Englisch Spezialgebiet

Thema:     John Grisham

A TIME TO KILL

THE CLIENT

THE PELICAN BRIEF

THE FIRM

5. THE STREET LAWYER

Life of John Grisham

John Grisham was born on February 8th in 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was raised in a family of five children. During his youth he moved around a lot because his father was a construction worker. They lived in many different places, for example in Crenshaw, Mississippi. Finally the Grisham family settled in Southaven, a little town outside Memphis, when he was twelve and then he started studying at the Southaven High School.

During his school years he was an athlete and he wanted to play either professional football or baseball. This interest of his made him go to study at the Northwest Mississippi Junior College in 1973. At the Northwest he played baseball for a year and he really did not care for his grades, he just wanted to play baseball. Grisham moved to the Delta State University after a year at Northwest to improve his skills in baseball. At the Delta State University he found out that he really was not meant to be a baseball player and so he decided to concentrate on his studies, which he had not done before. So he moved once again, this time to the Mississippi State University (1975). John Grisham really liked the Mississippi State University and he started studying for an accounting major. Since he could not become a professional baseball player anymore he now thought of becoming a tax lawyer. Grisham graduated from the Mississippi State University in 1977 with an accounting major. After studying at the Mississippi State University he went to law-school at the University of Mississippi, from which he graduated in 1981. In the same year as he graduated from law-school he married Renee Jones.

John Grisham was now a lawyer and he got himself an office in Southaven where he practised criminal and civil law. He was also politically engaged at this time and in 1983 he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. During his time at Mississippi State University he had started on two books, none of them were ever finished. In 1984 he started writing a third. This time he finished it. The original title of the book was Deathknell, but the publisher did not like that so he changed it to A Time to Kill. In April 1987 three agents called and the year after, in 1988 the book was sold to Wynwood Press. A year after it was published and 5,000 copies were printed. During these years he had been writing his second book, the Firm, which was finished in 1988. In the same year he started writing on his third book, The Pelican Brief. The Firm was then his big hit. It was the book that made him famous. In 1990 he left the House of Representatives and moved from Southaven to a farm outside Oxford.

Today he lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife Renee and his two kids Ty and Shea. Grisham writes six months a year and coaches his son`s Little League team the other half. He only gives a few interviews a year and he has said that he hates reviews. John Grisham just wants to write books and live peacefully and undisturbed with his family.

His books

The Time To Kill (1986)

The Firm (1988)

A Pelican Brief (1992)

The Chamber (1993)

The Rainmaker (1995)

The Runaway Jury (1996)

The Partner (1997)

The Street Lawyer (1998)

Ever since he wrote the Pelican Brief Grisham has published a book a year with the same result. It should be said that all his books have been best-sellers and that six of them have become movies (The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, The Time to Kill, The Chamber and The Rainmaker). John Grisham has also written the script to the movie the Gingerbread Man and a script to a baseball movie.

1. A TIME TO KILL

SUMMARY:

At the beginning of the story, Tonya Hailey, a ten year old black girl, is raped by Billy Ray Cobb and his friend Pete Willard on the way home. They injure her badly and they also want to hang her but the bough brakes and so they throw her over a bridge into a dried up river-bed.

The girl is found by a member of her family who tells her mother what had happened. Carl Lee Hailey and his wife lay an information against the two white men and later they are arrested by sheriff Walls.

In the meantime, Carl Lee Hailey makes inquiries of Jake Brigance about consequences of murdering a person. Jake tells him, that if the same had have happened to his daughter, he would kill the raper. Carl Lee also askes Jake if he would defend him in case of emergency. As he affirms, Carl Lee decides to buy himself a gun and to kill the rapers of his daughter.

When Sgt Looney takes Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard to the court for their hearing, Carl Lee jumps out and shoots them down. A confused bullet hits Looney in his right knee. The two rapers are dead at the moment and Carl Lee is arrested by sheriff Walls.

In prison Carl Lee begs Jake Brigance to take his defense and he promises. But it is a very difficult intention because the inhabitants of Clanton are mostly white and also the members of the jury will be white. Jake aspires to conduct the trial in another federal state, where more black inhabitants will be in the jury and maybe judge fairer. But this petition is turned down by judge Noose.

So Jake Brigance and his assistants Ellen Roark, a brilliant law student, and Harry Rex Vonner, a friend of Jake, search for irksome material to expose the prosecutors´ witnesses. Rufus Buckley and his helpers do the same on the other side. For example both psychatrists, one of each side get blamed by Rufus an Jake. During the investigations Jake and his colleges are attacked several times by members of the KU KLUX KLAN. They burn down Jake´s house, attack the husband of his secretary and at last Ellen.

