The Client by John Grisham (1993)

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The Client by John Grisham


                Well, it isn’t every day you watch a man blow his brains out, after trying to stop him from committing suicide, and your little brother goes into shock. But it is a day that will change your life. Take Mark Sway for instance. He was an eleven year old boy, teaching his little brother how to smoke in the woods behind his trailer park, when a black car pulls up. He had no idea that Jerome Clifford was in the car. He had no idea that Clifford represented a mafia man accused of murdering a U.S. Senator. The last thing Mark ever thought would happen was Clifford telling him where the senator’s body was buried. But now Mark has the information that the District Attorney wants and the mafia is willing to kill for.
                I’m not going to sugar coat anything: this book was really damn good. I have never read a John Grisham book in my life (what a failure on my part) but I am glad this was the first. I know this story because I remember this movie but I had no idea how amazing this story really was. Mark is a confused, scared boy who is very mature for his age but still has a somewhat childlike innocence about him. He cares deeply for his mother and brother and ultimately all of his decisions are made because of their safety and his own. He happens to hire Reggie, an attorney with a tumultuous past and she almost becomes a surrogate mother but she is intense. Then there is the power hungry, arrogant bastard Roy Foltrigg. What an easy character to understand and dislike. And here is the background of an amazing story.

                The Client has everything I want in a suspense. The action starts at the very beginning and the tension is always there. The characters pull you in and keep you turning pages. It has been a really long time since I’ve seen the movie. And let’s face it: the movies never (or very rarely) compare admirably to the book. With my shaky memory I was still fully invested within 20 pages of reading this story. Now, I will have to admit that I did shake my head quite a few times because some of the decisions made me want to grab Mark by his collar and shake him vigorously but since he is a fictional character I was unable to do so. This novel is one I can highly recommend. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. This will not be my last John Grisham novel, but this was a hell of a way to pop the cherry! 

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