President because they really have no control with people underneath them such as in the book the FBI, CIA diretors and the Attorney General. I think it is good GWB and BO ran and run a tight ship because leaks can really be detrimental to running the government.

This poses a question, can a politician trully screen people or shadowy corporations who gives him money? I doubt it, so I am surprise there aren't anymore scandals from people who contribute to political candidates. If one becomes runs for office, one really has to screen the people who gives the person money because it could bite him later on.

The book also showcases the pressure that News Agencies have in reporting the "breaking news". In the book, this enormous pressure takes the form of trying to force a story even though the story has not been verified yet.

I think it is very unfortunate that it is the underlings of the main crook that gets punished instead of the oil tycoon. To certain extent, money can really bring impunity. If you money you can fly and buy anything you want so you can escape being prosecuted. If you commit a crime in the US, one can just leave the US like the oil tycoon who started living in Egypt after news broke of his involvement in the killings.

Although I really loved the book, the story was not air tight. First off all, why would an oil tycoon (even a crazy one) kill 2 justices with strong environmental leanings if he has a sympathetic conservative Supreme Court. According to the book, the court had a 5-4 conservative leaning. Secondly, the court case hasn't even reach the appelate courts yet. If I was the oil tycoon, I would knock off two Appelate court justice first so it would be more inconspicous. Knocking off 2 Supreme Court Justices is just asking to be investigated. So for those two loop holes, I will give the book 4.5 stars.(less)

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Oct 09, 2009 Drebbles rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2006

When two Supreme Court justices are assassinated on the same night, there is plenty of speculation as to who the assassin or assassins are and why the judges were murdered. Like many others, law student Darby Shaw thinks she knows the motive. She writes a brief, soon to be known as The Pelican Brief, and shows it to her law professor/lover, Thomas Callahan. Unfortunately, he shows it to a friend of his who works for the FBI, who passes it along, and it falls into the wrong hands. When Callahan i...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Brad McKenna rated it 3 of 5 stars

You know what you're going to get in a Grisham novel: good characters and a not a little law. One thing I forgot was the body count that man racks up. This story is about the assassination of 2 supreme court justices and the bodies keep falling from there. The bulk of the story centers around Darby, a law whiz-bang law student that finds the reason behind the killings. A little later in the tale, Grey, a journalist of the Washington Post, enters the fray. He aids her as she runs for her life and...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Jason Kent rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Pelican 'Brief' is more of an essay, and sees the lovely law student Darby Shaw speculating over the motivation behind the murder of two supreme court judges. She shares her concerns with her professor lover who passes them along to counsel for the FBI... which is when the narrative starts to get edgy.

This is John Grisham third, and I'm reviewing them in order. Here, there's a suggestion that such was the success of The Firm that his publishers wanted 'something similar' and as quickly as po...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Michael Jenkins rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Abe Rosenberg at ninety one; The Supreme Court liberal is murdered, when a gun shot in the head, led to his demise. The country is perplexed, while the FBI, search for clues that led to his death. Glan Jensen is strangled by the same assassin, merely two hours later. The town is even more distraught and shocked about the deaths that cane right after each other. In addition, Darby Shaw a studious law student have come into a conclusion that led to an obscure connection between the two justices. B...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Stefania T. rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

John Grisham: primo fatale incontro.

'Il rapporto Pelican' è un libro "da apnea", ovvero appartiene a quel genere di libri che ti lasciano come unica via d'uscita la totale immersione. Non puoi smettere di leggere, il demone della frenesia da lettura si impossessa di tutte le tua facoltà fisiche e mentali, perciò non puoi fare altro che arrivare, in preda all'ingordigia, all'ultima pagina.

Tanto di cappello! Quante volte mi è capitato di avere la necessità fisica e mentale di letture simili? In qu...more John Grisham: primo fatale incontro.

'Il rapporto Pelican' è un libro "da apnea", ovvero appartiene a quel genere di libri che ti lasciano come unica via d'uscita la totale immersione. Non puoi smettere di leggere, il demone della frenesia da lettura si impossessa di tutte le tua facoltà fisiche e mentali, perciò non puoi fare altro che arrivare, in preda all'ingordigia, all'ultima pagina.

Tanto di cappello! Quante volte mi è capitato di avere la necessità fisica e mentale di letture simili? In questi momenti si scatenano con più forza la mia passione per i libri e la gratitudine ai rispettivi autori.

Allora come potrei spiegare un giudizio così mediocre?
Mentre scrivo osservo e scruto alla mia destra la copertina di quello che viene considerato uno dei "migliori Grisham". Se qualcuno mi stesse osservando in questo momento, sul mio volto coglierebbe il ritratto della delusione. Della delusione più assoluta.
Il "grande" Grisham è tutto qui?
L'articolazione della trama è inesistente ed il suo contenuto è stucchevolemente lineare e scontato.
Letto il primo capitolo, è possibile immaginare a grandi linee quanto verrà raccontato nei capitoli successivi.
Lo spessore e l'introspezione dei personaggi sono paramentri dell'altro mondo, è già tanto se Grisham abbia deciso di donar loro un nome proprio. Sono figuranti scontati, banali, insipidi e anonimi.

