I always like Grisham's books in spite of the cartoonish political spin (Republicans uniformly evil; Democrats caring, sensitive, kinCaution: spoiler.
I always like Grisham's books in spite of the cartoonish political spin (Republicans uniformly evil; Democrats caring, sensitive, kind). This, his fourth book, was surely not one of his best, but only because there is a mile-wide hole in the plot. The solution to the dilemma of little Mark -- who possesses the secret of where the Senator's body is buried -- was so overwhelmingly clear within the first 100 pages that each successive machination of Reggie's, each attempt to protect and shield him variously from the mob, the FBI, and the evil Republican prosecutor, became more and more frustrating (but funnier) as the book wore on. How could a clever writer like John Grisham have missed it? How could his clever editors not have noticed?
It's simple: When Mark first dumped his secret on Reggie, she could have (and should have, and any smart lawyer would have) simply said, "Mark, you don't need a lawyer. And you don't have to talk face to face with the police or the FBI. All you have to do is make an anonymous phone call to the FBI (or the New Orleans police, or the Attorney General's office, or all three), and tell them where the body is buried. They will ask you who you are. You will tell them that you won't say because you are afraid the mafia will kill you. Then just hang up. (Alternatively, if Reggie is afraid that police might connect the young voice of the anonymous caller with the young boy who saw the suicide and was being interviewed by them, she could simply have had her secretary, Clint, make the call -- or make it herself). No law-breaking; no obstruction of justice; no detention; no court proceedings, nada.
Of course, there is no book either if Reggie does the smart thing. But then there would also not have been a million readers who saw the obvious hole in the story and said, "What was John Grisham thinking of?"...more
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