The Client : A Novel

Amazon.com Review Mark Sway, age 11 but years wiser thanks to a drunken dad who abused his mom, is out in the woods behind his Memphis trailer park teaching his kid brother, Ricky, how to smoke Virginia Slims heisted from Mom's purse. He's a pretty upright kid--he's determined to protect his brother from drugs, and he once defended his mom with a baseball bat. The dangers of smoking rapidly escalate when Mark glimpses a guy trying to commit suicide by carbon monoxide in his car nearby and tries to stop him. The guy is Jerome, a lawyer who tells Mark that his Mafia client has murdered Senator Boyd Boyette and buried him in the concrete under his garage in New Orleans. Then Jerome puts a bullet in his own head. Little Ricky flips out, and so does Barry the Blade Muldanno, who doesn't want blustery U.S. attorney Reverend Roy Foltrigg to find the corpse and bust him. Caught in a ruthless game between the Mob and the amoral authorities, Mark's family has no defense in the world except Reggie Love, a 50ish divorc?e who has just turned her life around by becoming a lawyer. Does she have what it takes to help Mark beat the system? The life-or-death chase is on! Mark has seen a lot of movies, and he sees life in cinematic terms. So does Grisham. Even if this novel had never been filmed, it would still be a really good, fast-paced movie. Its literary limitation is also its filmlike virtue: The Client is a rush. From Publishers Weekly 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. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two  boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the  curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother  were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance  encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing  a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of  the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught  between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer  desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is  a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer  for all of four years. Prosecutors are  willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The  mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And  Reggie will do anything to protect her client —  even take a last, desperate gamble that could win  Mark his freedom... or cost them both their  lives.

Publishers Weekly

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.)

Mark Sway, 11, witnesses a Mafia lawyer's suicide, which puts him in danger from Barry the Blade & a politically ambitious U.S. attorney. 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 In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client -- even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives. ([source][1]) [1]: http://www.jgrisham.com/books/the-client/ ---------- Also contained in: - [Novels: The Client / The Firm](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17766481W) - [Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Volume 4 1993](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15150385W) #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb.... Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client—even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives.Don't miss John Grisham's new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM! In a weedy lot on the outskirts of memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull upt ot the curb... Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarrette when a chance encounter with a suicidal laywer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client -- even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives.BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from John Grisham's The Litigators. In a weedy clearing on the outskirts of Memphis, twoboys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to thecurb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brotherwere sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chanceencounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowinga bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts ofthe most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caughtbetween a legal system gone mad and a mob killerdesperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally isa woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyerfor all of four years. Prosecutors arewilling to break all the rules to make Mark talk. Themob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. AndReggie will do anything to protect her client --even take a last, desperate gamble that could winMark his freedom... or cost them both theirlives. "Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most-sought-after dead body in America ... Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And [his lawyer] will do anything to protect her client--even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom, or cost them both their lives"--Publisher description