Legal Thrillers
These books are reviewed and rated by the HCF Bookworm. The sole
purpose of the Bookworm's Bookstore is to generate operating funds for
the nonprofit Human Cloning Foundation.
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| total garbage | really, really, bad | real bad | bad | below
average |
above
average |
good | really good | really, really, good | a masterpiece! |
Disclosure
by Michael Crichton
Leave it to a tall doctor who never practiced medicine
to write this phenomenal New York Times best selling legal thriller.
This is a book about sexual harassment in the workplace and in a nice role
reversal it's the woman who's at fault. You won't be able to put
this book down.
The
Firm by John Grisham
This is the legal thriller
that rocketed John Grisham to fame and fortune and remains the best of
all his legal thrillers to date. It translated into a great movie,
with the script writers actually improving upon the ending a little bit.
Presumed
Innocent by Scott Turow
A great first novel by attorney Scott Turow.
This book deserved all the aclaim that it received and is truly a phenomenal
novel. It was one of the books that set the standard and started
the legal thriller genre. You won't be able to put it down.
The
Street Lawyer by John Grisham
As does much of the population, I love Grisham's
writing style. The hero of the Street Lawyer is a very interesting
protagonist but the book spent too much time getting to the good stuff,
so this one slips from a ten to a nine. Once you into it, however,
you won't be able to put this one down.
A
Time to Kill by John Grisham
This was John Grisham's first book and it shows.
I have seen him say in interviews many times that it's his best book.
I don't think Grisham is being objective. A Time to Kill contains
some unappealing violence and lacks the can't-be-put-down quality of his
later books.
Final
Appeal by Lisa Scottoline
She's billed as the female John Grisham but she's
not. I found this to be an easy to put down, lowbrow, lightweight
read. There were too many domestic diversions that had little to
do with the plot and didn't help with characterization either.
The
Pelican Brief by John Grisham
Grisham's third book. He writes great characters!
It's tiny flaw is that some many people are after the protagonist there's
a loss of tension while trying to keep them all straight.
The
Chamber by John Grisham
A story about a legal execution,
with race and prejudice thrown in. It's powerful and gripping.
The
Client by John Grisham
Grisham inserts a child as
the protagonist in this novel and it works great. It's another compelling
read and we enjoy the kid outsmarting everyone.
The
Partner by John Grisham
This is a well written, very
intelligent read. The topic is extraordinarily interesting and the
protagonist is more of a bad guy this time.
The
Rainmaker by John Grisham
The romantic subplot keeps
this from being a ten. It's too disjointed and doesn't intertwine
well with the interesting legal case.
The
Runaway Jury by John Grisham
It's unbelievable. You
wonder how he comes up with such great plots. You can't help but
wonder if everything in this book didn't actually happen.
Reckless
Homicide by Ira Genberg
The author can be very proud of his debut.
It's a great read but for me didn't quite reach the level of Scott Turow's
first novel, Presumed Innocent. I certainly hope that Genberg
starts cranking out legal thrillers and he's clearly another one of the
heavyweights in this genre.
Highly entertaining books!
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