This was a hardback that Janny loaned to me and I finished the book on Tuesday, 11/7/17. This was also the day that I got the finishing touches on my right sleeve tattoo at Black Moon.
The whole premise of this novel seems to have been lifted from Michael Connelly's, THE LINCOLN LAWYER. Both books concern a dishonest or unprincipled attorney who plies his trade on the fringes of the legal community. Both books are great reads, but Connelly is clearly a better writer. And, Grisham's novel feels as if he's stitched together several short stories or novellas, and there's a lot of loose ends at the conclusion. Maybe he's intentionally creating openings for a possible series on the character of Sebastian Rudd.
The plot of the novel from wikipedia-
"Sebastian Rudd is a street lawyer, but not your typical street lawyer. His office is a black customized bulletproof van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, and fine leather chairs. He has no firm, no partners, and only one employee: his heavily armed driver, named 'Partner', who used to be his client, and who also happens to be his bodyguard, law clerk, confidant, and golf caddie. Sebastian drinks small-batch bourbon and carries a gun. His beautiful ex-wife, Judith, is a lawyer too, and she left him for another woman while still they were married. He only gets to see his son, Starcher, for 36 hours per month and his ex-wife wants to stop all visits. He defends people other lawyers won't go near: a drug-addled, tattooed kid, Gardy Baker, rumored to be in a satanic cult who is accused of murdering two girls; a vicious crime lord, Link Scanlon, on death row who escaped before his eyes; a homeowner, Doug Renfro, arrested for shooting at a SWAT team that mistakenly invaded his house, and killed his wife and dogs; a Mixed martial arts fighter, Tadeo Zapate, who killed a referee after losing a fight. In between these adventures, he's contacted by a serial kidnapper and killer, Arch Swanger, who's involved in human trafficking, and knows the whereabouts of the assistant chief of police's missing daughter."
Basically, the novel is a collection of five subplots-
The relationship between Sebastian, Judith, and their son, Starcher. Although he loves the boy, he hates his name every time it's mentioned.
Gardy Baker- a goth kid railroaded by an entire town for the murder and rape of two young girls. The cops go for him and ignore the real killer, an ex-boyfriend of the girls' mother.
A retired home owner, Doug Renfro, whose house is targeted by a swat team. They think he and his wife are major drug traffickers, but it's really the young man next door. He's stealing the old couples wifi. The surprising fact of this story is that although Mr. Renfro is attacked in the middle of the night, without warning, the police are absolved of any wrong doing because they 'are merely doing their jobs'. The fact that they murder Mr. Renfro's wife in the process is just an unfortunate accident.
However, I did wonder if one part of this subplot is true. When this fiasco goes to trial the jury foreman asks the judge why the police are not on trial instead of Mr. Renfro, then the trial seems to be dismissed. Would this really happen? If the law says that the police cannot be held responsible wouldn't the jury be forced to enforce that law?
Tadeo Zapate- a mixed martial arts fighter who loses a fight by a questionable decision, and lashes out and kills the ref. Tadeo is sponsored by Rudd and although Sebastian does all he can for this obviously guilty man, Zapate idiotically feels that he can convince the jury that he was temporarily insane as he struck the ref twenty-two times with vicious punches to the head (and all of this was caught on video).
Arch Swanger- a sociopath who is possibly a serial killer and human trafficker. A police official's pregnant daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers and Swanger seems to know where she is being held and gives this information to Rudd. This might be the most interesting story, yet it doesn't seem to be fully resolved at the end of the book.
This book is an easy read and very entertaining, but that's about all you could say. I think Michael Connelly is the better writer and I have a novel by David Baldacci that I'm going to read and and see how he compares as a best selling author of legal thrillers.
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