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Worldwide best-seller John Grisham goes rogue with his most suspenseful thriller yet.... Sometimes you have to fight dirty to get clean. Sebastian Rudd takes the cases no one else wants to take: the drug-addled punk accused of murdering two little girls; a crime lord on death row; a homeowner accused of shooting at a SWAT team. l Rudd believes that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair trial - even if he has to cheat to get one.
He's their lawyer. He's their insider. He's their spy. Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father’s small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn’t want - even though it’s a job most law students can only dream about.
Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no one's surprise - especially Troy's - are circling like vultures. Nate O'Riley is a high-octane Washington litigator who's lived too hard, too fast, for too long. His second marriage is a shambles, and he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions, and resilient sense of humour.
The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week. As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe.
The classic legal thriller and huge bestseller from master of the genre John Grisham. David Zinc has it all: Big firm, big salary, life in the lawyer's fast lane. Until the day he snaps and throws it all away. Leaving the world of corporate law far behind, he talks himself into a new job with Finley & Figg. A self-styled 'boutique' firm with only two partners, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are ambulance-chasing street lawyers who hustle nickel-and-dime cases, dreaming of landing the big win.
When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his 10-year-old daughter, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. But when extremists outside Clanton hear that a black man has killed two white men, they invade the town, determined to destroy anything and anyone that opposes their sense of justice. Jake Brigance has been hired to defend Hailey. It's the kind of case that can make or break a young lawyer.
Worldwide best-seller John Grisham goes rogue with his most suspenseful thriller yet.... Sometimes you have to fight dirty to get clean. Sebastian Rudd takes the cases no one else wants to take: the drug-addled punk accused of murdering two little girls; a crime lord on death row; a homeowner accused of shooting at a SWAT team. l Rudd believes that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair trial - even if he has to cheat to get one.
He's their lawyer. He's their insider. He's their spy. Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father’s small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn’t want - even though it’s a job most law students can only dream about.
Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no one's surprise - especially Troy's - are circling like vultures. Nate O'Riley is a high-octane Washington litigator who's lived too hard, too fast, for too long. His second marriage is a shambles, and he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions, and resilient sense of humour.
The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week. As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe.
The classic legal thriller and huge bestseller from master of the genre John Grisham. David Zinc has it all: Big firm, big salary, life in the lawyer's fast lane. Until the day he snaps and throws it all away. Leaving the world of corporate law far behind, he talks himself into a new job with Finley & Figg. A self-styled 'boutique' firm with only two partners, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are ambulance-chasing street lawyers who hustle nickel-and-dime cases, dreaming of landing the big win.
When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his 10-year-old daughter, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. But when extremists outside Clanton hear that a black man has killed two white men, they invade the town, determined to destroy anything and anyone that opposes their sense of justice. Jake Brigance has been hired to defend Hailey. It's the kind of case that can make or break a young lawyer.
Number One bestseller John Grisham returns with his most suspenseful thriller yet. Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of the USA only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett just became number five. His body was found in the small basement of a lakeside cabin he had built himself and frequently used on weekends.
A classic legal thriller from the master of the genre. Trumble is a minimum-security federal prison, a 'camp', home to the usual assortment of relatively harmless criminals - drug dealers, bank robbers, swindlers, embezzlers, tax evaders, two Wall Street crooks, one doctor, at least five lawyers. And three former judges who call themselves the Brethren: one from Texas, one from California, and one from Mississippi.
All trails became dead ends. Tips that had at first seemed urgent now faded away. The waiting game began. Whoever had the manuscripts would want money, and a lot of it. They would surface eventually, but where and when, and how much would they want? The most daring and devastating heist in literary history targets a high security vault located deep beneath Princeton University. Valued at $25 million, the five manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzgerald's only novels are amongst the most valuable in the world....
An innocent man is about to be executed. Only a guilty man can save him. For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn't understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn't care. He just can't believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction.
