The Pelican Brief

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful.
Review: Besides The King of Torts and The Runaway Jury, this is one of my favorite Grisham books. I just think that this one could have been a bit shorter. There was a lot of unnecessary information that could have been left out. It was a great book nonetheless. After three judges are murdered, a young female law student writes a short brief suggesting who committed the murders and why. The brief is passed around to too many people and now some of those people want her dead.

Rating:
Summary: One of Grisham's best
Review: This is one of Grisham's early books, and in my opinion, one of his best. As his writing has progressed, it has been very bad. This book, and a handful of his early books are good. The Pelican Brief is action packed and intense. It will have you guessing until the end! Marvelous Read!

Rating:
Summary: You'll Never Read Another Book Like It! Remarkable!
Review: This was such a cool book! (well, it's John Grisham, and of course it's cool!) See, I watched the movie, before I read the book, and I don't recommend that. always read the book first. But, the book was awesome! I'm a big John Grisham fan (who isn't?) and I loved this book! It's smart, funny-at times- suspenseful, and such a detailed & awesome story!

Rating:
Summary: Fast read, page turner.
Review: I picked this book up at the airport on my way home and read almost 200 pages that day. Within 5 days I had finished it because I read it at every free moment I had. It has a very interesting story line that has suspense and surprise. I realize that some parts to it seem far fetched, but it is nonetheless interesting. The storyline you can surmise from the other reviews. If you are a Girsham fan or into legal thrillers this is for you. This book can really find a way to occupy your time. Trust me, there's a reason that they sell it in every airport bookstore.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: I love most of Grisham's books and have several of them and this is one of my favorites. Another is THE CLIENT. Two Supreme Court justices are killed and the government is baffled as to who could have done it and a law student decides to figure out who was responsible and does, but then is on the run for her life. She can't trust anyone. It seems that everyone that reads the brief she has written is getting killed. There is a lot of manipulation in the government offices, from the White House, to the FBI, and to the CIA. The FBI gets hold of the brief, but doesn't really take it seriously and yet there is mention of the President in it, and since there is a personality clash between some of the FBI officials and the administration, decides to make the president think they are taking it seriously. Then events really get rolling. The book is fast paced and exciting all the way through.

Rating:
Summary: Another fun thriller by John Grisham
Review: The thing that I admire about John Grisham is that he has a way of explaining legal procedure to the reader that does not condesend and actually makes you feel intellegent afterwards. He did a great job of doing it in "The Firm" and now Grisham fans will be pleased by this installment as the thrills take you not only to the south but also to the steps of the White House. At the risk of not rehashing the premise and plot, I found some of Grisham's most colorful characters are in this one, namely the President and his Chief of Staff. Also a minor character in "The Firm" plays a much larger role. Both Tom Clancy and Anne Rice do this trick and I love it. Also his use of dialogue is amazing and you wind up going through a surprizing amount of pages in a short amount of time.

The only drawback is the while the premise is unique it is somewhat flimsy. And while there are plenty of nail biting chases, and varoius twists and turns, I did not find myself becoming emotionally drawn to the characters. I know Grisham is capable of doing it, just read "A Time to Kill." However the payoff is at the end. It really packs a punch and it made me want to read the book again. I have reshelved this one to make sure I do just that some time next year. While far from a modern classic, the book does what it's supposed to: Entertains you and makes want to pick up another one of his books. Good reading.

Rating:
Summary: The Pelican Brief
Review: Annotation: The Supreme Court justices are assinated with no know infomation, a Tulane law student finds an unlikley suspect. She has to run and hide because they want her dead, because she exposed the Pelican Brief.

Author Bio: The Pelican Brisf was written by John Grisham. Before he became an author he worked 60-70 hours a week at a law practice. His first hit was the firm and it was huge. john also writes law books. some other books that he has written was A Time to Kill and the Chamber.

