4 ½ stars. Wow what a great story teller! A number of events surprised me. I found myself smiling several times.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
I love the unexpected which this novel has. His characters might be stereotypes, but they were well done, fun, and had me chuckling. The theme is David vs. Goliath. The ending is happy with a bitter component. The evil, greedy, large corporation leaves a bad taste. The story took a while to get going which was fine. But the last third of the book had me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put it down. Before reading it I didn’t know if I was going to like reading about an insurance company trial. But I did. It was excellent.

Most of my reading is romance novels, so for me to love something like this should say something about its broad appeal and entertainment value.

If I could, I would change two things about the story. (1) The ending was happy, but it could have been happier. (2) Grisham never tells us who burned down a law firm early in the story. I was wondering if Great Benefit was behind it, but it was never explained.

STORY BRIEF:
Rudy just finished law school, is broke and cannot find a job. He passes the bar and gets his license just in time to represent a low income family against an insurance company.

DATA:
Setting: current day mostly Memphis, Tennessee. Copyright: 1995. Genre: legal suspense.