Following the enormous success of Grisham’s next book, The Firm (the best selling of 1991; 47 weeks on the NYT bestsellers list), A Time to Kill was no longer an obscure title and went on to become another massive seller.
So to all those talented-enough, wannabe lawyer-authors, the roadmap is there – writing at 5 A.M., three years to finish, persevering through umpteen rejections and even when “success” finally comes, it is still not the commercial variety. It takes even more grit.
The rest is history, as they say. And the numbers are staggering. Thirty-five books (a third of a billion copies) – including one non-fiction (discussed below), a collection of short stories and five written for young readers. Grisham’s Theodore Boone series is legal thrillers for kids aged eight to thirteen. There has also been a Broadway adaptation and nine converted to the big screen with a boat-load of A-List stars (Tom Cruise in The Firm; Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts in The Pelican Brief; Matt Damon in The Rainmaker; and on and on).
The South is the setting for many of Grisham’s novels. He spent ten years practicing law in a small town in Mississippi. But what would have happened if he spent that decade at a white shoe firm on Wall Street? It is unlikely that he would have stumbled upon a young girl testifying in a rape trial in the Southern District of New York. Would he have still become an author? Maybe, he tells me: “Tough question. I seriously doubt I would have written the first book, or the second, had I not been a lawyer. Virtually all lawyers are exposed to compelling stories that include all manner of human conflict and drama, as well as injustice. If I had been in a large firm, I’m sure I would have heard a great story or two, and I may have been inspired to write.”
The Legal Thriller
John Grisham didn’t invent the legal thriller. But it sure seems like he did. Even though legal thrillers have been around for hundreds of years (starting in 1650 according to a University of Texas Law School librarian’s report on the subject), Grisham’s name has become synonymous with them. Say the words legal thriller to yourself and then see what is the first thing to come to mind.
I didn’t ask Grisham to comment on his enormous contribution to the genre. From the interviews of him that I have seen and read he is a modest and low-key guy. I am sure that he would have simply brushed it off and said something along the lines of – so many great practitioners of the craft came before me and paved my way. Indeed, when I asked him what he does if he sees someone reading one of this books, say, on a plane, his response was -- nothing. Twenty years ago he would occasionally approach someone, he told me, “but not now.”
Rogue Lawyer
Rogue Lawyer, Grisham’s latest offering to his devotees, is the story of Sebastian Rudd, a solo-practitioner in a reasonably large city, who handles criminal defense and some plaintiffs’ personal injury. That description applies to a lot of lawyers. But Rudd is not like a lot of lawyers. He has no office – instead operating out of a customized bulletproof van – and just one employee – who serves in multiple capacities: driver, paralegal, bodyguard and only friend. Rudd is divorced, he and his ex-wife despise each other, and he gets to spend 36 hours a month with his young son. Given his parenting skills, even that may be too many for the kid’s safety.
Rudd’s specialty is taking cases that nobody else would. Cases that could ruin a lawyer’s career to be associated with the client. Cases that look unwinnable. But Rudd will let nothing stand in his way in trying – and that includes ethics and the rule of law. As Rudd sees it, prosecutors don’t follow any rules in their pursuit of a conviction, so he is justified in doing the same in the pursuit of an acquittal. In the process, Rudd has made a long list of enemies, especially his city’s police department – whose corruption and incompetence he frequently seeks to expose.
Rogue Lawyer follows an interesting format. It tells the stories of various of Rudd’s cases. As a result, no one case gets all the attention. Some reader reviews didn’t like this vignette concept. But this is intentional and precisely why the book works so well. The story here is Rudd – not any one case. There is simply no way that Grisham could have developed Rudd as well as he did, as a rogue lawyer, by limiting the story to just one case. And then, as Grisham is going back and forth between Rudd’s various cases–each compelling in their own right--wham, you realize that the cases, and even Rudd’s relationship with his son, while all independent of each other, are in fact interconnected. Grisham’s crafting to make this work is very impressive.
Rogue Lawyer is a thoroughly entertaining read. The pages turn fast, you find yourself thinking about the book even when you are not reading it and when it’s over you are left wanting more. You open a John Grisham book with a certain expectation. Grisham delivers.
The Criminal Justice System
Rogue Lawyer may be a work of fiction, but Grisham takes the opportunity to espouse some very harsh views on the criminal justice system. By page 7 (really page 5) Rudd calls the presumption of innocence the presumption of guilt; the burden of proof a travesty because the proof is often lies; and guilt beyond a reasonable doubt means that if he probably did it then let’s get him off the streets. Just a few pages later this: “Almost monthly I deal with self-righteous prosecutors who lie, cheat, stonewall, cover up, ignore ethics and do whatever it takes to get a conviction, even when they know the truth and the truth tells them that they are wrong.” And similar sentiments about the police and justice system continue throughout.
You would expect any book written from the viewpoint of a criminal defense lawyer to include some criticism of the system, but this isn’t just an author putting predictable words in a character’s mouth. This isn’t Sebastian Rudd speaking – it’s John Grisham.
