John Grisham 1955 -

His Life:

Each time the family moved to a new town, one of the first things that Grisham would do was go to the library and get a library card. Although he wasn't a great student, Grisham liked to read, and not earning straight A's didn't affect his self- confidence. "I've always been really confident, even in sports, where I had nothing to be confident about."

In 1967 his family moved to a more permanent home in Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis. As a high school student, Grisham did enjoy reading John Steinbeck's novels.

After high school he decided to study to become a tax lawyer, attending Mississippi State, where he earned his bachelor's degree (despite the D he received in English composition) before continuing on to the University of Mississippi, where he graduated with a law degree. Despite his original interest in taxes, while attending law school he developed a keen interest in criminal law. After graduating, Grisham set up a private practice in criminal law in Southaven. He won his first case, defending a man who had fatally shot his lover six times after she had fired a gun at him.

Though such cases proved he was adept at his new line of work, Grisham was dissatisfied and decided to try his hand at civil law. Again, Grisham won his cases, only to find that he still wasn't content working as a lawyer. He needed to try something new, something personally satisfying. Running as a Democrat in 1983, Grisham was elected to the Mississippi state legislature to begin a four-year term that was lengthened to a second term when he won the next election. While still running his private law practice, Grisham found himself working sixty-, seventy-, and even eighty-hour weeks so that he could serve in the legislature; yet after seven years of effort, he found that he just couldn't get around all the bureaucracy that was designed to maintain the status quo. Nothing he did significantly altered the education system in the way he had envisioned, so he resigned his office.

By this time, Grisham had already been exploring writing books--though he wasn't yet serious about making a career of it. His first novel, A Time to Kill, was inspired by a court case in which a young girl had been raped. Grisham had witnessed the girl testifying against her assailant in court, and he was so moved by the real-life drama that he became obsessed with the case. He started getting up at 5 a.m. and writing a novel about a black father who machine-guns the crackers who raped his little girl. Finishing the manuscript in 1987, Grisham mailed copies out to agents.

Five thousand copies were printed the following year. Grisham got a check for $15,000 for the deal, but the book was far from a blockbuster. The author himself wound up buying a thousand copies, which he peddled at garden-club meetings, libraries, and to friends; he gave away a lot of copies as gifts. Those first editions are now worth $3,900 each. And the novel Grisham ... couldn't give away has 8.6 million copies in print and has spent 80 weeks on the best-seller lists.

He learned from the experience; he learned, too, what it was that readers would buy. With the help of a Writer's Digest article that outlined the basic rules authors should follow when plotting suspense novels, Grisham began writing his next book, The Firm.

He then prepared himself to repeat the arduous task of searching for a publisher and acting as his own book salesman, until his wife stunned him with some shocking news. The bad news was that someone had gotten hold of a bootlegged copy of his manuscript; the good news was that this person wanted to give Grisham $600,000 to turn the script into a movie. Within two weeks, Grisham had a contract with Doubleday--one of the many houses that had passed on A Time to Kill two years earlier.

Since Grisham skyrocketed to the top of his profession in only a couple of years, it's understandable that Grisham should have a difficult time adjusting to his new lifestyle. "I find myself taking long walks on my farm with my wife, Renee, wondering what in the world happened," the author admits in a People article.

His Books:

Grisham delves into the uncomfortable relationship between whites and blacks in the rural south: a black man is brought to trial for the murder of two white men that raped and tortured his young daughter. Noted for deeper character development, the book provides insight into Mississippi's backwoods culture. The usually sober Grisham even interjects some humor into the dialogue of the salty, down-to-earth characters.

A brilliant Harvard Law School graduate named Mitch McDeere accepts a job with a Memphis-based law firm, where he discovers mystery, deceit, and murder. The novel is "gripping" and "compelling," as evidenced by its long-time status as a New York Times bestseller. Grisham keenly keeps the reader one jump ahead of the main character, but a few steps behind the generally unpredictable plot that gradually engulfs him. The Firm showcases Grisham's talent for quickly developing intriguing, though uncomplicated, characters--both heroes and villains--to which the reader can relate, and for spinning a fast-unfolding, exciting tale.

This is a thriller that involves the White House, the Supreme Court, and a second-year Tulane University law student named Darby Shaw. Shaw's escape from evil mimics that of McDeere's in The Firm. The Pelican Brief sustains Grisham's progression from more thoughtful prose and character development in A Time to Kill to a more popular, bigger-than-life style designed to wow the reader. Indeed,The Pelican Brief captivates with a less believable tale replete with an evil presidential aide and a lunatic billionaire who the reader is asked to believe controls a sort of army of private assassins.

An 11-year-old boy, Mark Sway, is the client. He is out in the woods behind his Memphis trailer park with his kid brother, Ricky, He 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 divorcée 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! Praised as a "fun read,"

Its plot is centered around the trial of an elderly Ku Klux Klan member in Mississippi who has been sentenced to death for fire-bombing the office of a Jewish attorney. Commendable is Grisham's use of complex legal details and exploration of controversial issues such as racism and vigilantism.

