1. Issues in the Book

[Carol]

1. Issues in the book were: school loan fraud, suicide, deportation, practicing without a license and the statute of limitations. Have you or anyone you know been affected by any of these issues? How did they affect you?

[Chelsea]

Not really... nope. Good thing probably. I've known people to commit suicide, but I wasn't close to them.

[Cindy]

This might be under the umbrella of "school loan fraud," but I've also been very interested in the scandal on the for-profit diploma mills that are charging students huge fees and leaving them with huge debts for worthless degrees. I read about one place that was giving "nursing degrees" to people who had never set foot in a hospital - NO jobs for those kids. - stuff like that. That was the most interesting part of the book for me.
A little off the question - no personal issues, but they are interesting topics to me.

[Carol]

I think I'm the senior member of our group. I hope we can have some of the ones come back that we haven't seen in awhile. Being I'm so old, I've lost friends to suicide, very hard on my soul. Have seen fraud and it really hurt a business and individuals.

[Pam]

In Grisham’s Author’s Note he mentions a journalist, Paul Campos, who wrote a great article on ‘the law school scam’ which inspired him to write this novel.

I work in Regulatory Affairs - we have US and International regulations that protect consumers against companies who make claims or advertise in a way that would lead the average person to make judgements and eventually decisions on falsehoods. I found the great law school scam incredibly interesting and shameful.

I have had two family members who committed suicide - it affects our family to this day.

[Barb]

I have only known three people who chose to end their own lives with suicide. All three were teenagers who were temporarily angry at their parents, and chose suicide as a way to lash out. All three made rash decisions as reactions to situations that wouldn't have even mattered a week or two later. In Gordy's case, he had mental health issues compounded with a huge debt, not much chance for a future as a lawyer, and an engagement to a woman he didn't love. In his state of mind, I can kind of see how he thought it was the only way out.

How did it affect me? With all three of the young men I knew, I felt very angry at their selfishness. Their families will live with the pain of their stupid selfish actions for the rest of their lives.