In the opinion of the reverend of Clanton and other members of the church a black lawyer should defend Carl Lee. They think that there is not the least chance to get him free if he is defended by a white lawyer.

At the final trail the prosecutor demands death penalty for Carl Lee and tries to convince the jury of his guilt. In his pleading Jake Brigance begs the witnesses to close their eyes and tells again the whole story of what had happened to little Tonya. He doesn´t leave out anything, he describes the whole act of violence.

At the end, he demands the witnesses to imagine that all this had happened to a WHITE girl.

The jury is very affected of this pleading and they find Carl Lee for not guilty.

CHARACTERS:

Carl Lee Hailey: black worker, who kills the white rapers of his daughter

Tonya Hailey : Carl Lee´s daughter

Jake Brigance : a young white lawer, who takes the defense of Carl Lee

Ozzi Walls : black sheriff of Clanton

Rufus Buckley: the prosecutor

Ellen Roark : a young law student

Sgt. Looney : the deputy, who gets injured by a confused bullet

Mister Noose : the judge

Billy Ray Cobb

and Pete Willard: white men, rapers of Tonya Hailey

KU KLUX KLAN: a secret organization that began in 1865 in the southern

states of the US and has a long history of violent attacs

against black people and their supporters.

2. THE CLIENT

OTHER INFORMATION:

The book was first published by Century in the United Kingdom in 1993. The story is told by an omniscient narrator who shifts in the point of view. The story contains fory-two chapters.

SUBJECT:

The story takes place in Memphis and tells about an eleven-year-old boy, Mark Sway, whom a secret is told where the corp of a US senator is hidden. Together with his lawyer, Reggie Love, they fight against the FBI, because they want to know the location of the murdered senator, at whatever cost of Mark and his family.

SUMMARY:

One day, Mark goes with his brother Ricky into the forest. While the boys are smoking, they see a man who wants to commit suicide. Mark wants to help the man and removes the hose from the exhaust. The man, who is a lawyer of a mafia boss, catches Mark and tells him, where the corp of a killed US senator is hidden. Mark is able to escape before the man kills himself. After that the boys run home and call the police.

Mark is asked a lot of questions whether he knows the location of the body of the murdered senator. Mark can´t stand the fact that everybody asks him questions and so he decides to hire a lawyer. Her name is Reggie Love, a woman who first of all does not take him seriously, but when Mark tells her his story, she agrees to take his case.

Together, Mark and Reggie try to 'fight' against the FBI and the state. The FBI agents think that Mark keeps very important informations because he does not tell the FBI even not the judge where the location of the corp is.

After a long time the FBI understands Mark`s fear and so they offer the Sway-family to take part in the witness - protection - program. But Mark is still afraid because a mafia boss, Barry Muldanno, wants to kill him.

Then Mark tells Reggie where the corp is hidden and so they go there to dig for it. They find the body and with a trick they, can get rid of the mafia, who also wants to find the body. Then they call the FBI. On the next morning a plane is ready to fly the Sway-family to their new home - to Phoenix.

CHARACTERS:

The story contains two protagonists Mark Sway and his lawyer Reggie Love.

Mark lives with his mother Dianne Sway and with his brother Ricky in a trailer in Tucker Wheel Estate.

Mark is eleven years old, three years older than his brother. Their parents divorced a couple of years ago. Dianne earns not very much money so they can´t afford a lot of luxury goods. His "ex-father"(so calls Mark his father) is an alcoholic and beated Dianna and her children very often. Now Mark has to be the man in the house and so he is really mature and intelligent for his age.

Reggie Love, who is fifty-two, owns a law firm. She looks very smart, she is not married and lives in an apartment together with her mother. She was married and when they splitted up she lost her children and most of her money.

The FBI-agents act almost in the same way. They think that Mark Sway possesses important informations and therefore they try everything to get them from him. They do not really care about the Sway-family.

PERSONAL OPINION:

The book was not very easy to read but I never get bored because John Grisham always writes in a very thrilling way. It was great how an eleven-year-old boy can talk to FBI agents. I liked Mark and the way he acted because he did not get any help from his mother.

From my point of view, John Grisham describes the FBI very well in his novel. In reality, I guess, it is just the same way the FBI acts and that they only look for their own success and do not care about anyone else.

I also wondered how law can be so brutal and so difficult to understand because in my opinion it is not fair that a young boy is put under such pressure.

3. THE PELICAN BRIEF

OTHER INFORMATION:

'The Pelican Brief' is a political thriller from John Grisham. It was published by 'Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc. / New York' in 1992.

