The Rainmaker - by John Grisham (Hardcover)

About the Book

Bestselling author John Grisham returns to the courtroom for the first time since A Time to Kill to weave this riveting tale of legal intrigue and corporate greed. Combining suspense, narrative momentum, and humor as only John Grisham can, The Rainmaker provides another spellbinding, thrill-a-minute read.

Book Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW A USA NETWORK ORIGINAL SERIES - "A taut and terrific page-turner" (Entertainment Weekly) from the master of the courtroom thriller

"Great fun to read . . . The complex plotting is Grisham's major accomplishment."--Los Angeles Times

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. And suddenly he's in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings. A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill, and outright violence--a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land.

From the Back Cover

In his first courtroom thriller since A Time to Kill, John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America - and exposing a complex, multibillion-dollar insurance scam. In his final semester of law school Rudy Baylor is required to provide free legal advice to a group of senior citizens, and it is there that he meets his first "clients", Dot and Buddy Black. Their son, Donny Ray, is dying of leukemia, and their insurance company has flatly refused to pay for his medical treatments. While Rudy is at first skeptical, he soon realizes that the Blacks really have been shockingly mistreated by the huge company, and that he just may have stumbled upon one of the largest insurance frauds anyone's ever seen - and one of the most lucrative and important cases in the history of civil litigation. The problem is, Rudy's flat broke, has no job, hasn't even passed the bar, and is about to go head-to-head with one of the best defense attorneys - and powerful industries - in America.

Review Quotes

"The pace is fast, the characters quirky, the result entertaining."--USA Today

"A mighty narrative talent and an unerring eye for hot-button issues . . . Grisham also reveals for the first time a surprising knack for comedy."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Passages in The Rainmaker are reminiscent of Pat Conroy. . . . This is Grisham's most barbed book since The Firm, and it is by far his most entertaining."--People

"Grisham's vivid minor characters and near-Dickensian zeal for mocking pomposity and privilege are apt to endear him to his many readers all over again."--Entertainment Weekly

"Grisham's most sympathetic hero and most engrossing premise since his first runaway success, The Firm . . . an event-filled tale that works hard to please and largely succeeds."--The Wall Street Journal

"Melding the courtroom savvy of A Time to Kill with the psychological nuance of The Chamber, imbued with wry humor and rich characters, this bittersweet tale, the author's quietest and most thoughtful, shows that Grisham's imagination can hold its own in a courtroom as well as on the violent streets outside."--Publishers Weekly

"Grisham has combined many of the best qualities of his previous novels to write an entertaining and credible courtroom thriller."--Chicago Tribune

"Never befrore has Grisham used the David-Goliath element so cleverly and powerfully as in The Rainmaker. And by combining it with nail-biting tension, wrenching suspense and unadulterated excitement, and by adding plenty of humor and a smidgen of romance, he has made this new novel his most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable to date."--Buffalo News

"Grisham creates courtroom scenes of high humor and intense drama. . . . A good time will be had by all."--New York Daily News

"Entertaining and well-written . . . The Rainmaker marks a return to Grisham's snappy pacing and devilish sense of fun."--Memphis Flyer

"Grisham has constructed a case and a courtroom drama strong enough to grab our attention."--The New York Law Journal

About the Author

John Grisham is the author of numerous #1 bestsellers, including The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Innocent Man, The Whistler, The Boys from Biloxi, and many more. His books have been translated into nearly fifty languages. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. He lives on a farm in central Virginia.