The Street Lawyer
A gripping crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of mystery and suspense
-
-
4.2 • 100 Ratings
-
-
- £5.99
-
- £5.99
Publisher Description
A gripping legal thriller from the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author and creator of Sooley and The Judge's List.
_______________________________________
Michael Brock is a man in the fast lane.
He's a rising star at Drake & Sweeney, a giant Washington law firm. No time to waste, no time to help those in need. No time for a conscience.
But when a violent encounter with a homeless man stops him cold, Brock is forced to confront the truth about who he really works for. What he finds is a shocking violation of the rights of the homeless, with Drake & Sweeney at the centre, and suddenly his conscience begins to stir.
To do the right thing, Brock must put himself in the firing line and uncover his employer's most dangerous secrets.
But is he willing to risk it all?
_______________________________________
'A master at the art of deft characterisation and the skilful delivery of hair-raising crescendos' - Irish Independent
'John Grisham is the master of legal fiction' - Jodi Picoult
'The best thriller writer alive' - Ken Follett
'John Grisham has perfected the art of cooking up convincing, fast-paced thrillers' - Telegraph
'Grisham is a superb, instinctive storyteller' - The Times
'Grisham's storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.' - Daily Record
'Masterful - when Grisham gets in the courtroom he lets rip, drawing scenes so real they're not just alive, they're pulsating' - Mirror
'A giant of the thriller genre' - TimeOut
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
America's most popular author is arguably its most popular crusader as well, tilting his pen against myriad targets, including big law (The Firm, etc.), big tobacco (The Runaway Jury), big insurance (The Rainmaker) and now, in perhaps his sweetest, shortest novel, against anyone, big or little, who treats the homeless as less than human. The expected powerhouse opening involves the hostage-taking--by an armed, homeless man who calls himself Mister--of nine attorneys of a huge law firm headquartered in D.C. Among the nine is narrator Michael Brock, an antitrust lawyer who receives a faceful of blood when a police sniper blows away Mister's head. "I'm alive! I'm alive," Michael cries like Ebenezer Scrooge, but, like Scrooge, this greedy hotshot is ripe for a moral awakening. The next day, Michael visits the shabby offices of Mister's attorney, Mordecai Green, who explains that Mister and others had been illegally evicted from makeshift housing on orders from a real-estate development company represented by Michael's firm. Inspired by Green and shaken by his firm's complicity, Michael volunteers at a homeless shelter. When a family he meets there dies on the street, and turns out to have been among the evictees, Michael quits his job, goes to work for Green and, using as evidence a file he steals from the firm, aims to sue his former employer on behalf of the evictees. In turn, the firm places Michael in its crosshairs, pressuring him to give up the file through legal maneuvers, having him arrested and hints of darker means. The cat-and-mouse between Michael and the firm is vintage Grisham, intricately plotted, but the emphasis in this smoothly told, baldly manipulative tale is less on action and suspense, which are moderate, than on Michael's change of heart and moving exploration of the world of the homeless. Dickens would be well pleased, and so will Grisham's fans. 2.8 million first printing.
