The Rainmaker, John Grisham
John Grisham has a lot to answer for. He kept me awake until 3am, regaling with another splendid yarn. Eventually I had to sleep and this morning I needed to finish some work before the story could resume.
I only have one regret that I finished all 568 pages of The Rainmaker in 18 hours, and that’s finishing.
It was typical Grisham. A young struggling lawyer grapples with ethics and reality as he takes on corporate America in a landmark trial.
The theme and plot are familiar, but the story was fresh and entertaining.
The hero in this case was Rudy Baylor, a university graduate who defies the odds to successfully take on an established city law firm and an insurance giant. He has a lot of luck along the way, but suspense is artfully maintained and the outcome remains in doubt until the end on a number of fronts.
I like the way Grisham introduces and treats secondary characters. They perform more than cameo roles but never distract. Much of the humor shines through these minor roles to balance scenes that are more intense.
An example is the 80-year-old widow Birdie Birdsong, or Miss Birdie, as Rudy knows her. His first legal challenge is to change her will and he’s shocked to discover that she wants to disburse $20 million.
Angry with the children and grandchildren who’ve abandoned her she seeks to endow a television evangelist.
Rudy handles her skilfully and eventually discovers that she has little money. He keeps this fact to himself and watches with amusement as the TV pastor and long-lost relatives suddenly become interested in the little old lady from Memphis.
Other members of the support cast were also terrific: Deck the ugly “paralawyer” who can’t pass the bar exam but excels at chasing ambulances; Prince and Bruiser, the pimp and his crooked lawyer; Butch, the amateur investigator; and movingly the leukaemia victim Donny Ray, whose failure to obtain cover from his insurer triggers the legal stoush.
Grisham is a master of suspense and his ability to keep a plot moving is phenomenal.
Upon reflection I do have one more regret - that I only have three more of his books to read.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
