"To Tell The Truth?"

Quite a few years ago, there was a television show called "To Tell the Truth" in which a celebrity panel, egged on by a celebrity moderator, would try to guess which of three guest panelists, when quizzed about their lives and circumstances, would turn out to be the actual named person. The game always ended in the command "Will the real 'John Doe' please stand up", at which point our suspense was relieved and we all got to congratulate or commiserate on our own candidate of choice.

And so with our now famous author, sometimes we feel like saying "Will the real John Grisham please stand up." In Partner, this is not (to our minds, thankfully) the slow-paced dramatist of book one, A Time to Kill, or book five, The Chamber, the latter of which we predicted would never be a movie (wrong!) for its dullness and lack of intrigue (right!). Nor is this the social commentator proselytizing in The Rainmaker (wife abuse is bad) or The Runaway Jury (smoking is bad), although at least these two gave us moderately satisfying page-turners. Nope -- the good news is that our clever creator of Pelican Brief, The Client, and The Firm is back, with all the complexities of plot, action and thrills, even an ironic twist at the end, to captivate our imaginations and keep us up until three in the morning with no regrets. And make no mistake, a movie made from this novel will be a barn burner -- the only question being how many millions more will it dump into the Grisham coffers.

By now, you may have heard snatches of the plot. We hate to spoil the story, but the gist is that a successful young law firm partner "dies" in an accident, only to be discovered years later hiding abroad with close to eight figures in stolen loot. [Relax -- all that becomes clear in chapter one of forty-three, so we're hardly giving away the plot...:] What follows are the intricacies of legal maneuvers and one-up-man-ship by our hero, as he masterminds his own extrication from prison, while gradually spinning the whole incredible yarn through various conversations meted out carefully enough to keep us turning pages into the wee hours.

So, for us, the best John Grisham has indeed stood up -- with riveting story telling, political and social insight into the mechanisms of lawyering, and a tale that engrosses from start to finish. Can't wait for the movie !

{Reviewer's note -- no movie to date as far as we know...}

This is a really fast paced, gripping story more like 'The Firm' & 'The Runaway Jury'.
It's not a courtroom drama but more about how the protagonist uses the system & legal maneuvers to get himself out of trouble.
Grisham’s writing style keeps you engaged at all times & there are not many dull moments in the book. The detailed plans & strategies he executes, the subplots, the suspense elements keeps you hooked till the end.
Only the ending leaves you a bit disappointed & ruins what could have been a great reading experience.
Except for that, a great read. 3.5 stars!

A fairly fun read. Lots of suspense with plenty of twists and turns.

3.5

I love everything I have ever read by J. G. He gives such a inside view to the judicial world, that one really starts to feel a part of that realm.

This book was my first John Grisham novel. I read it in 3 days and could not help wonder how many persons disappear in the manner his character did. John Grisham thought of every turn in this book and it was good to see the greedy people surrounding the story get their due in their own right. I was hooked on John Grisham books after this. I've read this twice and plan on reading it a third time soon enough.

David Lucero, authorWho's Minding the Store?

This is my favorite Grisham book - legit think I’ve read it 50 times, and I still love it! Except I totally forgot that the last 5 pages completely changes the entire plot… Definitely recommend tho- the mystery is so interesting and different. You never know what’s going to happen next.

This law-based thriller is a unique novel (for someone who has read crime thrillers all along) and how one man escaped his life to become a whole other person in Brazil. Beautifully detailed, brilliant writing and an intriguing plot. Four stars because the last two pages made me pretty upset. (Cons of living in a book)

Another great tale by Grisham, I flew right through it!

The Partner tells us about Patrick Lanigan, who once worked for a high law firm, and after overhearing about a scheme they're conspiring, which Patrick heard he wasn't gonna be in on, and that they were planning to fire him, Patrick splits. He steals millions of dollars from the corrupt firm, fakes his death, leaves the United States and transfers the money to an offshore bank account. Now 4 years later Patrick is living in Brazil under the name Danilo Silva. Until a gang of thugs who were hired by the crooked lawyers to hunt him down find and kidnap him, and demand where the money is, and Patrick says he doesn't know, and they torture him almost to death, but he still doesn't talk.

Now Patrick has returned home and is being put on trial for not only stealing the money but for a murder he did not commit. And he is also filing for divorce. He is assisted by his lover Eva Miranda, and his longtime friend and lawyer Sandy.

Although as much as I enjoyed the storyline, I didn't much like the ending, I felt it was rushed, like bing-bang-boom, and there were a lot of unanswered questions. Still it was an enjoyable read.

Patrick Lannigan bangkit kembali dr kematiannya.

Setelah hampir 5 thn melarikan diri dan melanglang benua Amerika dan Eropa, Patrick ditemukan dlm keadaan nyaris kritis. Dihadapkan pd berbagai tuduhan, dari penggelapan uang sebesar 90 juta dollar, hingga pemalsuan kematiannya, menyeret dirinya utk membeberkan dan menuntaskan satu per satu masalah pelik yg jatuh beruntun menimpa dirinya.

Thriller dgn penceritaan yg dituturkan dr tokoh utama bukanlah tema yg saya sukai. Cenderung membosankan dan situasi kondisi hanya berkisar di ranah itu-itu saja. Tidak ada debaran jantung yg bergolak saat membaca buku ini. Spt biasa, author memberikan twist-twist ala pengacara yahud yg menyeret Patrick ke dunia kejahatan.

Entah dimulai dr pernikahannya dgn wanita jalang hobi selingkuh, membuat Patrick menyusun rencana jahatnya utk menghilang dan dinyatakan meninggal, tetapi jg sekalian melenyapkan uang 90 juta dollar tsb. Patrick tidak diragukan lagi adalah bajingan licik yg super cerdas, tapi jelas tidak punya garis kehidupan yg baik.

"Ketverius metus jis vaizdavosi, kaip jausis sugautas. Dabar jis gulėjo sukaustytas siaubo. Beveik visiškai nuogas, pririštas it gyvulys, jis suprato, jog prieš akis - kelios nepakeliamų kankinimų valandos".
Patrikas buvo visų mėgstamas, daug uždirbantis klestinčios advokatų firmos partneris, tačiau sumanė savo firmą apvogti - pabėgo, pasiglemždamas 90 milijonų dolerių. Ketverius metus jis gyveno vengdamas visų, ėmėsi visokių gudrybių, kad jo nesurastų. Tačiau tai buvo neišvengiama ir jis buvo sučiuptas. Jis grąžinamas į tėvynę ir laukia netrukus prasidėsiančio teismo proceso. Kaltintojams it rykliams aplink Patriką grėsmingai sukant ratus, advokatui rengiantis ginti savo studijų draugą, padedant mylimąjai Evai, o buvusiems partneriams laukiant keršto valandos, išaiškėja netikėčiausių dalykų. Tačiau labiausiai ieškomas visų laikų nusikaltėlis Patrikas žino tai, ko nežino niekas kitas visame pasaulyje. Jis žino tiesą.
Labai įtraukiančiai perskaičiau, vietomis adrenalino lygis buvo užkilęs iki maksimumo, tik ne tokios pabaigos ir ne tokio poelgio iš Evos tikėjausi.

LOVED this book - so smart and witty and edge-of-your-seat reading with lots of twists and turns. I'm torn about giving this 4 or 5 stars because the ending of this book taunts me in an intriguing and enjoyably annoying way...