SUJECT:

The story takes place in New Orleans, Washington and New York. In a cold october night two judges of the highest law-court are killed. A young law-student writes a file about her theory of the murders. But she doesn´t know how dangerous this file is for everybody who read it. So she also has to run for her life.

SUMMARY:

In a cold october night the two famous judges Rosenberg and Jensen are killed. The police doesn´t know anything about the murderer.

Thomas Callahan, a law-professor, can´t believe it. He had worked for Rosenberg a few years ago. He is very shocked about the killings. His girlfriend Darby Shaw, a law-student, is very interested in the case. She decides to start a file about the two mysterious murders. She works a whole week for the file but then she gives it up, because she thinks that her theory is impossible. But Callahan likes it and gives the file to his old friend Gavin Verheek who works as a lawyer for the FBI. Gavin decides to give it to Denton Voyles, the FBI-president. Voyles decides to investigate into the theory. He informs the White House about the file. Fletcher Coal, the personal assistant of the president of the United States, doesn´t like Voyles´ plan because the president is also mentioned in the file. He suggests that the president should stop Voyles. One day later the president orders Voyles to stop his investigations.

Meanwhile Gray Grantham, a reporter from the Washington Post, gets a call from a man who knows anything about the assassinations but he doesn´t want to say his real name. He suggests Gray to call him 'Garcia' and he wants to meet Gray after a second call. Gray finds out the call-box where Garcia had called him and decides to wait there to take a photo of him. Then they want to meet each other, but a short time before that Garcia backs out. He doesn´t want to get his family in danger. Gray begins to search for him.

After a dinner in a restaurant Thomas Callahan is drunk. Darby decides to walk home because she doesn´t want to drive with Thomas. Suddenly the car explodes and Thomas is dead. Darby is very shocked, she can´t believe it. Who could have done it?

But at home she understands: Her file is responsible for it . She asks Gavin Verheek about it and tells him about the explosion. Gavin is very concerned and wants to meet Darby, but he is killed by Khamel, the murderer of Rosenberg and Jensen. He has recorded the phone call between Darby and Gavin and so he wants to meet and kill her. In the phone call Darby ordered Gavin to wear a red cap as a marking. So Khamel learns to speak like Gavin and meets Darby. But a short time later he is killed by an unknown man. Darby doesn´t know what she should do but then she decides to call Gray Grantham. Gray is a little bit sceptical about Darby but he decides to meet her in New York. There she tells him her theory:

A few years ago an oil company discovered a big oil resource in Louisiana. The company belonged to Victor Mattiece, a rich man. He wanted to get a permission for his company to search for the oil. So he bribed some judges to get the permission without any problems but then a law-office tried to stop him. They told the judge, that the oil-resource was in the near of a wildlife resource where the 'brown Louisiana Pelican' lives.

So the court decides that the case should be discussed at the highest law-court in the USA. Rosenberg and Jensen always wanted to save nature so they could be a big problem for Victor Mattiece when the trial starts again. So he ordered a profi-killer to assassinate them. Victore Mattiece also sponsered the election campaign of the president so it would also be bad for the president of the United States if Mattiece was guilty of a crime.

Gray and Darby decide to search for Garcia in one of the Washington law-offices which work for Mattiece. There Darby gets a bad message:Garcia was shot by a street robber. But Gray and Darby know that it was the work of Mattiece. His real name was Curtis Morgan. They visit Morgan´s wife. She gives Gray a key for a safe-deposit box. There Darby and Gray find a video tape and a document which is signed by C. Morgan. They drive as quickly as they can to the Washington Post office. There they watch the video tape with Gray´s chief-editor. On the tape Morgan speaks about a message which his firm, White and Blazevich, sent to Victor Mattiece. A copy of the message is also enclosed to the document. In the message White and Blazevich tells Mattiece that the judges are not longer a problem.

Gray and Darby write an article which proves that Victor Mattiece is responsible for the murders of the two judges. Then they inform the FBI, the White House, and White&Blazevich. Some hours later Fletcher Coal resigns his job. FBI-president Denton Voyles tells Darby about Khamel and the unknown man who killed him (a profi-killer from the CIA who wanted to protect her). Then he helps her to get out of the United States because she wants to rest after her dangerous adventure.

CHARACTERS:

Darby Shaw: She is the young law-student who writes the Pelican brief after the murders. She is a very clever person who has to survive a lot of deadly traps.

Gray Grantham: He is a famous reporter who works for the Washington Post. He helps Darby to solve the case.

Fletcher Coal: He is the personal assistant of the president. He tries to stop Darby and Gray.

Denton Voyles: He is the FBI-president.

