The Client
A Novel
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4.5 • 347 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle legal thriller that begins in a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, when two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb. . . .
“The desire to find out what happens next keeps the reader turning the pages. Grisham is an absolute master of the chase story.”—The Washington Post
Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America.
Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years.
Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client—even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom . . . or cost them both their lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of the bestselling Grisham will be pleased to note that he is once more on Firm ground: his latest legal thriller offers a clever, compelling plot coupled with two singular protagonists sure to elicit readers' empathy. Eleven-year-old Mark Sway, taking his kid brother for a smoke behind their Memphis trailer park, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer ``driven crazy'' by a lethal secret. Before he dies, the man confides to Mark where the body of a recently murdered U.S. senator lies buried, and the game's afoot. Trailed by the police, the FBI and assorted Mafia types (the deceased politico was the victim of ``a successful New Orleans street thug''), Mark retains--for one dollar--the services of Reggie Love, a 50ish female lawyer. This uncommon attorney-client relationship adds an affecting, unusually humanistic layer to the novel's tension-filled events. Mark, raised by a divorced mother and wise beyond his years, thinks chiefly in terms of movies and TV; Reggie, a street-smart survivor of an acrimonious divorce, is often unsure whether to hug or slug her precocious client. True to form, Grisham employs just enough foreshadowing to keep the suspense rolling (``Neither of them could know that . . . ''), and propels his action at the requisite breakneck pace. Occasional plot improbabilities and stylistic quibbles--a few fuzzy characterizations; overstatement of already obvious points; Mark's sporadic adult phraseology--will not deter readers from enjoying a rousing read. 950,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection.
Customer Reviews
Good book
Well pretty good book. 1st I’ve read by Grisham and I’m not disappointed although I feel like the ending left a lot undone. Not much closure. I’m also used to James Patterson so I didn’t care much for the really long chapters but not too bad.
Readaddict
Great story.
Great characters,
A wonderful read!
The Client review
I'm 13 and I thought this book was thrilling& a great read. I highly recommend it for kids my age& older!