This book is about Rudy Baylor, fresh out of law school, who has been assigned to an incredible case that just might be the greatest insurance scam ever. Rudy Baylor once dreamed of the good life as a corporate attorney. Now he faces joblessness and bankruptcy--unless he can win an insurance case against a heavyweight team of lawyers, a case that starts small but mushrooms into a frightening war of nerve and legal skill that could cost Rudy not only his future, but also his life. From page 1, you find yourself cheering for the good guy, booing for the bad guy. You become sad or mad when Drummond (the bad guy) does something, and then can't stop yourself from smiling and letting out a little giggle when Rudy (the good guy) does something totally unexpected and stops Drummond's plan in its tracks. And in some places you stop breathing when Rudy or Drummond presents an unexpected clue to the jury.

Millions of dollars are at stake in a huge tobacco-company case in Biloxi, and the jury's packed with people who have dirty little secrets. A mysterious young man takes subtle control of the jury as the defense watches helplessly, but they soon realize that he in turn is controlled by an even more mysterious young woman. Lives careen off course as they bend everyone in the case to their will. This book was very appropriate for its time. There was a large tobacco case in settlement at the time of publishing. The story encouraged many questions to arise. Is it the tobacco company's fault that people are dying? If they are, are they supposed to stop producing their product? Do they owe anything to the family of lung cancer victims? .

Once he was a well-liked, well-paid young partner in a Mississippi law firm. Then Patrick Lanigan stole ninety million dollars from his own firm-and ran for his life. For four years, he evaded the men who were searching for him. Then, on the edge of the Brazillian jungle, they finally tracked him down. Now Patrick is coming home. In the Mississippi city where it all began, a trial is about to begin. Here another story is about to emerge because Patrick Lanigan, the most reviled white-collar criminal of his time, nows something that no one else in the world knows. He knows the truth. People Weekly called it "an irresistible read - packed with surprises."

Michael Brock is billing the hours, making the money, rushing relentlessly to the top of Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm. One step away from partnership, Michael has it all. Then, in an instant, it all comes undone. A homeless man takes nine lawyers hostage in the firm's plush offices. When it is all over, the man's blood is spilled - and suddenly Michael is wiling to do the unthinkable. Rediscovering a conscience he lost long ago, Michael is leaving the big time for the streets where his attacker once lived - and where the powerless need an advocate for justice.

Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no one's surprise---especially Troy's---are circling like vultures. Nate O'Riley is a high-octane Washington litigator who's lived too hard, too fast, for too long. His second marriage in a shambles, he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions, and resilient sense of humor. Returning to the real world is always difficult, but this time it's going to be murder. Rachel Lane is a young woman who chose to give her life to God, who walked away from the modern world with all its strivings and trappings and encumbrances, and went to live and work with a primitive tribe of Indians in the deepest jungles of Brazil. In a story that mixes legal suspense with a remarkable adventure, their lives are forever altered by the startling secret of THE TESTAMENT.

They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. On was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. The third, for a career-ending drunken joyride. They diecide to use their time in prison to get very rich. So they spend time refining a wickedly brilliant extortion scam. They've found the perfect victim. Entertainment Weekly called this "a crackerjack tale."

Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's forty-three, newly single, and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. He has a younger brother, Forrest, who redefines the notion of a family's black sheep. And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench, the Judge has withdrawn to the Atlee mansion and become a recluse. With the end in sight, Judge Atlee issues a summons for both sons to return home to Clanton, to discuss the details of his estate. It is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south, to his hometown, to the place where he grew up, which he prefers now to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray. And perhaps someone else.

John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home." Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision. Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how this tight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at conformity.

This is a story inspired by Grisham's own childhood in rural Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy named Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it. Seven-year-old Luke sees the drama of adult life as it unfolds around him.

Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's forty-three, newly single, and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. He has a younger brother, Forrest, who redefines the notion of a family's black sheep. And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench, the Judge has withdrawn to the Atlee mansion and become a recluse. With the end in sight, Judge Atlee issues a summons for both sons to return home to Clanton, to discuss the details of his estate. It is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south, to his hometown, to the place where he grew up, which he prefers now to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray. And perhaps someone else.

The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week. As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life—that would make him, almost overnight, the legal profession’s newest king of torts...

High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach – and himself – before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high.

In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college dropout, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. Willie Traynor reported all the gruesome details, and his newspaper began to prosper. The murderer, Danny Padgitt, was tried before a packed courthouse in Clanton, Mississippi. The trial came to a startling and dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless, they found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison. But in Mississippi in 1970, "life" didn't necessarily mean "life," and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County, and the retribution began.

Before he was sent to federal prison for treason (among other things), Joel Backman was an extremely powerful man. Known as "the broker," Backman was a high roller--a lawyer making $10 million a year who could "open any door in Washington." That is, until he tried to broker a deal selling access to the world's most powerful satellite surveillance system to the highest bidder. When caught, Backman accepted prison as the one option that would keep him safe and alive, since the interested parties (the Israelis, the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chinese) were all itching to get their hands on his secrets at any cost. Little does he know that his own government has designs on accessing that information--or at least letting it die with him. Now, six years after his incarceration, the director of the CIA convinces a lame duck president to pardon Backman, and the broker becomes a free man--and an open target.

Due out in September, 2007