“Don't compromise yourself - you're all you have.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker



One of Grisham's best. Moves at a pretty good pace and I loved the characters in the book and all the legal speak.

I have become a fan of Grisham and I count The Rainmaker as one of my favorites of his.

This should be a one-star book: the premise is bad, there's a super gross stalker situation where the main guy chases a domestic violence survivor (omg it's SO. BAD.), and the main character is sooo annoying. But there are pages and pages of Grisham gold legal dialogue that just bump it up a star: that's life, you know, sometimes a one-star book gets two stars because you can't put it down despite the cringing.

Early Grisham is the best Grisham. In The Rainmaker, newly minted lawyer.Rudy Baylor went from someone looking forward to working at a respectable law firm to someone who works at an ambulance-chasing outfit owned by a shady lawyer. In the meantime, Rudy has one 'meaty' case about a mom who is suing the insurance company that refused to pay for her son's leukemia treatment resulting in his death. A rookie lawyer against a mega corporation? Yeah, he has no chance.

But incredibly, Rudy Baylor does. There are no setbacks for our protagonist which may annoy some readers but not this reader. I like to see the evil corporation and its slick legal team stymied at every turn. Makes a change from real life. Also, as I was reading this book the CEO of a health insurance company was gunned down in NYC and his killer is hailed by many Americans as a hero.

Meanwhile, there are two subplots. One revolves Rudy's landlady and her will (this subplot is a bit comedic) and the other is about an abused wife (this one is tragic). A doorstopper of a book that engaged me from beginning to end. 5 out 5 stars.

Only Grisham can make a civil case intense!

“The Rainmaker” was John Grisham’s sixth novel and was published in 1995…. At that time, it was one of the fastest selling novels in history and was well received by critics everywhere. The novel was adapted to film in 1997, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and had an all-star cast. But, I cannot say how it compared to the book because I never saw the film. Although a lot of Grisham’s books have reoccurring characters, “The Rainmaker” can be read as a stand-alone novel altogether. I could be wrong, but I do not believe Rudy Baylor is in any other Grisham novels….

“The Rainmaker” tells the story of a new graduate from Memphis State Law School named, Rudy Baylor, and opens up with him providing free legal advice to a bunch of old people in a nursing home (or retirement facility…. I cannot remember which) as a requirement during his final semester in law school. It is there that he meets Dot and Buddy Black, the parents of a son who is dying of leukemia.

Dot and Buddy are seeking legal advice, claiming that their insurance company scammed them by refusing to pay for their son’s medical treatments, in turn, solidifying his inevitable death. Upon hearing all the facts and background information, Rudy soon realizes this is a very lucrative insurance fraud case committed by this multi-billion dollar agency and one that is beyond his credentials to undertake alone.

Terrific read…. despite the fact that the plotline can be slightly dull at times…. What I especially liked about “The Rainmaker” is that it does not have the typical over-abundance of characters you’d normally see out of a John Grisham book. It really only has a few main characters that the book focus’ around so that makes it easy to take a couple days off between reading sessions and still be able to pick-up where you left off without feeling lost. One complaint I’ve always had with John Grisham is, often times, there are just too many characters in his books to keep track of….

I also liked the two side stories that were going on…. The first, regarding the old land-lady who hates her entire family and wants them all booted out of her will so they don’t get a dime out of her millions…. The second, regarding the hot chick getting routinely abused by her husband and the incidents that follow. Those two side stories broke up the main plot nicely and provided brief intermissions.

The only complaint that I can come up with is that there were parts that seemed to drag a little bit. If you are looking for action scenes, you will not find any. This is more of an “Erin Brockovich” type of story so if you aren’t into courtroom scenes and gathering evidence, this book will not be for you.

My favorite part about the book was the realism…. The ending was awfully depressing, yet realistic in so many ways – including the overall outcome of the case. I think that realism Grisham captured made me appreciate this book on multiple levels. Life, more often than not, does not have a fairy tale ending. Another big plus for me was that Grisham avoided the over-the-top outside courtroom drama, such as mobsters, murdered witnesses, etc. He kept it more realistic this time….

