The Rainmaker

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Summary: Rudy Baylor, the Rocky Balboa of all attorneys.
Review: John Grisham has crafted an intriguing, fast-paced story which will keep the reader turning pages long after the the family has gone to sleep. Grisham's main character, Rudy Baylor, quickly becomes a close acquaintance of the reader. Rudy is a young, ambitious law student who gets thoroughly "kicked around" by circumstances beyond his control. His inherent intelligence and amazing ability to make the right decisions at the right time, especially while employed by a "sleaze-bucket" attorney firm in Memphis, eventually bring him to the ultimate heights of justice and jurisprudence in the American legal system. The final pages caused me to wonder if it is possible that Rudy Baylor might, in some way, be related to Rocky Balboa? Grisham laces his stories with believability in his characters and just enough legaleze to wrap us in tight blanket of suspense. A must read.

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Summary: Make it better next time!
Review: This is the first Grisham's book I've read. I'm totally surprised because it's not what I'm expected. The plot is really slow and the ending is predictable. I don't think that kind of Judge Kipler was exist and we can't expect more from Rudy. And what a verdict! Please, Grisham. Make it believable!!

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Summary: Grisham's Rainmaker: a good first draft
Review: This novel has a number of fairly serious structural problems. While Grisham can plot interestingly, and I admit his protagonist is basically appealing, he wastes a great deal of time on subplots which simply go nowhere and have no significance to the story as a whole. The courtroom scenes are the best- written in the book, but they unfortunately don't provide much in the way of conflict -- the protagonist simply storms through the trial without a single hitch, and with quite a few things going his way purely through random luck. There is a romance -- but it's badly developed, and the female half of it is a pure stereotype, without a single distinguishing characteristic. I give this book a reluctant six because despite its many flaws, it does succeed in capturing the reader's attention fairly well.

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Summary: An intense page-turner
Review: I picked up this book while delayed for several hours at Detroit Airport, and wow! I couldn't put it down. I read it almost straight through over the next couple of days, and it is one of the best books I've read. Very exciting

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Summary: Couldn't put down!!!
Review: From the first page to the last a gripping novel which keeps you attention. Marvelous outcome.

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Summary: Typical Grisham suspense thriller
Review: "The Rainmaker" is the best book written by the master storyteller. It shows how his style has devolped since "The Firm". It also shows how he has sensitively dealt with death.The best book I have read in along time.

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Summary: A fast-moving story with great characterization.
Review: I was truly impressed with the characterization of Rudy, the newly-graduated lawyer who just can't seem to get a break. While he is dealing with the disappointment of losing his first job before it even started, he still cares enough about other people to not let them fall through the cracks. I could feel how important it was to him to help people, not take advantage of them for the quick buck. The minor characters are well-written also. Before The Chamber, my biggest complaint about Grisham novels was that, while they were long on drama and action, they were short in fleshing out the actors. I am happy to say that Grisham has now had great characters in two of his books! I can't wait to read Runaway Jury (as soon as my husband finishes it)

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Summary: This is Grisham`s best !
Review: This novel is the best novel I read of John Grisham. This novel has a bit of everything: a a lot of humor, a bit of action, a bit of romance, and it has a lot of suspense. As the story ends the suspense rises and doesn`t stop until the last few pages. It shows viewpoints of issues like spousal abuse. The best thing of this book is the complex plotting.

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Summary: Honest, hard-working folks take on a major insurance company
Review: A story about regular, everyday kind of people who are honest and hard-working. The neat thing is the way the battle against the insurance company is tackled. It had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down. Justice is done

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Summary: Will someone please find an editor for John Grisham!
Review: It seems that Mr. Grisham is now being paid by the word. There are perhaps 150 good pages of writing in this 500 page opus. They involve the actual courtcase, which is fast moving with creative and surprising twists and turns. The problems develop when the author inserts multiple storylines that exist independently of the central case and, in the vast majority of them, are not resolved in the confines of the book. Case in point, Rudy's second boss is implicated in some underworld dealings. After focusing on these for several pages, they are never referred to again. In addition, his focus on a half-developed personal relationship between Rudy and a needy twenty-something is never explained and seems to exist for Hollywood's purposes only. If you want to read Grisham, read "A Time to Kill"