“John Grisham is the master of legal fiction, and his last one begins with a literal bang – then travels backwards through the horrors of war to explore what makes a hero, what makes a villain, and how thin the line between the two could be” – Jodi Picoult, international bestselling author of A Spark of Light and Small Great Things” The result is a book that breaks your heart, pumps your blood and makes your mind beat, leaving you breathless on the last page. I`m still trying to recover from The Reckoning” – Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic From his first novel “A Time to Kill” to the release of “A Time for Mercy” in 2020, Grisham`s books are simply captivating. Over the years, it has also diversified from legal stories. His comprehensive list of published books includes sports stories as well as essays. It is a captivating body of literature. The Rooster Bar, published on October 24, 2017, was described in the News Herald[33] as “his most original work to date” and in the New York Times as a “vivid and mischievous thriller”. [34] *** Pre-order the explosive new thriller of international bestseller John Grisham now – more to come*** In praise of John Grisham`s latest novel, THE RECKONING: After the resounding success of The Firm convinced Grisham to focus fully on writing, he returned with a number of successful successors. In 1992, he released the thriller The Pelican Brief, which was quickly adapted into a hit film starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, and the following year he released The Client, which also went straight to Hollywood with a cast of Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Grisham says he had no qualms about handing over control of his stories to film studios, adding that he was lucky his work ended up in the competent hands of directors like Sydney Pollack and Joel Schumacher. “I want all my books to be adapted for film,” he says. “Who doesn`t love a good movie or a good series? I`ve been lucky with Hollywood: great directors, big names, good movies. A Time to Kill was finally released in 1988 and marked the beginning of a literary career that made Grisham one of the best-selling authors in the world.
His books have sold 300 million copies worldwide, including no less than 28 consecutive bestsellers over the past three decades. He celebrated his first big hit in 1991 with his second novel The Firm, a rollercoaster legal thriller about an ambitious young lawyer who finds himself in the grip of organized crime. It spent 47 weeks on bestseller lists en route to the best-selling novel of the year and was adapted into a film in 1993 starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman. “The company liberated me,” Grisham recalls. “He found a market very quickly, became popular and went crazy when the movie came out. Suddenly, I got bored of practicing law and realized that I could make more money if I wrote about it. With 36 novels, a non-fiction book, a collection of short stories and six novels for young readers, Grisham has the chance to look back and take stock of an unexpected career that has made his name synonymous with a legal thriller. After so much success, he reveals that he has succeeded in reducing gender to its essential components. “Authenticity,” he says first, “non-lawyers who write legal thrillers often do something wrong.” Then there is plausibility and tension. “Fiction can be anything, but it has to be believable,” says Grisham. “[And] a sympathetic hero or heroine must be in serious trouble.” The great persuasive villains are also crucial, because “the bad guys you despise turn the pages.” Finally, aspiring thriller writers should remember to start their stories with a hook and end with a curveball. “Something dramatic and realistic has to happen in the first chapter,” Grisham says.
« The story is built until a dramatic end, with a twist. » John Ray Grisham Jr. (/ˈɡrɪʃəm/; born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas)[1][2] is a novelist, lawyer, and former member of the 7th District of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number one bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies in a first edition.[3] [4] [5] Some of Grisham`s legal thrillers are set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, in the equally fictional town in Ford County, a city in northwestern Mississippi that is still deeply divided by racism. The first novel set in Clanton was A Time to Kill. From “The Pelican Brief” to “The Brethren,” Grisham continued to produce legal thrillers at a rate of about one per year. He used his experience as a lawyer to create characters facing moral dilemmas and dangerous situations. Beginning with A Painted House, Grisham expanded his interest from jurisprudence to the more general rural South, but continued to write legal thrillers at a rate of one per year.
In 2002, he was again voted number one book of the year with The Summons. In 2003 and 2004, he missed out on bestseller of the year due to Dan Brown`s The Da Vinci Code, but he again produced two novels that ended the year in the top 5. In 2004, The Last Juror finished the year in fourth place and in 2005 he surpassed The Da Vinci Code and returned to number one of the year with The Broker. 2006 was the first time since 1990 that he didn`t have one of the best-selling books of the year, but it returned to number two in 2007, number one in 2008 and number two in 2009. Also during this decade, Grisham published “Ford County,” his first collection of short stories, and “The Innocent Man,” his first non-fiction book; The latter speaks of an innocent man on death row. In order not to turn his back on his loyal fans, he ended this time with several legal thrillers. Few new writers have exploded on the literary scene like John Grisham. “The Firm” became the best-selling book of 1991 and was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly 50 weeks. It was adapted into a film in 1993, the first of a long series based on Grisham`s novels.
In 2017, Grisham released two legal thrillers. Camino Island was released on June 6, 2017. [32] The book topped several bestseller lists, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. As the bestselling author entered his second decade of writing, he withdrew from his legal thrillers to explore other genres. Before his appearance at the Santa Fe Literary Festival, the bestselling author talks to Kevin E.G. Perry about the real moment that inspired “A Time to Kill,” why innocent people are still locked up, and what aspiring thriller writers need to achieve in the first chapter. In 1984, 29-year-old John Grisham was a small-town lawyer who worked at the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando. Mississippi, when he witnessed a process that changed his life. Two younger sisters had been attacked and raped on a remote farm a few miles from his law office, and as he listened to the 12-year-old give her harrowing testimony, Grisham began to wonder what would happen if the girls` father decided to take the law into his own hands or take revenge.
At that moment, the seed of Grisham`s first thriller, A Time to Kill, was planted. “I saw the spark because I was in the right place at the right time,” says Grisham, now 67. I had never written before, I had never thought about it. But I recognized a beautiful story. Grisham began his career with idealistic visions of helping ordinary people, but was soon disillusioned with the realities of the American legal system. He saw that political change was needed, ran as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives, and was elected in 1983. Once there, it was again difficult for him to really help the people who needed it most. He says that in all the years he has practiced and written about law in America, little substance has changed.
In “Sycamore Row,” a sequel to “A Time to Kill,” Grisham brought back protagonist Jake Brigance and key supporting characters Lucien Wilbanks and Harry Rex Vonner.