The Client: A Novel

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In the two years since The Firm first captured the imagination of America's readers, John Grisham, with three consecutive number-one bestsellers, has become one of the most popular authors of our time. Now, in The Client, he has written a novel so irresistible, so thoroughly entertaining and satisfying, that it is sure not only to please his millions of fans, but to win him new ones as well.This is the story of eleven-year-old Mark Sway, who, as the novel opens, witnesses the bizarre suicide of a New Orleans attorney. Just before he dies, the lawyer tells Mark a deadly secret concerning the recent murder of a Louisiana Senator, whose accused killer, Mafia thug Barry Muldanno, is about to go to trial. The police, the federal prosecutor and the FBI pressure Mark to tell them the attorney's last words, but he knows that with the mob watching his every move, revealing his secret will almost surely get him killed.So Mark, streetwise and old beyond his years, hires a lawyer: Reggie Love, a fifty-two-year-old divorcee who's been through more than anyone could imagine and survived, basically, because she's tough. And feisty. And loves helping kids overlooked or abused by the system. But when Mark's life is threatened, and Reggie discovers her office has been bugged, and even the Juvenile Court judge says Mark has no choice but to talk, she realizes that this time she's in way over her head. But then Mark comes up with a plan... a crazy plan, in Reggie's opinion, but it's their only hope. And it just might work.With the page-turning suspense and terrific plot twists that have become John Grisham's trademark, he has once again crafted a novel that simply cannot be put down. But in The Client Grisham has gone a step further - with a cast of unforgettable characters headed by the most original hero in years, he has mixed equal parts humor and warmth to truly expand the boundaries of the legal thriller.

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9780307576002
9781415951347

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Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genre "legal thrillers"; the subjects "mafia," "secrets," and "women lawyers"; and characters that are "well-developed characters."
These books have the appeal factors plot-driven and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "legal thrillers"; and the subjects "trials (murder)," "secrets," and "women lawyers."
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These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, richly detailed, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "legal thrillers" and "page to screen"; and the subjects "trials (murder)," "secrets," and "women lawyers."
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These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genre "legal thrillers"; and the subjects "trials (murder)," "secrets," and "women lawyers."
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These books have the appeal factors cinematic and fast-paced, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "legal thrillers"; and the subjects "women lawyers" and "lawyers."
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, cinematic, and fast-paced, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "legal thrillers"; and the subject "women lawyers."
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Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
David Baldacci writes high-energy suspense stories featuring corruption and conspiracies. Complex plots place characters in tense situations, which, it is important to note, can sometimes lead to more graphic violence than found in John Grisham's works. -- Kim Burton
In their novels, both John Grisham and Brad Meltzer portray young, vulnerable lawyers caught in difficult situations, pitted against powerful but corrupt enemies. Their books are characterized by fast pacing, provocative storylines, suspense and danger, along with sympathetic characters. -- Victoria Fredrick
John Grisham and Greg Iles write fast-paced legal thrillers. Often set in small Southern towns in the U.S., these suspenseful stories include a heavy emphasis on the personal lives of their characters and how their experiences influence their perspective and attitudes toward the legal cases they tackle. -- Halle Carlson
Both authors use their career experiences to write compelling legal thrillers starring attorneys who take on cases in pursuit of the truth that could cost them their lives. -- CJ Connor
These Southern writers rely upon their backgrounds as attorneys to create suspenseful thrillers with authentic details. Grisham's suspenseful legal thrillers often turn upon points of law. Morris's own voices novels put Black women front and center, whether as attorneys or innocent women running from the law. -- Michael Shumate
Fans of suspenseful and dramatic legal thrillers should explore the works of both John Grisham and Stephen L. Carter. Carter's stories tend to intensify as they progress, while Grisham's plots are propulsive from page one. -- Stephen Ashley
Lisa Scottoline and John Grisham's novels share a legal focus, sympathetic characters, fast pacing, and unexpected plot twists. There's more humor and sarcasm in Scottoline's stories, but both have a similarly suspenseful tone. -- Victoria Fredrick
John Grisham and Alafair Burke are known for their suspenseful and dramatic legal thrillers in which their relatable protagonists take on enormously challenging cases. Burke's work tends to be a bit grittier and darker than Grisham's. -- Stephen Ashley
Fans of Steve Martini's novels may also enjoy John Grisham's cinematic and page-turning legal thrillers. Both authors feature sympathetic protagonists -- often portraying lawyers as underdogs, fighting for justice. For Martini, investigation plays an important role, with actual courtroom drama often taking second place. -- Victoria Fredrick
Though there's a bit more wit in Marcia Clark's writing than John Grisham's more dramatic tales, both authors are known for keeping readers on the edge of their seats with their suspenseful and compelling legal thrillers. -- Stephen Ashley
Although Scott Turow's stories are more realistic and do not move at the same rapid pace as John Grisham's, readers who enjoy issue-oriented legal thrillers may appreciate each author's different strengths. -- Victoria Fredrick
Stuart Woods and John Grisham are both known for their provocative stories and relentless pacing. While there are suspense, action, and plot twists in both authors' novels, there's more sex and violence in Woods' books than in Grisham's. -- Victoria Fredrick