Law students Mark, Todd and Zola wanted to change the world - to make it a better place. But these days these three disillusioned friends spend a lot of time hanging out in The Rooster Bar, the place where Todd serves drinks. As third-year students, they realise they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs.
In the corridors of Chicago's top law firm: Twenty-six-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case. Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison: Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances -- except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson.
Politics has always been a dirty game. Now justice is, too. In a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town’s water supply, causing the worst 'cancer cluster' in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict or reverse it.
The most corrupt judge in US history. A young investigator with a secret informant. The electrifying new thriller. Lacy Stoltz never expected to be in the firing line. Investigating judicial misconduct by Florida's 1,000 judges, her cases so far have been relatively unexciting. That's until she meets Greg Myers, an indicted lawyer with an assumed name who has an extraordinary tale to tell. Myers is representing a whistle-blower who knows of a judge involved in organised crime.
It's summer in Memphis. The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor's shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels. Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life. Now he doesn't have a job or a prayer-except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it. By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him.
The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September, 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a "good crop". Thus begins the new novel from John Grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural Arkansas.
They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well. But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm.
Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with 800 lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man?
Worldwide best-seller John Grisham will keep you on the edge of your seat with his most suspenseful thriller yet.
America's greatest storyteller brings us a new masterpiece of legal courage and gripping suspense - and his finest heroine since The Pelican Brief.
Donovan Gray is ruthless and fearless. Just the kind of lawyer you need, deep in small-town Appalachia.
Samantha Kofer is a world away from her former life at New York's biggest law firm. If she is going to survive in coal country, she needs to start learning fast.
Because as Donovan knows only too well, the mountains have their own laws. And standing up for the truth means putting your life on the line....
What would have made Gray Mountain better?
I love John Grisham's novels. I have read them all so the instant I knew his latest one was out on Audible, I bought it. However, this was not exactly the usual Grisham literary gold!
The story is predictable, trite and - I never thought I would write this about a Grisham novel - boring! The protagonist is female and sometimes the narrative feels more like a bad chick-lit novel, particularly when the dialog is between two women. No, dear John G., women do not talk about their sexual adventures minutes after meeting each other. The romantic encounters told through his protagonist are toe-curling and hackneyed and I couldn't help thinking that all it would have taken him to make the female lead credible (and less annoying!) would just have been to give her the voice that as he normally gives his male leads. Instead this woman is whinging, indecisive and not very likeable.
What didn’t you like about Catherine Taber’s performance?
The narration was wooden; monotone, abrupt and with so little tonal variation that it almost lulled me to sleep on several occasions.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
I can highly recommend this book if you are suffering from insomnia, have a soft spot for Barbara Cartland morphed with Marian Keys and only need a light sprinkle of excitement.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
What disappointed you about Gray Mountain?
This book starts depressing, gets out a pick axe and digs itself deeper.
What was most disappointing about John Grisham’s story?
The story lacks any depth in narrative, plot or characters.
Examples of basic lack of research or even in touch with reality and practicality:-
Reference is continually made to 51mm calibre sniper rifles. That's 2 inches in US speak. That size would be a Cannon on wheels! What he meant was a 50 calibre which is 0.5 inches. Don't get excited, there's no gripping storyline attached.
There is some wandering around mountain areas described as 100 acres but to tie in with the narrative would be ten times that size.
Would you be willing to try another one of Catherine Taber’s performances?
Not having listened to any other narrations by Catherine it might be unfair to judge her with this one. I hope she thought it best to deepen and enhance the story's depths of depression.
She was successful.
One imagines her going in to therapy after completing the book.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Redeeming qualities? One hopes Grisham gets such a lashing with this book that he understands his followers expect better of him.
One redeeming line, obviously by accident, the heroine, in a light aircraft, puts on a headset and the pilot says "Say something". She says "Something".
Any additional comments?
I have no idea why Grisham's publisher didn't turn the manuscript down for the good of his reputation.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
What would have made Gray Mountain better?
It had the potential of having a good end but it just did not deliver.
