Rating: 
Summary: Grisham Prevails Again
Review: I am no stranger to the writings of John Grisham. After reading A Time to Kill I really took a liking to his style of writing, but after reading The Client he has become one of my favorite authors. As a possible future criminal justice student, this book is was right up my alley due to it's setting in a law atmosphere, yet, held the suspense needed to keep my attention throughout the book.
At the beginning of the book Romey, a lawyer defending an accused murderer, is sitting in the woods and commits suicide by shooting himself in the mouth. As Romey committed suicide he is watched by two young boys Mark Sway and Mark's little brother, Ricky. Before Romey commits suicide he talks to Mark about how his one client, "the Blade" was guilty of murdering Senator Boyette. Romey, also went on to say that the body of the senator was buried under Romey's boat in his garage. After Romey committed his act, Mark went straight to the police with his information. All the while, the mafia is aware that Mark knows the story behind the murder and threatens the young boy and his family. Mark gets scared about talking to the FBI and refuses to speak a word. He is thrown in jail but soon hires a lawyer, Reggie Love. Mark only trusts Reggie and tries very hard not to tell the feds anything about what he heard in the woods from Romey. Reggie, although a young lawyer, does a very good job at keeping Mark from having to tell the FBI much about what he heard as well. Mark decides to go see if the body is really where Romey said. Mark convinces Reggie to go with him. They find the body under the boat, however, "the Blade" and his buddies are there as well. To find out if Reggie and Mark escape without harm from the Mafia or get killed you will have to read the book.
The character development in this book was flawless. One was let into Mark's world and saw why he was such a strong character. He was not willing to back down to the police. He was so strong from his background having an abusive father and motherless home. One was even told a lot about insignificant characters. I did not feel that this story was very believable. I do not think that an eleven year old trailer living boy would be as smart as he was portrayed in this book. He acted as if he new the law like the back of his hand. Very unlikely even for a boy of my age to know the law like this young chap did. However, believable or not the story was still good.
The ending was so predictable is was embarrassing to Grisham. It was no surprise at all what was going to happen to the boy. From the get go Reggie, although a young lawyer, should have thought of the ending before. It was pretty elementary. If the boy was as smart as he was, he should have known what he could do as well.
Overall, I thought the book was really good. It was boring at times and the ending brought the book down some. However most of the time the pages went by quickly. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. I understood the words used in the book about law, however, I do not think that many teenagers would know all the words unless they have had a law class. Due to this I do not recommend The Client to teenagers. Rather, this book would appeal to people in there twenties to forties due to its judicial aspects. I give this book a rating of a 4.0 due to my interest in the law yet not a 5.0 due to the ending and unbelievable aspects. Yet again Grisham prevails as a great author.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyed it
Review: I enjoyed reading the book and also enjoyed the movie. Susan Sarandon is the best!
Rating:
Summary: This is a cool book!
Review: I really thought that this was a cool book! I had seen parts of the movie first and I think that that might have made it seem more real. I really enjoyed this book and I recomend it to mystery lovers!
Rating: 
Summary: unimpressed
Review: I'm a college student studying abroad in Germany, and starved for some english reading material I picked up The Client in a bookstore here. I had never read any Grisham but there isn't much english selection in German book stores. Frankly, I was unimpressed. The story is halfway decent, but Grisham has no identifiable style to speak of. It reads like a 3rd grade essay on the pyramids. The characterization is forced and contrived. There's not one character with any depth, and even their names are ridiculous. As a study abroad student I can't help but feel ashamed that our country somehow made this book a bestseller. If you have a reading level above that of a 10 year old, pick up a John Irving novel, or even a Harry Potter book! Save yourself from the mind-numbing nothingness that is John Grisham.
Rating: 
Summary: THE CLIENT
Review: In the two years since The Firm first captured the imagination of America'a readers, John Grisham, with three consecutive number - one bestsellers, has become one of the most popular authors of our time. Now, in The Client, he has written a novel so irresistible, so thoroughly entertaining and satisfying, that it is sure not only to please his millions of fans, but to win him new ones as well. This is the story of eleven year old Mark Sway, who, as the novel opens, witnesses the bizarre suicide of a New Orleans attorney. Just before he dies, the lawyer tells Mark a deadly secret concerning the recent murder of a Louisiana Senator, whose accused killer, Mafia thug Barry Muldanno, is about to go to trial. The police, the federal prosecutor, and the FBI pressure Mark to tell them the attorney's last words, but he knows that with the mob watching his every move, revealing his secret will almost surely get him killed. So Mark, streetwise and old beyond his years, hires a lawyer: Reggie Love, a fifty - two - year- old divorcee who's been through more than anyone could imagine and survived, basically, because she's tough. And feisty. And loves helping kids overlooked or abused by the system. But when Mark's life is threatened, and Reggie discovers her office has been bugged, and even the Juvenile Court judge says Mark has no choice but to talk, she realizes that she's in way over her head. But then Mark comes up with a plan ...a crazy plan, in Reggie's opinion, but it's their only hope. And it just might work. With the page - turning suspense and terrific plot twists that have become John Grisham's trademark, he has once again crafted a novel that simply cannot be put down. But in The Client Grisham has gone a step further with a cast of unforgettable characters headed by the most original hero in years, he has mixed equal parts humor and warmth to truly expand the boundaries of the legal thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Well wrote and developed no boring moments
Review: John Grisham is back at his best. This book is incredibly well written and the plot is riveting. Mark Sway is an 11 year old boy who is out teaching his brother how to smoke. While out the boys meet the lawyer of Barry "The Blade" Muldano. Mark's life is forever changed as he learns the most sought after secret in the U.S. Now Mark's brother is in the hospital in shock, and the F.B.I. and the mafia are on his tail. The only other person that Mark can trust and that knows his secret is Reggie Love. A 4 year lawyer who specializes in child law. Reggie is coming off a bought with depression and the loss of both her children to a nasty divorce. Now the race is own as Reggie attempts to protect her new client from the F.B.I. and his life from the mob. The clock is ticking. Can Reggie save the day and keep Mark safe. The plot of this book is well developed and the detail is exquisite. This is one of Grisham's best and I have read them all. I could not put the book down and if you like Grisham books or suspense neither will you.
