With his seven legal thrillers, all published since 1989, John Grisham has won a huge following of readers and set a standard few contributors to the genre can match. Because of the success of his novels, the legal thriller is the most popular genre in American fiction today. In this study, Pringle explains how Grisham's legal thriller evolved from the thriller tradition and borrowed from the heroic romance novel, gothic novel, crime novel, and detective fiction. She shows how his novels examine contemporary social and legal problems that do not have simple solutions—ecology, ethnic relations, capital punishment, corporate greed, and health insurance—and how he depicts both the legal system and lawyers in their best and worst lights. Following a biographical chapter that focuses on Grisham's childhood in Arkansas, education, political career, and development as a writer, Pringle examines the legal thriller, its antecedents, and Grisham's contribution to the genre. An individual chapter is devoted to analysis of each of his novels. Each chapter synopsizes the novel, discusses its reception by critics, and features sections on plot development, character development, social/historical context and issues, and an alternative critical perspective from which to approach the novel, such as psychoanalytic theory or feminist criticism. The work includes a complete bibliography of Grisham's work, critical sources, and list of reviews of all of his novels. Because of Grisham's popularity with adults and young adults and the contemporary issues he raises, this study is valuable to students, book discussion group participants, and other interested readers, and is an essential purchase for school and public libraries.

John Grisham is one of the most prolific and beloved mystery writers today, still reaching the top of the bestseller lists with books like The Testament (1999) and King of Torts (2003). In recent times, he has also experimented with different genres, such as A Painted House (2001), a semi-autobiographical work, and Skipping Christmas (2001), a holiday narrative. This volume follows up the critical analysis of Grisham's work in John Grisham: A Critical Companion, examining his writing from 1997 to the present.

John Grisham is the home run king of legal thrillers. Fans devour his books and can't wait for each blockbuster book every February. Since 2001, he has written a second, lightweight novella in the fall. This is gourmet Grisham. But who is John Grisham--the real John Grisham? He is an illusive, private, and mysterious person, who shuns publicity. The author of The John Grisham Story: from baseball to bestsellers peels away the layers of this fascinating Mississippi boy, who longed to be a professional baseball player. Grisham was a criminal lawyer, a Mississippi legislator, and is presently a novelist. Grisham came from a family of storytellers. His gypsy life as a child, moving from Arkansas to many small towns in Mississippi, was fodder for many of his ideas. Life experiences for Grisham left him full of disdain for lawyers, politicians, and government. Yet, he is a spiritual man, a family man, and an anonymous giver to charities. Buried behind his acres of land in the rolling hills of Virginia, Grisham coaches Little League and uses his novels to espouse his causes against homelessness, insurance scams, and crooked lawyers. Here is the inside story of John Grisham, written in a lively, informative, and colorful style.

DISCLAIMER This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book. Summary of The Exchange by John Grisham: After The Firm (The Firm Series) IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET: Chapter astute outline of the main contents. Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis. Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book John Grisham's The Exchange is a thrilling legal thriller that follows Mitch McDeere, the hero of The Firm, and his wife Abby, who fled after exposing Memphis law firm crimes. The sequel follows Mitch and Abby's life in Manhattan, where he becomes the center of a sinister plot with worldwide implications, revealing his mastery of staying ahead of his adversaries.

Gray Mountain: A Novel By John Grisham | Conversation Starters A Brief Look Inside: John Grisham’s 2014 legal thriller, Gray Mountain, focuses on the life of a pauper and society’s view of injustice. The main character, Samantha, faces the ultimate challenge and disappointment when the high-power law firm she drudgingly serves gives her only one option—work for a non-profit firm of theirs and, possibly get your prestigious job back. The victim of a law firm that loses prosperity, Samantha is desperate to keep her place among the elite. She learns a quick lesson in the importance of serving humanity first through placement with the Mountain Aid Legal Clinic. Her life looks a bit “gray” on the mountain of suffering she discovers exists in the world, which changes her entire perspective on life, including a new chance at romance. Gray Mountain was touted to be an “angry but important” novel by the Washington Post due to its focus on the coal miners’ life at Big Coal. Released in 2014, following another serious look at human suffering in Sycamore Row (2013), this novel took the number 3 slot on the New York Times bestseller list for 10 weeks. EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and its world come alive, and even after the last page of the book is closed, the story still lives on, inciting questions and curiosity. Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into this world that continues to lives on. These questions can be used to… Create Hours of Conversation: • Foster a deeper understanding of the book • Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups • Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately • Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource to supplement the original book, enhancing your experience of Gray Mountain. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.

This sneak peek teaser - featuring literary giants John Grisham and Danielle Steele - from Chapter 2 of The Bestseller Code, a groundbreaking book about what a computer algorithm can teach us about blockbuster books, stories, and reading, reveals the importance of topic and theme in bestselling fiction according to percentages assigned by what the authors refer to as the “bestseller-ometer.” Although 55,000 novels are published every year, only about 200 hit the lists, a commercial success rate of less than half a percent. When the computer was asked to “blindly” select the most likely bestsellers out of 5,000 books published over the past thirty years based only on theme, it discovered two possible candidates: The Accident by Danielle Steel and The Associate by John Grisham. The computer recognized quantifiable patterns in their seemingly opposite, but undeniably successful writing careers with legal thrillers and romance. In Chapter 2, Archer and Jockers analyze this data and divulge the most and least likely to best sell topics and themes in fiction with a human discussion of the “why” behind these results. The Bestseller Code is a big-idea book about the relationship between creativity and technology. At heart it is a celebration of books for readers and writers—a compelling investigation into how successful writing works.

Carrie Eliza Kerby was born in 1874 in Missouri. She married twice to Thomas S. Quarles and Thomas McConnell and had two children. She lived her entire life in Missouri. Material on her ancestral lines collected by her daughter-in-law and granddaughters is reviewed in this volume. These lines came out of Virginia, and North Carolina, by way of Kentucky to settle in Missouri. Some information is given on her descendants who live in California, Missouri, and elsewhere.