Gavin Verheek: He is a lawyer who works for the FBI and he is a friend of Thomas Callahan.

Thomas Callahan: He is a law-professor at the University of Tulane. He has an affair with Darby.

Khamel: He is the profi-killer who assassinates the judges and Verheek.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I like this book very much because it is very exciting to read it. John Grisham fascinates his readers with a gripping style.

THE FIRM

SUJECT: The story is about a young lawyer, who thinks that his first job as lawyer, is just perfect. But with the time he realised that he brought himself and hise wife into deep troubles.

SUMMARY:

This story is set in 1985, although it was written in 1981. John Grisham tells us a story of the Mafia and a young student out of law school who could have any firm in the country but choose lowly Bendini, Lambert and Locke.

This man is Mitchell McDeere, who is at the top of his class at Harvard Law and so he has his choice of the best in America. He has got three job offers and decides to take the one of a well-paying firm in Memphis. But unfortunately this should become a deadly mistake.

When Mitch McDeere signs on with Bendini, Lambert & Locke of Memphis, he thinks he and his wife, Abby, are finally on their way. The firm leases him a BMW, pays off his school loans, arranges a mortgage and hires him a decorator. He ignores the fact that five lawyers died over a period of 15 years. Mitch McDeere should have better remembered what his brother Ray - sitting since fifteen years in a Tennessee jail - already knew. You never get nothing for nothing.

So Mitchell McDeere finds out the Firm is owned by the most powerful Mob family in Chicago, and that they are laundering big sums of money through dummy corporations around the world. Before long he stumbles upon a secret that could bring every member of the firm, including himself, in jail. After talking with the FBI, who tells him among other things that his home phone was bugged and that there also are bugs in his car, in his home, even in the bedroom and that the firm has killed the lawyers and that they are killing everybody who does not want to work with them, Mitch still does not want to believe it.

His wife, Abby, wants him to leave the firm because it will make him a wreck, due to the fact that he works about 90 hours a week in order to become a partner as soon as possible. Eddie Lomax, a friend of Mitch`s brother Ray, who is in prison, who is hired by Mitch to investigate into the case of the dead lawyers, also advises Mitch to leave the firm. But only some hours after the conversation Eddie is killed. Eddie`s secretary, Tammy Hemphill, understands the real situation and meets Mitch. Also the FBI contacts Mitch again. They want him to copy all illegal files of the firm. They 'promise' to take him to prison, if he would not co-operate If he agrees to co-operate he will get 2.000.000$, a new identity for him and his wife and the FBI would help Ray to escape from prison. Now McDeere realises that he is trapped and cannot escape without risk. So he has two choices: 1. He can obtain incriminating evidence against his co-workers, turn it in to the FBI, and avoid jail. If he does this, however, he can be killed by clients of the firm, the Mafia. 2. McDeere can avoid the FBI, work at the firm, and live a prosperous life, only to be arrested at some point in the future and serve a lengthy jail sentence. McDeere is faced with a tough decision, and after he decides, he must face the consequences. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard place, with no choice -- if he wants to live.

As Tammy promises to help him, and as he finds a way not to break his professional discretion, he decides to work for the FBI. So he takes every file out of the building, and Tammy assists him. At one point he takes them with him to a wrong client, Frank Mulholland, and Tammy copies them in the neighbouring office. Another time Tammy plays a prostitute in Cayman and steals the office keys from Avery Tolleson. So they find a lot of different ways to copy the files. Also his wife Abby helps them.

But then the firm finds a leak in the FBI: 'Alfred', an FBI man who betrays Mitch. Because of this leak Mitch decides to take the money, his wife, and his brother and to escape without telling the FBI where he is going. While he is fleeing he sends the files to the FBI: So the FBI and the Mafia are searching for the three McDeeres, who are hidden in Andi`s Hotel. Then Ray notices a woman who follows them and holds her up. So they have to escape from the police as well. They kill a Mafia man, who wants to kill the McDeeres and escape at the end on a boat - like in nearly every novel: There is a Happy-Ending!

CHARACTERS:

Mitchell McDeere: young lawyer

Abby McDeere: his wife

Avery Tolleson: one of the managers

A FBI agent

PERSONAL OPINION:

John Grisham has written with The Firm one of the most intense legal thrillers of our time.

It is simply a great book, another spectacular blockbuster, but certainly not without its flaws. I found it lagged a little at the beginning, but I cannot regard that as a setback. Most thrillers take a while to build up, after all. The first chapters certainly were good, as they established character and mood, and set me up for surprises. Once the conflict was established, I could not put down the book; it became a real page-turner! This book, the firm, holds you on suspense until about the middle of the book, where you realise what will happen. The code names and the delaying of information does make the book a bit more interesting. Of course the idea of having a law firm as a front for the Mafia where once you get in you cannot get out - alive, was extremely entertaining. The book brings out the reality of corruption in some law firms that look too good to be true.