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

/*STARRED REVIEW*/ The newest member of the sure-fire-number-one-bestseller club is going to score big again. For the author of The Firm and The Pelican Brief here merges two tried-and-true genres--the legal thriller and the boys' adventure yarn. His hero is 11-year-old Mark Sway, who, with his 8-year-old brother, witnesses a Mafia-defending shyster's suicide, unfortunately not before he's learned why the creep's offing himself--a secret that one Barry the Blade in particular is not going to let the lawyer live with. Now that Mark knows it, he's in danger, too, and not only from the bad guys. A politically ambitious U.S. attorney (one of that new breed of villain, the Reagan appointee) is hot on Barry's case, and he'll pull any string, ruin any life, to get ahead. So the cops and the FBI start coming down hard on Mark. But Mark's a bright, resourceful kid, and he finds an attorney, Reggie Love, a former society matron who survived a horrible divorce, went to law school, and became a specialist in defending children. Together they make a sterling team, although, really, this is Mark's book and one helluva good read, not to mention the movie possibilities. If Macaulay (Home Alone) Culkin can stave off a growth spurt and a voice change long enough, here's his chance to make it as a "serious" actor. (Reviewed Feb. 1, 1993)038542471XRay Olson

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Fans of the bestselling Grisham will be pleased to note that he is once more on Firm ground: his latest legal thriller offers a clever, compelling plot coupled with two singular protagonists sure to elicit readers' empathy. Eleven-year-old Mark Sway, taking his kid brother for a smoke behind their Memphis trailer park, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer ``driven crazy'' by a lethal secret. Before he dies, the man confides to Mark where the body of a recently murdered U.S. senator lies buried, and the game's afoot. Trailed by the police, the FBI and assorted Mafia types (the deceased politico was the victim of ``a successful New Orleans street thug''), Mark retains--for one dollar--the services of Reggie Love, a 50ish female lawyer. This uncommon attorney-client relationship adds an affecting, unusually humanistic layer to the novel's tension-filled events. Mark, raised by a divorced mother and wise beyond his years, thinks chiefly in terms of movies and TV; Reggie, a street-smart survivor of an acrimonious divorce, is often unsure whether to hug or slug her precocious client. True to form, Grisham employs just enough foreshadowing to keep the suspense rolling (``Neither of them could know that . . . ''), and propels his action at the requisite breakneck pace. Occasional plot improbabilities and stylistic quibbles--a few fuzzy characterizations; overstatement of already obvious points; Mark's sporadic adult phraseology--will not deter readers from enjoying a rousing read. 950,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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School Library Journal Review

