| Name | Category | Product |
|---|---|---|
| A Time to Kill: A Novel | Best Overall |  |
| The Firm | Budget Pick |  |
| The Summons | Upgrade Pick |  |
1. A Time to Kill: A Novel
Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He initiates a plot to fake his own death and leave his fortune to his young, black housekeeper. Doing so, however, would leave his family destitute.
The rape trial of Carl Lee Hailey, black and white, rich and poor, justice and injustice is the backdrop for a well-written story. Some view it as a veiled criticism of the death penalty. Ultimately, justice is served and the reader must determine whether justice is the same thing as revenge.
2. The Firm: A Novel
Pros:
- The plot is pure Grisham
- It made a ton of money and is a classic courtroom thriller
- Believable characters
- Suspenseful
- Pages can turn very quickly
- Startling twist at the end
Cons:
- Character development
- Starts out slowly
The Firm is by far John Grisham’s most famous, and best selling novel. Grisham has sold about nine billion copies of this book, so trust us when we say that he knows what he’s talking about.
The Firm is about a young man, Mitch McDeere, who leaves behind his simple and middle class life to enter a world of high finance with a big law firm in Memphis.
McDeere lands a high paying job with Baulder & Company, which he quickly learns is a fake law firm set up by the Mafia. Despite his attempts to leave, he is trapped and manipulated by those around him.
3. A Painted House: A Novel
Pros:
- Great for traveling
- Affordable
Cons:
- Shallow characters
- Slow moving plot
A Painted House is the story of seven-year-old Luke Chandler and his family, who live out the last days before the explosive growth of post-war America on a drought-stricken cotton farm one season. There were good crops and the family was living well. Now, crops are failing, and unemployment is beginning to close in on them with more and more families having to move to better climates.
This book is remarkable for its age and it’s lack of popularity even after all these years. It could be enjoyed by adults by themselves. It is not a child’s book. It has short chapters that mean you can read it a chapter at a time. Best of all, it’ll leave you with a sense of how far we’ve come and what a hard time it must have been in the early agricultural days.
4. Sycamore Row: A Novel
5. The Pelican Brief: A Novel
Pros:
- Epic Thriller
- Third Highest Grossing Film Adaptation
- Covered in The Quiz Bowl Bible
- The Movie is Completely Required Viewing in Most High School English Classes
- As Confusing as the Book is, the Film is Even Better
- One of the Fakest Finales in the History of Fiction
- The Only Film that Julia Roberts was able to Pick up an Oscar Nomination
- Addresses Majorly Important Social Topics
- An Amazing Courtroom Drama
- Humorous Love Scenes
The Pelican Brief is a fantastic mystery thriller that shows the ability of Grisham to produce such a great story. The Pelican Brief tells the story of a young law student, Darby Shaw, who is consulting with her friend attorney for a case. He has been murdered, and she is targeted to find who killed him.
6. A Time to Kill: A Jake Brigance Novel
Pros:
- Great for a rainy day
- Easy to follow
- Easy to read fast
A Time to Kill is my number one pick for best John Grisham novel simply because it is a must-read for every fan of John Grisham.
Based on a real-life murder of two young boys by local factory boss, the novel follows hotshot attorney Jake Brigance in his attempts to save his client from the death penalty. The story begins with a brutal rape and murder of 11-year-old Tonya Hailey, the daughter of Jake's co-worker and friend. The case becomes high profile, and the trial soon receives a great deal of publicity.
This was Grisham's second novel. Though most critics compared it unfavorably to his earliest work, his fans regard A Time to Kill as his best work.
7. The Firm
8. The Rainmaker: A Novel
Pros:
- Grisham’s first novel
- Amusing murder mystery
One of John Grisham’s first novels, The Rainmaker is a thought-provoking story about a young lawyer who takes on a hit-and-run case that takes him on a journey that will teach him a lot about life, especially the price of doing the right thing.
One of the things that struck me was how Grisham shows how McCarthyism was practiced in the 1950s and 60s … not just by the government for those who remember the time, but by the American people.
9. The Street Lawyer: A Novel
10. The Summons
11. The Testament: A Novel
Pros:
- Compelling storyline
- Well developed characters
- Grisham overlays his experience as a lawyer
- Intriguing plot twists
Cons:
- The protagonists are not likable
- Grisham's treatment of his secondary characters
- Overblown, over-the-top prose
The Testament: A Novel is the first efforts of writer, John Grisham. The book was published in 1998 and was made into a movie four years later starring James Gardner and Cameron Diaz. The Testament: A Novel begins with the creation of the world's richest and most powerful man, Jason McCarty, who died in 1995. He left behind an amazing last will and testament. McCarty's vast wealth was divided into nine equal shares and distributed among people he met on his life's journey. The McCarty fortune has delighted, angered, seduced, and destroyed.
Five people who come into the McCarty inheritance each represent a different component of American society: a jilted lover, a black college student, a corrupt senator, a greedy business woman, and an idealistic crusader.
12. Sycamore Row
Pros:
- Well written
- Brilliantly plotted
I can’t remember the last time I was completely addicted to a book. This book is riveting and it just doesn’t let you put it down. I love every single thing about this book, but what I love the most is that John manages to make you feel sorry for Chris “ the book’s antagonist “ even though you know he’s done deplorable things.
His writing is very sedate, easy to follow and laced with humour. If you are interested in crime thrillers, this is one book that you mustn’t pass. This book has jaw-dropping twist and turns that will totally reorient your entire perspective with regards to the events of the story.
This is one of the best Grisham books of all time.
13. The Last Juror: A Novel
14. The Broker
We may be cheating a little with this one as the book came out in 2008 and we didn’t review it with our usual guidelines in place, but this was just too