FINAL VERDICT: I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. “The Rainmaker” was a great read with interesting side stories. Although I would typically knock a book of this length out in about two weeks, it took me a lot longer to get through this one due to lack of reading time. With that being said, do not attribute the length of time it took me to get through this one with how enjoyable it is. I would highly recommend this book to those who are into big class-action lawsuits and courtroom scenes.

Mi primer libro de John Grisham. He visto y disfrutado las adaptaciones al cine de varios de sus libros, pero extrañamente no la de éste, por lo que más allá de lo que decía la sinopsis no conocía de qué iba la trama. Hay que reconocer que este señor sabe como mantener la atención del lector y como hace crecer la anticipación, manteniéndote pendiente de la lectura.

El argumento gira en torno a un caso que llega a manos de Rudy Baylor prácticamente por casualidad. Él es un estudiante de Derecho recién colegiado, que debe representar a la familia de un joven enfermo de leucemia a quien la aseguradora le ha denegado el pago de la póliza con argumentos casi absurdos. El enganche está servido: un joven abogado en representación de una familia de pocos recursos y menos educación, se enfrenta a una corporación gigante que, además, ha contratado al mejor bufete de la zona. Una buena dosis de suerte, algunas prácticas poco ortodoxas y la ayuda incondicional del juez asignado al caso, hacen posible este enfrentamiento entre David y Goliat.

Pero no es lo único. La trama avanza por otros escenarios en la vida de Rudy, tanto en lo personal como en su calidad de abogado. Sobre todo en la primera mitad, se suceden varias situaciones y personajes que, al terminar el libro, te das cuenta que sólo sirvieron para encaminar la historia. Tenía la expectativa que todo iba a confabularse hacia el final, pero no, y reconozco que eso me decepcionó un poco.

Un buen desenlace que te hace creer en el poder de la justicia, pero que finalmente te da un golpe de realidad. Lo recomiendo, sobre todo para quienes disfrutan estas tramas de juicios y abogados.

n  Reto #10 PopSugar 2021: Un éxito de ventas (bestseller) de la década de 1990n

In a word, boring. This book drags on endlessly, with nothing interesting in store. It is very predictable, and there was no suspense element to it at all. It also has too many subplots to handle well in a single novel.

The protagonist is a very lucky guy who manages to get away with accusations, gets high flying clients even when he is a nobody, gets a judge to be very biased towards him, and a woman who he is attracted to happens to have a husband she does not love. How all this sums up to him being a 'rainmaker' puzzles me.

The book could have easily been 100-150 pages shorter. I did not find anything very appreciable about this book. Being a John Grisham fan, this was a big let down.

Grisham è noto per far affrontare spesso Davide e Golia in un'aula di tribunale. Stavolta "Davide" è un giovanissimo avvocato e "Golia" una grande compagnia di assicurazioni statunitense.
Un romanzo che oltre all'adrenalina e ai colpi di scena, mette in luce tutte le falle del sistema sanitario americano. Se non hai una polizza di assicurazione sanitaria rischi di morire, di vederti negate le cure, ma anche se hai una polizza assicurativa, rischi ugualmente...
Bello e significativo. Come al solito ci si perde un po' nell'aula durante le varie deposizioni per il gergo legale, ma ho apprezzato!

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow .. re read awesome!!
The movie as good as it was, falls short!!
Oh well Frank Muller narrator was awesome!

What can I say? I really like this author and I'm suspicious of insurance companies, so I'm biased.
Actually, Grisham's books are simply written tales of moral dilemmas and that's why they appeal to me. This one did not disappoint. And I just love David and Goliath situations where the outmatched underdog wins. Who doesn't?

Renunțarea avocatului la profesia sa este de neînțeles. Sigur, e mai cinstit să fii profesor, dar satisfacția mi se pare mai mică.

I blew threw this book and it was a pretty solid law thriller, but for me the major problem I had with it was how everything seemed to go right for the main characters, in the second half of the book there was virtually no conflict that didn't quickly end in Rudy Baylor's favor and for a little bit this was ok but after a while, it started getting repetitive and boring.