This subject is deeply personal to Grisham. In 2006 he took on non-fiction for the first time in The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Grisham tells the true story of Ron Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma who was wrongly convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death. After eleven years on death row he was exonerated by DNA evidence and released in 1999. The Innocent Man is described like this on Grisham’s website: “If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.”
Grisham is on the Board of Directors of The Innocence Project – an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongly convicted individuals.
You Must Be Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
Of course I had to ask Grisham about his views on insurance companies. His 1995 book, The Rainmaker, is as strong an indictment of the insurance industry as there is. It tells the story of a poor family in Tennessee who purchased a health insurance policy. A son is diagnosed with leukemia and the company, Great Benefit, denies his claim for a bone marrow transplant. But not just any denial. One in particular from the VP of Claims is in spectacular fashion: “Dear Mrs. Black. On seven prior occasions this company has denied your claim in writing. We now deny it for the eighth and final time. You must be stupid stupid stupid.”
The family hires Rudy Baylor, a lawyer literally right out of law school, and his first case is to take on the behemoth insurance company and its team of lawyers from a powerhouse firm. It is ultimately revealed during the trial that the company’s standard operating procedure is to deny all claims, even if legitimate. The company was playing the odds that the denied claimants would not consult an attorney. In The Rainmaker young Rudy also comments on his insurance law professor from law school, describing him as a visiting Communist who hated insurance companies and “relished the study of wrongful denials of legitimate claims by insurers.”
Rogue Lawyer is also not without some commentary on the insurance industry. Sebastian Rudd needs to explain to a client why his wife’s life, after being gunned down by the police in a botched home raid, is worth only $1 million. In that context Rudd discusses legislative caps on damage awards, made possible by insurance companies, who are funding the tort reform movement, but with no resulting decline in insurance rates.
So with all of this insurance talk of course I had to ask Grisham about insurance companies – Hey man, what gives?
RJM: “Your reader note for Rogue Lawyer [the book had not yet been released] describes Sebastain Rudd his way: “He hates injustice and those responsible for it. He doesn’t like insurance companies, banks, or other big corporations.” In addition, The Rainmaker wasn’t exactly a love letter to insurance companies. Is there any specific reason for your seeming dislike of insurers – issues from your days in practice? -- or is it simply that it makes for a good story or plot element.”
Grisham’s response was a little bit of everything: “I was a small time lawyer representing poor people and we were always at war with insurance companies. That, plus they are easy targets. Having said that, I have been safely and securely insured by State Farm for 30 years and have never had even the slightest hint of a problem. I admire the company and trust my local agent. The Rainmaker was based on a real case. Writers are nothing but thieves.”
Getting Back To Court
Grisham practiced law for a decade and has been writing about it for much longer. So there is an obvious question here: does he ever feel the urge to get back into a courtroom? No, he tell me: “I get sued all the time so I have no desire to go back into a courtroom. I’m not afraid of litigation. I still find it fascinating, but most of the crap I face is quite frivolous.”
He also tells me that, while he does not sit in courtrooms and watch actual trials, he does follow many of them. “I keep up with trials, lawsuits, trends in litigation, court decisions, almost everything relating to the law. It’s not work; in fact it just comes natural. That’s where my interests are.”
My Story Pitch
Grisham must have story ideas pitched to him all the time. So I might as well take my turn.
It is widely known that Grisham is a huge baseball fan. This from his website: “The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ball fields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.” The national pastime has also been a subject of Grisham’s writing, including his 2012 book Calico Joe, about how lives are forever changed after a pitcher intentionally hits a batter and ends his career. Grisham has also tackled football in his 2007 short novel Playing for Pizza.
So with all his interest in sports, and the many legal issues surrounding the professional ranks these days, this seemed an easy story pitch:
RJM: “You love sports. America is sports-obsessed. Professional sports is a multi-billion dollar industry, filled with legal scandals and behind the scenes dealings. You know where I’m going with this. Any chance we'll see a legal thriller with pro sports as the backdrop?”
JG: “I would enjoy writing that book. I’m just waiting for the right story. There is plenty of material: the concussion litigation; all the sexual abuse crap; antitrust issues; drug issues. A lot of stuff that I’m filing away and waiting for the right inspiration.”
The Next John Grisham Character: Me
No way I was turning down a chance to let John Grisham know that his next fascinating lawyer protagonist is right there in front of him. It couldn’t be easier.
RJM: “Any thoughts on how you could turn a short, nerdy, bowtie-wearing insurance lawyer into a main character in a John Grisham thriller?”
JG: “Oh sure. The guy learns of a plot to kill off brain-damaged patients so a bad insurance company can save millions, so he decides to blow the whistle and becomes a marked man. He goes underground where he becomes a magnet for all manner of slinky women and …… here we go…..”
They’ll probably bring back Tom Cruise for the movie.