I have to say that John Grisham is an interesting guy. I've read a number of his stories, and I can tell that he really likes to go into stories that start or involve lawyers. Then again, he was a lawyer for at least 10 years before becoming a writer, so he simply using the Write What You Know principle.

One interesting pattern I've noticed in some of his stories is that his lawyer protagonist seems to avert Happily Married. I thought at first he was doing that to express being divorced in Real Life or something like that. But it turns out that Grisham himself is Happily Married. Maybe he's just showing that some lawyers get into lousy marriages!

You want to know something funny? His lawyer protagonists are supposed to represent the law, and yet they break the law like bubble wrap and it's portrayed as a good thing! I have a hard time deciding if this qualifies as Reality Is Unrealistic, Moral Dissonance, or Artistic License - Law.

What do you think?

edited 22nd Apr '12 2:15:53 PM by TiggersAreGreat

I have read a few of his books and seen a few of the films based on them. I think the ending that the makers of the adaptation of "The Firm" came up with made more sense at the time I saw it but I am jiggered if I can remember exactly why.

I think though, you are a bit wrong in this bit:

"His lawyer protagonists are supposed to represent the law, and yet they break the law like bubble wrap and it's portrayed as a good thing!"

I think his protagonists represent their clients. And the law can go hang. Which, funnily enough, is the lawyer's job in real life. Even if a lawyer knows his client is guilty, he is still supposed to represent them to the fullest extent of his ability. Grisham gets that right if nothing else.