December 1, 2024
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John Ray Grisham Jr., born February 8, 1955, is an American novelist, lawyer, and former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his best-selling legal thrillers.

According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on the first printing.

Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practiced criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.

Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. It was later adapted into the 1996 feature film of the same name. Grisham's first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies, and was also adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series that continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel.

Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.

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1 THE FIRM

A young lawyer joins a small but prestigious law firm only to find out that most of their clients are on the wrong side of the law. The company is helping to launder mob money, get clients off charges and even murder partners who threaten to blow their cover.

But when the FBI come calling to gather evidence on the lawyer's colleagues, he is caught between a rock and a hard place, juggling his life and his liberty.

2 THE PELICAN BRIEF

Taut thriller about a young law student whose legal brief about the assassination of two Supreme Court justices causes her to be targeted by killers.

She realizes just how accurate her accusations have been when her lover and mentor is murdered. Forced to go on the run in New Orleans, she is aided by a journalist who helps her unravel a conspiracy involving senior government figures.

3 THE CLIENT

Fast-paced thriller, based on the John Grisham bestseller, about a boy, Mark, whose life is endangered after he stumbles across vital information about a politician's murder.

His lawyer is the only person offering protection from the unwanted attentions of the Mob and the FBI. In the meantime, the mobster is told by the head of the family to take care of Mark.

4 A TIME TO KILL

Carl Lee Hailey is a heartbroken black father who avenges his daughter's brutal rape by shooting the bigoted men responsible for the crime as they are on their way to trial.

He turns to Jake Brigance, an untested lawyer, to defend him. Brigance struggles to believe that he can get Hailey acquitted in this small, segregated Southern town, given Hailey's race and the deliberate nature of his crimes, but Carl has unshakable faith in him.

5 THE CHAMBER

Young lawyer Adam Hall launches a legal appeal for his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall, a former Ku Klux Klan member he has never met.

Accused of killing two young Jewish boys years earlier, Sam meets his grandson in a Mississippi prison on death row, and the atmosphere is tense. Despite having no sympathy for the older man, Adam has other motives for defending his grandfather that have to do with his own father's suicide.

6 THE RAINMAKER

Struggling new attorney Rudy Baylor resorts to working for a shady lawyer, where he meets paralegal Deck Shifflet. When the insurance company of Dot Black refuses her dying son coverage, Baylor and Shifflet team up to fight the corrupt corporation, taking on its callous lawyer.

Meanwhile, Baylor becomes involved with Kelly Riker, an abused wife, whose husband complicates matters when he confronts Baylor.

7 THE GINGERBREAD MAN

Rick, a divorced lawyer, has what he thinks is going to be a one-night stand with the troubled but beautiful Mallory. However, he finds he's much too enamored with her to let the affair end so quickly.

He offers to help her with some of her problems, most significantly, her unhinged father, Dixon, whom she claims is stalking her. Rick succeeds in getting the father committed, but the insane Dixon escapes the asylum and comes after the couple.

8 RUNAWAY JURY

After a workplace shooting in New Orleans, a trial against the gun manufacturer pits lawyer Wendell Rohr against shady jury consultant Rankin Fitch, who uses illegal means to stack the jury with people sympathetic to the defense.

But when juror Nicholas Easter and his girlfriend, Marlee, reveal their ability to sway the jury into delivering any verdict they want, a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game begins.

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