YA-- While sneaking into the woods to smoke forbidden cigarettes, preteen brothers Mark and Ricky find a lawyer committing suicide in his car. Mark tries to save the man but is instead grabbed by him and told the location of the body of a murdered U. S. senator--a murder of which the lawyer's Mafia-connected client is accused. Witnessing the successful suicide sends Ricky into shock and Mark into a web of lies, half-truths, and finally into refusal to tell the confided secret to the police. Mark accidentally but fortuitously hires a lawyer, Reggie Love, who steers him through a maze of FBI agents, legal proceedings, judges, ambitious lawyers, and hit men. Love's 11-year-old, street-smart client defies the judicial system to protect himself and his family. This thriller is unique in its theme and in its suspense mixed with humor. A sure ``all-night'' read.-- Katherine Fitch, Lake Braddock Secondary School, Burke, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Grisham's latest opens with a neat hook into the reader's jaw- -and the tension never wavers--as the author strives for a knockout suspenser with echoes of Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson--or at least the reader can't help weighing what he's reading against the darker plots that enmesh Huck Finn and Jim Hawkins. Instead of pirates, though, 11-year-old Mark Sway is thrown among lawyers and murderers. Mark, a great follower of L.A. Law, becomes ``the client'' after he witnesses the suicide of a drunken Mafia lawyer. Before the lawyer dies, he tries to take Mark with him, holding the boy prisoner while the Cadillac they sit in fills with carbon dioxide. As he's fading, the lawyer reveals to Mark the whereabouts of the body of a Louisiana senator. The senator was murdered by Mafia thug Barry ``the Blade'' Muldanno, then buried under concrete in the lawyer's garage. Mark escapes death but now holds a secret so deadly that Barry the Blade is ready to waste him. He's also wanted by the feds because Barry's going on trial for the senator's murder--but there's no body, and so the feds have a weak case. Mark retains 52-year-old Reggie Love, an abused divorcée, to help him keep shut about the body's whereabouts. If it's known that he knows--and the hoods and feds suspect him mightily--he and his family will never have a safe moment again. The story is set in Memphis, then moves to New Orleans, but both backgrounds are sketchy. The strongest scene features three mildly funny goons in the middle of the night trying to...well, enough. Mark is too smart by half, rather than wise like Huck; dialogue slips into exposition; and Grisham goes for the tear ducts at tale's end, but presses too hard. None of this matters. In the movie, the obligatory face-out between Barry the Blade and Mark will take place, bet on it, though Grisham avoids the confrontation. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for May)

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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Fans of the bestselling Grisham will be pleased to note that he is once more on Firm ground: his latest legal thriller offers a clever, compelling plot coupled with two singular protagonists sure to elicit readers' empathy. Eleven-year-old Mark Sway, taking his kid brother for a smoke behind their Memphis trailer park, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer ``driven crazy'' by a lethal secret. Before he dies, the man confides to Mark where the body of a recently murdered U.S. senator lies buried, and the game's afoot. Trailed by the police, the FBI and assorted Mafia types (the deceased politico was the victim of ``a successful New Orleans street thug''), Mark retains--for one dollar--the services of Reggie Love, a 50ish female lawyer. This uncommon attorney-client relationship adds an affecting, unusually humanistic layer to the novel's tension-filled events. Mark, raised by a divorced mother and wise beyond his years, thinks chiefly in terms of movies and TV; Reggie, a street-smart survivor of an acrimonious divorce, is often unsure whether to hug or slug her precocious client. True to form, Grisham employs just enough foreshadowing to keep the suspense rolling (``Neither of them could know that . . . ''), and propels his action at the requisite breakneck pace. Occasional plot improbabilities and stylistic quibbles--a few fuzzy characterizations; overstatement of already obvious points; Mark's sporadic adult phraseology--will not deter readers from enjoying a rousing read. 950,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection. (Mar.) Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.
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School Library Journal Reviews

YA-- While sneaking into the woods to smoke forbidden cigarettes, preteen brothers Mark and Ricky find a lawyer committing suicide in his car. Mark tries to save the man but is instead grabbed by him and told the location of the body of a murdered U. S. senator--a murder of which the lawyer's Mafia-connected client is accused. Witnessing the successful suicide sends Ricky into shock and Mark into a web of lies, half-truths, and finally into refusal to tell the confided secret to the police. Mark accidentally but fortuitously hires a lawyer, Reggie Love, who steers him through a maze of FBI agents, legal proceedings, judges, ambitious lawyers, and hit men. Love's 11-year-old, street-smart client defies the judicial system to protect himself and his family. This thriller is unique in its theme and in its suspense mixed with humor. A sure ``all-night'' read.-- Katherine Fitch, Lake Braddock Secondary School, Burke, VA Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.
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