Rating:
Summary: David vs Goliath
Review: Never in 11-year old Mark Sway's life has he been in more trouble than he is now - he knows where the mob buried the body of a prominent senator. The FBI is harassing him to give out his secret while the mob is threatening to harm him and his family. He seeks the help of lawyer Reggie Love and they figure out how to make a deal with the authorities without the mob getting to them first.
The story is fascinating because it shows characters that we expect to be helpless but went against the odds to overcome their adversaries. We expect a kid to be defenseless but Mark displayed on many occasions that he has street-smarts to out-wit the grown-ups. The fact that he was able to hire a lawyer shows his atypical maturity. Reggie is every bit a tough and aggressive lawyer although she's already in her 50's, is only practicing law for 4 years and has been through a difficult divorce that put her in therapy. A kid and an old lady against the feds and the mob: it's an intriguing and compelling tale.
Rating:
Summary: One of Grisham's very best
Review: Okay, I'm not a completely qualified Grisham fan having only read half (six) of his novels, but this one ranks near the top of my list, anyway, just below the sensational The Rainmaker and slightly above The Pelican Brief. I imagine this book will stay the near the top of that list for quite some time. I found the book good on several levels. The plot is simplistic, but one of those "what if" scenarios that I'm sure many writers had thought about before but never voices. What if a child overheard important information in a criminal case and refused - for whatever reason - not to tell. In this case, that child is Mark Sway, an eleven-year-old trailor-trash type with a single mother who struggles to make ends meet for Mark and his eight-year-old brother Ricky. Mark and Ricky stumble across a man on the verge of committing suicide, try to save him, and the man spills the beans on why he's committing suicide - he's the lawyer of a much-sought and dangerous Mafia man who's hidden the body of a dead senator. The lawyer tells Mark where the body is and then proceeds to kill himself, just as he'd intended to long ago. Perhaps what I liked about this book so much was that the main character wasn't a lawyer. Usually, Grisham's novels (at least the one's I've read) have had a lawyer as the main character, and it's told through a lawyers eyes. Here, we see everything with a child's innocence. Mark may be very mature for his age (having helped his mother file for divorce from his abusive father, among other things), but he still has that inner child that adds something to every scene - the questioning about whether to lie or not, the regret afterwards, the thoughts of his mother and his brother (who went into shock after seeing the suicide) and wishing he was back on a playground where things were simple, even the more mature thoughts of who he could trust. It's very easy to care for this child. I was with him the entire way. The Client kept me interested. It wasn't predictable. Many of the scenes were quite funny, actually. Grisham develops fantastic dynamics between several of the parties involve - Reggie and the FBI, Harry the Judge and the FBI, even the mob members don't get along. And it doesn't dwell too much on the legal aspect of it, I'm sure everyone'll be happy to hear, and whenever it is used, it's brought down the child's level. Still, assuming Grisham actually knows what he's talking about, I did learn a little bit about the "system", as I would hope to from a novel that uses it. But it's only there to propel the stories and the characters forward. Overall, I recommend this to any Grisham or non-Grisham fan out there. I started reading The Rainmaker last summer thinking I would set it down within half an hour, but I ended up finishing it in under a week. I'm not normally a fan of legal thrillers, but he's a fabulous, concise and easy-to-read author who has a knack for creating original and compassionate characters. Every once in a while you'll find a good moral, too, although he never preaches it to you. For this novel: Watch you say.
Rating:
Summary: The best yet!!!!
Review: Once I started, I could not stop! I would read it again. Loved this one!!! It's a must read! From start to finish, Grisham layed out the guidelines for the stunning conclusion. That was all I read for two weeks. Never have I been so impressed.
Rating: 
Summary: Expected so much more
Review: Rather disappointing after the fast pace and cliffhanger action of The Pelican Brief. I don't mind stereotypes and ham acting (see, I keep thinking about his books as movies) but I want some thrill and suspense to compensate. I have no use for flat characters in an amateur kid psychology novel. Halfway through the book I decided to quickly read ahead and see how it finished and I'm glad I didn't waste more time on it.
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