The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

 

370 Pages

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This review is by...Owen Powell 

• The Blurb...

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 toss a few coins to beggars. No time for a conscience.

Until the day a man takes several lawyers hostage at his firm, shouting about an eviction. Police snipers shoot the hostage taker dead, but Brock feels compelled to investigate.

What he discovers is a shocking violation of the rights of the homeless on the city streets, with Drake & Sweeney up to its neck in it, and suddenly his conscience begins to stir. But to do the right thing, he might have to steal his own firm's secrets...

• Our Review...

The Street Lawyer is far more than just your typical legal thriller. At it’s core, this is a heartfelt story about poverty, morality and humanity. Following a traumatising encounter within his big, fancy law-firm, lawyer Michael Brock is forced to alter his perspective on… well, everything. As he pursues a mysterious case of improper eviction, Brock immerses himself into the world of D.C’s homeless populace, and witnesses first-hand the tribulations they face every day. Eventually, Brock’s morality outweighs his materialism and he pledges himself to aid the homeless in their abounding legal matters. In doing so, he leaves behind all of the great comforts of his old life - his job, his salary, even his wife! In this new life, Brock is determined to write some of the wrongs conducted by his old firm by helping those in need, instead of once helping those with greed. 

This story starts off strong by throwing the reader right into a nail-biting scene of tension. For these first few pages, I felt compelled to read on, eager to find out the outcome. Unfortunately, this was probably the most exciting part of the story, but we’ll get to that later. The characters in this book are credible and easy to visualise. In my head I cast Bob Odenkirk as the protagonist, for no other reason than he plays a lawyer in the hit series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He was perfectly cast in those series as he is in this story too, if I do say so myself. 

However, if I were to pick one flaw within this book, it would be that nothing much exciting happens after those first few pages. This is a very slow-paced, grounded story that strives to be as realistic as it can be. However, I have the attention span of a small child and sometimes I found this book to be a bit of a slog to get through. There are a handful of interesting scenes throughout, but that’s about it, just like real life I suppose. I realise for some people the super realistic nature of these kinds of stories are something they would enjoy, and if that’s you then this is definitely the book for you. Everything else about it was great.

Overall this book does get a  recommendation from me. It’s well-written, heartfelt, thought-provoking and (if you’re into it) extremely realistic. Certainly one of the better books I’ve read so far.

This book is also very well-written, Grisham does not dwell on insignificant details, keeping the literature super simple and engaging to read, which I found to be quite refreshing. All-in-all this is a strong, thought-provoking story that I implore pretty much everyone to read at some point.

• Selected Quotes...

"Like every med student in the country, she had begun her studies vowing that money was not the attraction. She wanted to help humanity. Same for law students. We all lied."

‘We really need able bodies down here. The shelters and soup kitchens are packed, and we don’t have enough volunteers.’

‘I’m not sure I’m qualified.’

‘Can you spread peanut butter on bread?’

‘I think so.’

‘Then you’re qualified.’

"They would soon become my clients, and I would threaten and litigate with a vengeance until they had adequate housing. I couldn’t wait to sue somebody.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh (see our review...Here)

The Reckoning by John Grisham (see our review...Here)

Post Mortem by Gary Bell QC (see our review...Here)

• About The Author...

John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Judge’s List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John lives on a farm in central Virginia.

(from jgrisham.com)