Legal Thrillers for Your Enjoyment

The Most Dangerous Place is a Jack Swytek novel by James Grippando. According to the FBI, the most dangerous place for a woman between the ages of twenty and thirty is in a relationship with a man. Miami lawyer Jack Swytek is waiting at the airport for his old high school buddy, Keith Ingraham. The high powered banker and his wife Isabelle are based in Hong Kong, but they are coming to Miami so Keith's young daughter can have surgery. No sooner do they arrive than the police arrest Isabelle for conspiracy to murder the man who sexually assaulted her in college. Jack agrees to take her case, but the seasoned attorney doesn't know exactly what he has gotten himself into as he begins sifting through the secrets and half-truths surrounding the case.

Testimony by Scott Turow sees former prosecutor Bill ten Boom--now fifty--reflecting on all the things he loves: his law career, his wife, Kindle County, and his country. Bill is soon tapped to work on a case in front of the International Criminal Court based in Holland. It seems that more than ten years ago, in the chaos of the Bosnian war, an entire Roma refugee camp disappeared. Ferko Rincic has come forward as a witness claiming that a group of armed men marched the entire camp to a nearby cave during the night and blew the opening with a grenade burying 400 Gypsies alive. Ferko was the only survivor. Bill is now charged with finding out if Ferko's testimony is true and reliable. Bill sorts through a host of suspects including Serb paramilitaries, organized crime gangs, and even the U.S. government. He can't shake the feeling that Ferko knows a whole lot more than he is telling.

Things aren't going so well for Grayson Hernandez in The Outsider by Anthony Franze. Gray has just graduated from a fourth tier law school and he's drowning in debt. The only job he can get is as a messenger at the Supreme Court; which makes Gray sad because all he can do is watch the elite law graduates clerk for the justices of the nations highest court. One day, Gray comes to the aid of a man who is being violently mugged. Turns out the victim is none other than the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, so Gray finds himself as the newest--and unlikeliest--clerk at the court. Soon, the FBI approaches Gray and asks him to keep his eyes and ears open inside the court. It seems that a serial killer is connected to the court somehow. Eventually, Gray becomes a suspect; and he will stop at nothing to clear his name.

Sycamore Row

Sycamore Row is the latest legal thriller written by Mississippian John Grisham  The novel's events take place a few months after the events in Grisham's popular,  A Time To Kill, and stars Jake Brigance and his crew of lawyer friends, in a fiercely controversial trial once again set in the city of Clanton, MS.  The story revolves around the will of Seth Hubbard, a wealthy man dying of lung cancer who trusts no one.  Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Seth leaves a new, handwritten will that disrupts his family, his business associates and the town of Clanton.  The new will drags Seth's two adult children, his African-American maid and

his estranged brother into a civil trial as complicated as the murder trial that made Brigance a famous lawyer.  As Brigance and the will's interested parties gear up for battle, the central questions arise of why Hubbard changed his will at the last minute and whether chemotherapy and painkillers clouded his judgment when he did.  This novel has been my favorite John Grisham novel in a long time.  The plot is riveting, the characters are intense and there are surprise story twists throughout the entire book.  If you enjoyed A Time To Kill, or enjoy cleverly plotted legal thrillers, then you will enjoy reading this novel.  John Grisham is the author of twenty-six novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories and four novels for young readers.  Find out more about John Grisham by contacting www.doubleday.com, www.jgisham.com or on facebook at www.facebook.com/JohnGrisham. 

If You Were Here

If You Were Here is the newest novel by author Alafair Burke, a former prosecutor who now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan.  She is the author of nine novels, including the Ellie Hatcher series and several stand alones.  This novel is set in Manhattan, and stars McKenna Jordan, a magazine journalist (and former prosecutor) who is chasing down a story.  Her friend has been missing for years but when she sees a subway video of a heroic

act, she swears the woman in the video is her long-lost, presumed dead, friend, Susan.  Susan was also a classmate of McKenna's husband, Patrick, at West Point.  NYPD concluded that Susan disappeared after a tiff with her dad about the end of her military career, but McKenna thinks that there is something more to the story.  Thus begins a story of twists and turns as McKenna uses her reporting skills to ferret out the truth of Susan's disappearance and the story she was embroiled in.  The action is quick, the mystery is a good one and all in all this is a very suspenseful read.  This novel is a standalone book and may be read without reading any other novels first.  If you are interested in discovering more about the author, check her out online at www.alafairburke.com

The Confession by John Grisham

I have been listening to the audio book in CD format of John Grisham's latest book, The Confession, for the past week as I drive to and from work. This is an audio book that has made me want to pass up my exit and keep driving until I finish the book! The novel is a tense look at the death penalty in Texas, through the eyes of the accused, the victim's family and the murderer. The book is jam-packed with typical Grisham characteristics---crooked politicians, detailed legal proceedings, lawyers interpreting the law as they see fit, and strong small-town citizens just trying to do the right thing. The writing is very detailed and Grisham portrays the citizens of Texas in a believable way. I do not want to give away any good details of the plot, but the basic story is that Dante' Drum is a 26-year-old African American man who was convicted of the murder of Nicole Yarborough, a white high-school cheerleader, when they were both 18 and Seniors at Sloan High School. Dante' has been on death row for nine years and the story opens six days before his scheduled execution. Lots of events occur within the six days, and I guarantee that you won't predict what happens. If you love riveting legal thrillers, then this book is the one for you! If you like this book I also suggest you try reading Greg Iles' 24 Hours, another tense thriller that will make your pulse pound. This book is true Grisham writing and I predict that this book will soon become a movie.

Sit Down with "The Associate"

The Associate is John Grisham's latest legal thriller. The book is set in New York City and stars newly-graduated Yale Law Journal editor and Yale Law School Graduate Kyle McAvoy. All his life, Kyle has dreamed of becoming a lawyer "for the people" and loathing his friends and acquaintances who joined high-powered law firms after graduation, to work like a dog, make a huge pile of money and hopefully become a partner in a couple of years. Kyle dreams of becoming a small-town lawyer like his dad, John McAvoy, who's payment was often given in vegetables and free lawn mowings. Encouraged by Yale to pursue his dream, Kyle is looking forward to a salary of $32,000 per year helping immigrant's receive justice, when he is approached by a sinister man who drags up an incident from Kyle's past involving him and his fraternity brothers at a late-night party in his apartment. Fearing blackmail from his past actions, Kyle abandons his dream to become an Associate at Scully & Pershing, the biggest law firm in New York City, and break many laws in order to pass information on to the sinister men who haunt his every step. The story exposes the brutal world of the "law firm associate" and exactly what it takes to make it to the top. The book is a great expose' of the deals and corruption that occur in law firms and the unscrupulous practices of some lawyers.