This was on target for a 2-star "Not great but adequate fluff for mindless reading" review until the end of chapter 18, where I was forced to read:

"I decide that I'll be in charge of this bath. She wants me to, I can tell. She's hurt and vulnerable.... She wants me to see her, to rub her flesh with a warm sponge. I know she wants this."

About a NINETEEN year old domestic violence victim. That was gross when this was written, and it's gross now. One star and I'm out.

This is now the third of Grisham's novels I've read from a 21st century perspective (having previously read all of them through to The Brethren as a teenager). While The Firm suffers with sexism and cringe, it remains a tolerable read. The Pelican Brief and this really don't. And all three have a very predictable pattern: the male characters are one dimensional, sex-obsessed braggarts; the female characters exist purely to be lusted after or to cause grief to the men around them. The main protagonists are hollow Mary Sue types - young, brilliant, smarter than anyone else around - and every book reads as Grisham's personal gripe against his profession: the work sucks, the hours are long, the ethics are questionable, everyone gets burnout but hey at least the money is good. Thanks but no thanks - these are best left forgotten back in the 90's.

I would like to rate it a little more than 3 stars but not 4 because of the terribly slow beginning, I was about to leave the book in middle just the moment things became interesting and until almost the end I kept turning pages wanting to finish it.
This is my second Grisham novel (first being The Broker) so I was expecting that the other plot lines described in the beginning will eventually be useful or plot twisters somewhere but none of that happened so was disappointed a bit. But the trial was too good to be complaining about it.

What almost 40 year old hasn't read a John Grisham novel? Me! I really liked this book. I enjoyed the legal content and thought it was very well written, evident that Mr Grisham had a lifetime of experience doing this before writing about it. I'm very glad I read it, and now am looking forward to some more of his. This might be 4.5 for me I'd say, but loved it!

Wow now this was very emotional I’ve heard of the movie but knew nothing about it so I read the book instead if the movie is twice as emotional I don’t think I could cope. Donny’s story was so sad

Legal thriller now almost a classic.

Listened to this one on audio and was good company for a long road trip and working out. Pretty typical John Grisham.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Rainmaker absolutely captured my interest and the love of John Grisham’s writing right from the first page.

This is one of my 2 favorite Grisham novels—don’t bother with the movie, it’s a campy mess of bad acting and awful direction IMHO (actually, the movie is so bad that it is occasionally amusing).



I love courtroom drama. RAINMAKER pits the law student who hasn’t even passed the bar yet and his “paralawyer” against the Big Bad Insurance Company that routinely denies EVERY claim made it against—initially.

Grisham is at the top of his game here; most of his novels are great first-reads (then give it a toss), but this one has pulled me back in for many re-reads. The out-of-court action keeps veering off into sidebars that ultimately tie-in to this David versus Goliath tale. In court David nukes the giant, doesn’t just bang him in the forehead, which is perhaps a weakness in this novel; but the Baddies manage to slither out of judgment by declaring bankruptcy.

The hero gets the girl, murders her abusive husband and gets away with it, kills a naughty insurance company, and retires from the law after a 1-0 lifetime score and a $500,000,000.00 victory. What’s not to like? @hg47

The unmistakable Grisham painstakingly develops every detail, outlining a thrilling action with unsuspected implications and a surprising denouement.
The writer, who knows very well the behind-the-scenes of a lawyer's life, builds an intelligent thriller where he writes the life of a third-year law student preparing to take the bar entrance exam, an idealistic, brave, intelligent future lawyer forced by fate to enter-an unscrupulous game, becoming able to juggle lives for his own triumph.

A stand alone legal thriller published 1995

I really enjoyed this legal thriller.
All the things that you have come to expect from John Grisham are here.
A young lawyer, Rudy Baylor, is fresh out of law school and struggling to make ends meet. He has one job prospect, not the dream job he was hoping for but something to get his foot on the ladder. A the last minute the rug is pulled from under him when he is told that he has just lost the job that he hadn’t even started yet.
Down but not out Rudy has one ace up his sleeve. Whilst during a meet and greet meeting with some senior citizens’ he is told by an elderly lady that she has a problem with an insurance company. It seems that her son is dying of leukaemia and the insurance company is refusing to pay for a life saving bone marrow transplant.
With no where to go and with nothing to lose Rudy throws himself into this David and Goliath battle.

The story is absorbing. The characters are memorable and the courtroom scenes will have you rooting for the little guys.

A thoroughly entertaining 4 star read.

Read years ago

The only problem I had was that I had to read it on my phone. :( Other than that, this book is really really good. I don't read very many legal fiction books, and I actually think that this may be my first.