Devo essere onesta: il mio pessimo giudizio può essere stato influenzato in maniera massiccia dalle aspettative che negli ultimi anni ho alimentato nei confronti di Grisham. Ed è sempre un'ardua impresa, in questi casi, dimostarsi all'altezza.
Probabilmente non sono in grado di cogliere il talento di uno scrittore osannato in tutte le salse perchè non riesco a considerare che ciò che ormai viene considerato "banale" è in realtà l'originalità di Grisham ripresa in tutti i modi possibili dagli scrittori venuti dopo di lui. E' davvero così? E' forse Grisham il "capostipite di un genere" imitato poi da tutti?
Non sono sicura che possa essere assolto dall'accusa di banalità, non è un classico, ha scritto negli anni '80/'90 dopotutto, non ha inventato nulla.

Non mi fermerò qui, ma continuerò ad addentrarmi nel mondo Grisham per dimostrare tutta la mia buona volontà.
Diciamo che, per ora, effettuate le indagini preliminare, John Grisham è rinviato a giudizio. ^_^(less)

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Aug 27, 2011 Jen Marx rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 14, 2012 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

In suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home... In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death... The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief... To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder -- a murder...more

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May 02, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 110-books-in-2012-and-do-it-again, books-into-film, collectible, mystery, new-york-times-best-seller, own-it, read-in-2012, reviewed

Two supreme court justices are murdered on the same day. Everywhere people are speculating on who might have committed the crime and for what reason.

The President sees this as a chance to reshape the court. Eight of the justices will be republicans and this could change the direction of the country for years to come.

Darby Shaw is a bright law student at Tulane and thinks she knows the reason for the murders. She researches her opinion and publishes her findings in a document called "The Pelican...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Karen & Gerard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: grisham, mystery, survival, suspense

The Pelican Brief (10/10) murder, thriller
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham is about Darby Shaw, a law student who does some research into a possible suspect who had two Supreme Court Justices assassinated. She finds herself on the run when her brief makes it all the way to the FBI, CIA and the President. There is a lot of killing in this book and Darby realizes she is in danger. This is a real thriller because Darby doesn’t know who to trust. She finally trusts Gray, an investigative reporter a...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Tony Taylor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jn suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home... In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death... The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief... To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder -- a murder...more

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May 24, 2013 Sara Sbaraglia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1950-1999, sf_alph_challenge, usa

Consigliatomi da mio padre, che è un appassionato del genere.
Visto e considerato che i miei gusti e i suoi fanno a cazzotti, per tutte le 400 pagine in questione mi sono chiesta perché diavolo l'ho assecondato.
(OT: quando gli ho riferito il mio giudizio negativo mi ha risposto che non era il libro che più mi consigliava, era un altro che ci teneva a farmi leggere, che questo non è niente di che, effettivamente, ma l'altro è bellissimo. Credo che come minimo farò passare due-tre anni prima di dar...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Minyoung Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Strangely enough, I found it extremely difficult to concentrate on the plot of this book. The premise should be intriguing enough, and the story is set in one of my favorite cities with a villain whose name almost sounds like my favorite artist, yet I was not thoroughly engaged. About half way, I realized what was so distracting, other than the frequent use of pay phones but that should not be a major drawback to the plot, and it was the setting in New Orleans itself that seemed to be the plot's...more

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May 29, 2012 Josh Richey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story begins with the assassination of two supreme court justices. While everyone else speculates why they killed them and why, Darby Shaw decides to research two justice's records and cases pending before the court. She writes a legal brief saying how the assassins were people who wanted a bill passed to drill oil in a swamp. In this swamp were an endangered species of pelican.

All of the main characters remain the same in the movie. The hero and heroine stayed basically the same. The story...more

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Feb 17, 2009 Russ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, mystery, novel, thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I didn't like this Grisham novel much at first. I found the characters annoying and was waiting for the action to pick up.

Well, it picked up. Big time.

I think Grisham did a very good job with the suspense of this story. I felt Darby's terror, and I was always wondering when the next bad guy would show up. I'm glad I stuck through the opening chapters to get to the good stuff.

I do have a couple nits to pick, though. First, I really don't believe Darby could have been so street-savvy and knowledg...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Dave marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: calibre, fiction

SUMMARY: In suburban Georgetown, a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home. In a seedy D.C. porno house, a patron is swiftly garroted to death. The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief.To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it’s political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder–a murder intend...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

A review of Grisham's latest reminded me that I'd never read anything by this author. The first half of the novel annoyed me. Yes, Grisham is setting up the sexist and homophobic characters as bad guys, but I didn't feel that he was distancing himself enough from those attitudes (that it is awesome for a professor to date a student, that it's inherent embarrassing to be gay, etc.), and it got under my skin. Amazingly, in this dispiriting election season, this book managed to make me happy to be...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Connie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

This book kept my interest, page after page.

The story is different, in fact,very different from normal storylines in most of the books out there on the market. It is refreshing and interesting because it shows how one ordinary lady, Darby Shaw, can come up with a solution that all the experts could not think of. Even after two justices are killed without a trace of evidence, she decides to uncover the killer. Then, when her brief is handed over to the FBI, the agent dies two days later in Darby'...more

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About John Grisham

"Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of...more "Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.

One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.

That might have put an end to Grisham's hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing's greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.

The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham's reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham's success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books' protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jur(less)

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