The Pelican Brief

Rating:
Summary: Pelican Brief
Review: The Pelican Brief could have been better, but nonetheless was another example of author John Grisham's ability to write suspenseful, gripping novels about lawyers and other law-involved figures. I am a Republican and conservative, and contrary to another opinion I read I enjoyed it immensly. However, if you have yet to read his book such as The Runaway Jury, The Firm, or The Partner, then you may wish to read these first. Grisham is undoubtedly one of the best authors of today, and this book is another example of his fine work.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: While the book entertained me, it is certainily not a book for Republicans. Grisham is definately a democrat and some of his stereotypes can be offensive. Besides that, it is certainly an entertaining and often gripping read.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly-done plot mixed with clever characters
Review: Grisham does well with the character development in this story...each of his characters is well-rounded and 3-dimensional. His legal proficiency also jumps off the pages through the clever things that Darby and Gray come up with. The problem lies in the inherent inadequacy of the plot. It is pretty badly flawed and the "trust no one" theme is unbelievable and tiring from the start. Grisham's characters do come back at the end to save the book and the finale (which does tell you what the hell a pelican brief is) is enough to make it worth your time and maybe a little bit of money. In the end, Grisham's well-done characters manage to save his subpar plot from sinking.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book with a fabulous plot
Review: I found this book to be highly enjoyable. It starts off with two Supreme Court Justices being murdered right before election day. The two men had received many death threats so there were a lot of groups as to who could have killed them. One of the men who died was the oldest Supreme Court Justice and was also the most hated. Many suspect the two murders are connected but no one has any proof because the murders were very clean and seemingly no evidence was left behind. The two men were murdered by a infamous terrorist named Khamel. He murdered Justice Rosenberg in his home and Justice Jensen in a gay movie house. There were no witnesses to either crime. Darby Shaw, a law student at Tulane University, spends days in the college library trying to crack this case. She writes a long brief about what she thinks happened and gives it to her boyfriend, who happens to be her professor. Because he found the brief to be very interesting, he gave it to one of his friends in the CIA. The brief gets passed around until the President reads it. That's when Darby nearly escapes a bomb and is forced to go on the run. Her only contact as she tries to save her life is her boyfriend's friend, the man who first read the brief.

Rating:
Summary: The Pelican Brief
Review: It is rare for a book to be equally as brilliant as the one that preceded it, but that is exactly what happens with John Grisham's latest thriller about a law student running for her life. The Pelican Brief refers to the title of a legal brief written by a law student named Darby Shaw who writes a brief explaining who she thinks may have assassinated two Supreme Court justices. When her mentor / lover gets a hold of it the wrong people learn of it's existence and now they must have Darby killed because her brief is dead on perfect. Turning to a reporter named Gray Grantham Darby must go on the run and expose the truth. Darby is a well-written and developed character and so is Gray who is smartly written and not just a stereotypical black man. Full of action and intrigue the Pelican Brief is a fantastic read.

Rating:
Summary: The Pelican Brief
Review: When one thinks of the name John Grisham, the image of an author of legal thrillers more than likely comes to mind. John Grisham has been knocking off about a book a year for the past decade, and all of them in some way have been related to the law.

The Pelican Brief is no exception. While it has to do more with the Supreme Court and law students than with practicing lawyers, law is a major topic in the book. Joining law are the topics of assassination, cover-ups, and brilliant theories.

The Plot

Darby Shaw is a second-year law student at Tulane. She is a brilliant student, and enjoys a relationship with Thomas Callahan, her Constitutional Law professor. Thomas has a particular liking for Supreme Court Justice Abe Rosenberg. Rosenberg is one of the most hated men in the country, so it is not much of a surprise when Rosenberg is murdered-any number of people and groups could be suspects.

What is a surprise is when another Supreme Court Justice, Glenn Jensen, is murdered on the same night. The two judges have almost no viewpoints in common and seem like an unlikely pair. Soon, every FBI agent is on the case, and hundreds of eager-beaver law students are scouring the court dockets, looking for a case that might disclose a possible motive.

Among these student researchers is Darby Shaw. She comes up with a unique theory of her own, and even goes so far as to write up a brief about it. It becomes known as "The Pelican Brief." Darby gives her writing to Callahan, who passes it off to Gavin Verheek, a high-ranking friend of his at the FBI. From there, Darby forgets about it.

A week later, Darby and Callahan go out to dinner, and Callahan becomes drunk. Darby refuses to ride home with him, which means that she sees Callahan's car explode. Callahan is dead-and she was supposed to be with him. Suddenly, it appears to Darby that her brief was right on target. I'll let your imagination take it from there.

So, what'd I think of it?

Why did I like this one? First of all, It is a mystery involving death. That always means a few points on the scorecard. Second, enough details were given that I could follow each of the main characters' trains of thought. Third, I liked the inclusion of the newspaper reporter (didn't mention that, did I?) once Darby's other sources are, um, no longer available. I learned a lot about the process of law through Grisham's books, and in this one, I got to learn some about the process of news writing in this book as well.

So should someone read it?

Sure, why not? Seriously, if you're into lawyer stories or stories of bringing down the bad guy, it's a fun book. It's also a decently simple read. The pages go quickly. The Pelican Brief, book and movie, is a fun story that's worth the time invested.

Rating:
Summary: The entire story is based on an erroneous premise
Review: This novel makes no sense. A law student does some research and looks up some information in the public records and writes a summary of her findings. OK now this information is , through a lot of contrivance, turned over the FBI. Conveniently, the head of the FBI wants to hang the President out to dry. I can live with all of the contrivance up to this point in the story; but, once the brief is turned over to the FBI, they have all of the information the law student had and stronger motivation to hang the President, so why kill the student? And why write a whole novel about attempts to kill her?

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not his best
Review: Not my favorite Grisham novel but still a pretty decent book and definately a page turner.

I get a good chuckle reading some of these reviews that state, "I am a lawyer and Grisham doesn't know what he is talking about!" or "A story like this could never happen!". Those folks probably zigged when they should have zagged to get to the NON-FICTION section. I read Grisham's novels because they are enjoyable and are pretty easy to follow. I can't wait for these same people to ridicule Steven King. "There is NO WAY a person can start fires with their mind!" or "I am a mechanic and I know for sure that Cars don't have minds of their own!"

Give the guy a break....sheesh

Rating:
Summary: The Pelican Brief
Review: All I can say is read this book. I had to read it for a project in school and was rather reluctant to. The length intimidated me and it seemed to be another law mystery novel. Then I started to read it and was instantly hooked. Darby Shaw, a law school student, and a reporter named Gray slowly unwravel the Pelican Brief, the murderer, and the motive in this suspenceful novel!

Rating:
Summary: Would You Like That To Go?
Review: Well its another McBook from the burn and turn factory know as Grisham Inc. I am convinced he has a group of Santa's elf's slaving away in some South Carolina sweat shop turning these screen plays - sorry, I mean books out. If you have read some of the authors books in the past you have a good idea of what you are going to get. An easy to read and understandable book that is as light as cotton candy. I actually think the movie was better. Why do I read his books, for the same reason I eat junk food, it is easy to get, fast and not complicated. Sometimes you just need a little light reading to take the stress from the day and his books fit that bill.