With more than forty books to his name, more than 300 million copies sold, and several film adaptations, it’s hard to imagine Grisham was ever a struggling writer. Yet his first novel—written while he was working as a trial lawyer and state legislator in Mississippi—failed famously. A Southern courtroom drama fraught with racial tension, A Time to Kill was published by a small press in 1988 to little acclaim and did not receive mass distribution until its re-release years later. Grisham’s next book, The Firm (1991), about an ambitious young lawyer who starts to investigate his law firm after several partners die mysteriously, was a definite departure from his debut. It wasn’t long before it catapulted to the best-sellers lists and Hollywood came calling. From the very first paragraph of The Firm, it is easy to understand Grisham’s wide appeal:
“. . . there were no women in the firm. That mistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.”
It says so much with so little, capturing the reader’s interest from the outset. And Grisham continues to ratchet up the tension throughout, forcing the reader to compulsively turn pages until the thunderous crescendo.
Throughout his writing career, Grisham has used his novels to intellectually and morally challenge readers on hot-button issues—for example, the unchecked power of tobacco companies (Runaway Jury, 1996), the lack of regulation of companies dumping toxic waste into water supplies (The Appeal, 2008), the deeply flawed system surrounding capital punishment (The Confession, 2010), and, in his 2017 novel The Rooster Bar, the controversial practices of for-profit law schools.
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Bu hikaye The Strand Magazine dergisinin Issue 59 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
INTERVIEW Laurie R. King
CREATING new works based on an iconic fictional character who’s been around for over a century can be a minefield for an author.
ADVENTURE ON A BAD NIGHT
BEFORE dinner was quite finished Vivien began wanting to get outdoors, into the air she hadn’t seen since afternoon.
THE EDINBURGH BANKERS
“MR. Holmes, I’m not asking for myself. It’s for the livelihood of the rest of us.”
The Adventure of the Home Office Baby
FOLLOWING the occasion of my marriage, and relocation with Mary to our newlywed home in the Paddington district, only a few blocks east of the great station itself, I was able to continue building my new practice while still finding time to assist Sherlock Holmes in a number of investigations.
KEVIN OF THE DEAD
PEOPLE often say to me, “Kevin, what’s it like being undead and all that?” And I say, “It’s a job, you know?” You get up at sunset, brush off the dirt and slugs, climb out of the box, and off you go into the night looking for some poor unfortunate to siphon a pint from.
AUNT NELLIE'S DIARY
MANY contemporary readers know Louisa May Alcott only as the author of the classic Little Women, the much-beloved story of the March sisters’ journey from childhood innocence to mature womanhood.
INTERVIEW John Grisham
FOR the last thirty years, the term legal thriller has been synonymous with John Grisham. Credited with single-handedly popularizing the genre, he has inspired scores of other authors and, in the process, has become both a commercial and critical success.
The Dowser's Discovery
“IF you don’t mind, sir,” said old Fiedler as he finished pouring our coffee, “I’d like to go into the village this morning with the others. It’s market day.”
THE AMIABLE FLEAS
IN May 1954, more than fifteen years after writing Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck rented a house for himself and his family a stones-throw from the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
INTERVIEW Don Winslow
EVER since Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett revolutionized the crime novel with hardboiled heroes, gritty settings, and moral complexity, countless authors have tried to carry the torch.
