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by John Grisham
Mysteries/Crime
556 pages
“Romey’s chin dropped onto his chest, and just as he began his next snore Mark slapped the pistol onto the floor with his left hand while unlocking the door with his right. He yanked the handle and rammed his shoulder into the door, and the last thing he heard as he rolled out was another deep snore from the lawyer.” Have you ever been in a situation where if you tell someone something, your life could be in jeopardy? In The Client, by John Grisham, Mark Sway, the main character is in this position, and is scared to death about what he should do.
After school one day in Memphis Tennessee, Mark Sway, an eleven-year-old boy and his eight-year-old brother, Ricky, went out to have a smoke in the woods. While they were smoking, a strange black car pulled up. A lawyer named Jerome Clifford was attempting to commit suicide by running a garden hose from his tailpipe into the back window of his car. Mark tried to stop him but he was caught. Jerome grabbed Mark and threw him in the car with him. While Mark was in the car, he was told some very important information regarding a murder of United States Senator Boyd Boyette. Jerome told Mark where the body was buried and that Barry Muldanno, the leader of a mafia gang in New Orleans, killed him. While the lawyer started to doze off Mark quickly escaped and ran into hiding. Seconds later, Jerome stumbled out of his car and shot himself. Meanwhile, Ricky was watching everything. He immediately fell into post traumatic shock, and was hospitalized.
The police try to get information from Mark about the location of Boyd Boyette’s body. Mark starts to get scared and hired a female lawyer named Reggie Love. Mark told Reggie everything about what happened. Mark was very scared. During an encounter with a mafia member, Mark is told that if he reveals the location of the body to anyone, Mark and his family will be killed. Soon Mark is taken into police custody and Mark comes up with a plan. Reggie agreed to Mark’s plan and they head for New Orleans looking for Boyette’s body. During Mark and Reggie’s search for the body, Barry Muldanno and his gang arrive. Mark and Reggie are in serious danger and they need to make a decision, and they need to make it fast.
Mark Sway is a very mischievous boy. During the story, Mark witnesses a suicide and finds out where a body is buried. Mark makes up many lies to get out of trouble, but in the end he makes a smart plan. This book is a fictional crime packed with many interesting situations. I really like how the author describes everything with such unique detail throughout the story. In this sentence he says, “They entered through a side door, and the aroma from the kitchen hit Mark hard. He was suddenly starving. A small woman with gray hair in a tight ponytail and dark eyes met them and hugged Reggie.” One thing I did not like about this book is the plot could be boring at times. I struggled through part of it, but I started to understand it more in the end. This is one of the best books I have ever read and I would recommend it to any experienced reader who enjoys crime.
In The Client, John Grisham seems to be saying that when you know something that you probably should not know, tell someone you trust to help you through the situation. In this book Mark trusted Reggie enough to tell her everything he knew and she helped Mark out in the end.
Grisham, John. The Client. New York, NY: Island Books, 1993.
- Reviewed by Paul B.
React to this Review Great Rivers Regional Library
Hennepin County Library
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