But, when I read The Firm, I noticed a very large similarity to The Client. Maybe it was even a mixture of The Pelican Brief and The Client. It has The Pelican Brief`s runaway, chase, know-something-wrong plot and it has The Client`s know-too-much plot and it`s suspense.

5. The Street Lawyer

SUJECT:

The story is about a lawyer, who gets confronted with the problems of homeless people. At the beginning he was just a normal, rich lawyer who worked for a big law office(D&S), but an incident with a homless changed his life completly and made him to a fighter for the rights of homeless people.

SUMMARY:

The story starts with the scene as Michael Brock, the main character, enters an elevator. He gets pursued by an homeless person, who calls himself  "Mister". As they arrive at the office the "Mister" threat the secretary and 8 lawyers with a gun and with dynamite.

He asks them how much money the rich lawyers give to homeless people, and they say nothing. "Mister" was very angry and wanted to have something to eat so he orders soups from a special homeless shelter, at the same time the police has arrived and they took position in the building. As the homeless man wants to take the soups he gets killed by a police-sniper.

After this incident Michael goes home and told his wife about the things, which happened in his office.

On the next day he goes to his office like every other day, but as he arrives he sees a newspaper which has written about the taking of hostages. That makes Michael thinking about the theme and so he decides to go to the lawyer, which was responsible for the homeless man. The name of the lawyer was Mordecai Green, he tells Michael that "Mister" got kick out of his home. So he decides to go to the man, who was responsible for this evacuation of obligation. He talks with Braden Chance, and wants the document about the homless man. But Mr. Chance doesn't give it to him.

So he goes back to his office and thought about his life and his future. He drives to his parents and somedays later at home, Mordecai Greens calls him. He needs his help, because one of the casual-wards is completly full. So Michael drives to a church and there he helps the personal to give the homeless people something to eat. There he meets the "owner" of this homeless shelter, her name was Miss Dolly.

On the next day he found an anonymous document on his desk, with information about the dead homeless man in it. After the work he goes back to the casual-ward, he buys something to eat for a family there, but as he arrives they aren't there. He helps the personal there one's again, and as he talks with Mordecai, he hears that the family, he wants to help is dead. They suffocated in their car. Michael pays 2000$ for a funeral to the priest, so they get a decently funeral. Mordecai Greens asked Michael, if he wants to work for his firm and Michael says yes. So he goes to his boss and says him that he will quit the office then he goes home.

After he gets the information, that Mr. Chance has the files in his Filing cupboard, by Hector Palma, a lawyer of the D&S office, he goes to his office and steals them. On the way back he has an accident and so he is taken to the hospital. On the next day he could leave the hospital so he goes to Peeler, a friend of Mordecai and policeman, and with his help he gets the files out of his destroyed car. Then he drives to his new small apartement, because his wife has kicked him out of their house and wants the divorce.

After sorting his things he drives to Mordecai and talks with him about his new job, and about the new cases. He wants to talk with Palma about the stolen file, but he only gets the information that Palma doesn't work any longer for D&S.

Michael thought about the case of the homeless one's again and found out, that the homeless people paid a rent for living in their house. So the evacuation would be illegal.

On the next day back in his new office the police arrives and search for the stolen file but they couldn't find it because Michael has hidden it well.

After this incident Michael and Mordecai are going to interview a man, who says that he also get kicked out of  this house although he paid a rent of 100$ to a man called Johnny.

Sarah tells Michael that Hector Palma is in Chicago and so he flys to Chicago and meets him. Palma gives him a note, that confirms Michaels assumption. The homeless people paid rents and so the have the right of tenants and can't be kicked out of there home without a word.

On the next day he gets a citation of the court, because his ex-firm, D&S, sues him of stealing a file. But he wasn't afraid of the citation because he has enough informations about the illegal evacuation to blame his old office.

So the process started, the lawyers of D&S see that they won't win and so they make the suggestion that they will give money to the victims (5000$). But that was not enough for Michael and Mordecai and so they unite an amount of  25.000$. Michael gives back the file but, nevertheless he gets a punishment: he hasn't the right to be a lawyer for 9 months. He assumes the judgement and so the process ends, with a victory of the truth!

CHARACTERS:

Michael Brock: main character and lawyer

Mordecai Green: owner of a lawyer office and member of a casual-ward

Braden Chance: lawyer of D&S

Hector Palma: former member of the D&S