What will your next listen be?
I was going to go for another Grisham but not so sure. Probably Frost at Christmas
What didn’t you like about Catherine Taber’s performance?
She fitted the character but not outstanding
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I felt let down by the end of the book. It had an end yes but just not that inspiring
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
What would have made Gray Mountain better?
I love Grisham novels and have every one in either book or audio. Really looked forward to downloading this new one. What a disappointment. The plot is the old one of nasty business polluting the ground and the water. The story rambles along taking hours, literally, to get anywhere. The main character is the usual young female lawyer so they chose a woman to narrate it. No problem except she has only one voice and one pace of delivery. Everyone speaks the same! Men or women. Often you have no idea who is speaking - but you don't really care.
The narration is soporific - I fell asleep three times before I gave up after 5 1/2 hours. If this is really Grisham writing he should quit now. And, Audible, pension off the narrator before she bores anyone else to death.
Has Gray Mountain put you off other books in this genre?
No, love legal thrillers. But this is the worst yet.
What didn’t you like about Catherine Taber’s performance?
See above. Boring, monotonic, one paced, no ability to give different voices to characters . Listening to rough male characters talking like a girl just ruins enjoyment.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Very disappointed. Angry to be ripped off for such garbage. Sad for Grisham if he needs to stoop to this to augment his pension.
Any additional comments?
Don't download - even if you get it for free!!!
8 of 9 people found this review helpful
The ending didn't tie up any cases & thus it was a disappointing read. An avid fan but not happy onez
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
none
What will your next listen be?
not sure, always looking for a good story
How could the performance have been better?
add some action, some thrill anything! The story was dull from start to end no follow thru
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Well the description of the coal country was educational and the exposure to the greedy destruction of the nature.
Any additional comments?
Not the best book from John Grisham
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book written by John Grisham or narrated by Catherine Taber?
I've been a fan of John Grisham for many years, but, apart from the main lawyer being female, there's just nothing new in Gray Mountain. I'm afraid I found it boring and struggled through to chapter 14 - but I'm off in search of a bit more excitement. Sorry John!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Half way through part one I started checking to see how much time was left as I was getting bored with the non-story, I thought 'Ah well- only another couple of hours', then to my horror I realised that there was ANOTHER part to plough through. It was at this point that I gave up as I decided that my time could be better spent.
There really was nothing happening, and the characters were not worth caring about.
John Grisham seems to go to extremes and will either write a stonking good book or one that is absolutely turgid and leaves you wondering what was the point of it all. Sadly this novel (for me) falls into the latter category.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful
Good story overall but main character was a "weak woman" unlike all of the macho men lawyers in previous books. Wanted to tell her to get a grip and get on with it. Not my favourite book.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I don't normally like to pan a novel, especially one written by a highly respected author but, if this had been his first novel instead of A Time To Kill, I doubt that anyone would have read any of the others.
This book is boring. Not from the first page, but not long after it. I don't know if it's helped or hindered by the narration - hindered I think - because the pace is too slow, makes you want to sleep. It would have been cleverer if the pace was faster in New York & Washington then slower in The Boonies, perhaps.
But the whole point of the book is wasted, took too long to make, was too pedestrian and, quite frankly, could have sufficed a novella.
John Grisham has done this a few times in his literary career. I now feel that I cannot freely invest in one of his novels, it's too much of a financial risk. I have to say that, I was warned about it from the other reviews. I didn't take them seriously. I won't make that mistake again.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I love John Grisham's books but I got so bored with the story line and characters.
great characters and a story that tugs at the heart. Humanity versus big business and profit.
I really like most of John Grisham's stuff except for maybe a couple of heavily ball sport ones. No complaints about Gray Mountain I don't think. Terrible thing that strip mining.
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
From beginning to end there was no real story. It ended like it started. I don't believe this book was written by John Grisham.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Disappointing
Spent whole book developing characters, plot went nowhere. sequel? would have potential. terrible and sluggish.