Evaluation: The book the Pelican Brief was one of the best books i have ever read. I thought the book made you think, and try to figure out the next twist in the book. i never got lost durring the book which i normaly do, so the author did a great job to catch my attention. My favorite part of the book was the part when Thomas is blown up in his car and Darby was with the killer taht said he was a cop. that forces her to go on the run knowing that someone is out to kill her. the book was put together great and i would give it a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5. That is my evaluation of the Pelican Brief.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, but that's about it.
Review: I think that an average customer rating of 3 1/2 stars is good for this book. It may not have been the best book I have ever read (thrid grade writing) or the worst I have ever read (try The Secret History or A Map of the World). I thought that the Pelican Brief was an enjoying, fast paced, and occasionally scary read. On a dark night in Washington D.C., a man disgusied as a jogger sneaks into an invalid's house and kills him, his nurse, and the cop guarding him. On the same night, within a porno house, another man is strangled to death. The next day America awakens to find that two key Supreme Court Justices have been assasinated. And in Harvard Law School, a beautiful young woman writes a legal brief...Darby Shaw was only guessing. She never meant what she wrote. Her guess at the murder was completely a joke. But all of a sudden she is witness to a car bomb and her boyfriend is dead- which was meant for her. This sends Darby into hiding from numerous assisins and she may only be saved by Gray Grantham, an aspiring newsreporter looking for his story. I did like The Pelican Brief, but I felt it was too easy to read. I also would have liked it more if Grisham had delved into Gray's character a little more. But it was much better than the pitiful The Firm, which restored my faith in John Grisham.

Rating:
Summary: Implausible but Entertaining, with Flashes of Brilliance
Review: As several other reviewers here have noted, the plot of this novel is based on numerous implausibilities. The biggest, to me, were

- that somebody could predict years in advance that a court case would reach the Supreme Court.

- that the bad guys would try to kill people connected to the brief when precisely that would only reinforce the credibility of an otherwise rather far-fetched theory.

- that the protagonist is so reluctant about sharing her brief with the world, when disseminating it would be the easiest way of ensuring that killing her had no further value for the bad guys (and indeed, they run as soon as the story is finally published).

To compound these issues, the novel ends with essentially the same escapist ending as _The Firm_, the Grisham novel I'd read prior to this one.

However, despite all these weaknesses, this was an entertaining book that made for a fun 2 days of reading. As a further redeeming merit, Grisham had a surprising flash of brilliance when he equipped this novel (written in the early 1990s) with a dimwitted, hands-off, U.S. president, run by his handlers, whose interests were mainly playing golf, packing the Supreme Court with rabid right wingers, and doing favors to his cronies.

Rating:
Summary: The Pelican Brief
Review: The Pelican Brief, by John Grisham, is a thriller guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. This book is about Darby Shaw, a Tulane law student, who uncovered a massive conspiracy involving a prestigious law firm and of all things, pelicans. Darby Shaw gets caught up in whirlwind of adventure because she wrote a brief that linked, Victor Mattiece, an important contributor to the President, to the murders of two Supreme Justices. The result was her being the subject of a manhunt and many left dead in her wake, including her lover and professor.
The story's action includes the rush to gather evidence for the biggest "newspaper story since Watergate." It leads to Gary Grantham meeting up with Darby Shaw and the two teaming up to bring down the White House. The subplots include a romance between the two protagonists. Another is Gray Grantham's own quest to gather evidence to get a big news story and to revive his career. The book is very exciting and makes you keep the book until you finish it.
The book is very suspenseful and leaves the reader wanting to learn more at the end of every chapter. The book starts out a little slowly with the exceptions of the assassinations, but it gradually picks up speed. The first part of the book describes the characters and sets up the rest of the book, but after that there is a good deal of action. This is also a romantic novel in which the main character deals with the loss of her lover to the romance of her with another. Another strength of the book is that there is a lot of detailed description of the characters. For example, when we are introduced to Victor Mattiece, we see him as "his skin was leathery and dark bronze. His bare feet were lined with ugly veins. His toenails were long and yellow." This provides a very vivid picture.
Although the book is suspenseful, the book's "puzzle pieces" do not fall together until the end. The book is very tricky and misleading. For example, at the beginning, the book makes you think that a certain person is a bad guy only to learn in the end that that he was working undercover for the CIA. Another weakness is that this book does not mention the main antagonist many times, and the ending leaves you hanging. The ending shows Darby Shaw and Gray Grantham, a reporter, getting together, but nothing about Victor Mattiece getting captured or anything.
The other main weakness is mostly the lack of development of the characters, especially the main character. What we know about Darby Shaw is mostly at a surface level. For example, we know that she feels sad for the death of her lover. However, we do not see it greatly or she does not make other people think that way. Another weakness is actually its strength. Although the book has a lot of details, the book focuses too much on them and does not really go deeply into the action. For example, when the car bomb killed her lover, we see a lot of Darby's emotion and shock, but we do not see description of how the car looked.
The book is a good read for people who like adventure with a little bit of law mixed in. I will give it 7 out of 10 stars, because it was very exciting with only a few minor weaknesses. The book has some very exciting scenes. I recommend this book for people who like thrillers, but do not mind a show start.