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Saturday Spotlight: The Rainmaker by John Grisham

Saturday Nite Reader20 Comments

Introducing Saturday Nite Reader’s weekly meme: Saturday Spotlight! Each Saturday I will spotlight a book I have read or am currently reading; and, of course what I think is special about it. I invite you to participate as well! Just link back to my weekly post and don’t forget to add your spotlight link in the comment section for all to see. Happy Sharing! XO, Nikki

img_3004This Week:
The Rainmaker by John Grisham

Published: April 28, 1995 by Doubleday
Category: Fiction, Legal Thriller
New York Times Best Selling Author

I read The Rainmaker in HS for fun – this was not a normal activity. I could barely read my required English assignments, but for some reason I would visit my school library and select books that I thought were more worth my time. That is another story for another day, as I had quite the reading preference (i.e. Girl, Interrupted; She’s Come Undone, a Janis Joplin biography = teen angst down pat). I picked up The Rainmaker after reading A Time to Kill. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer: the kind of lawyer in both Grisham novels that would fight for the underdog – the less powerful – and obviously prevail in defeating “the big bad man” in the end every single time.

I was highly emotional over this story (synopsis below) and even more so when the movie came out. I now would have an actual face for Leo F. Drummond in Jon Voight (he plays the best villain, its so easy to hate his scowling mug – sorry Jon). I was left raging mad for a Donny Ray Black and at the injustice of the world. My young, impressionable 16 year-old self would soon learn that although it was fiction, it was a story that could still happen. The realization that right doesn’t always “win” hit me like a freight train. As for me being a lawyer, it was just a phase but a valiant one at the time.

One more thing: how is the Goodreads rating less than a 4.00? 3.92 is like a 4.00, but optically its bothering me. Donny Ray deserves more than that people!

Goodreads Stats:
3.92 average rating   *   148,897 Ratings   *   1,649 Reviews
Saturday Nite Reader rating: 5 disco balls

Goodreads Synopsis:
John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America– and exposing a complex, multibillion dollar insurance scam.

In his final semester of law school Rudy Baylor is required to provide free legal advice to a group of senior citizens, and it is there that he meets his first “clients”, Dot and Buddy Black. Their son, Donny Ray, is dying of leukemia, and their insurance company has flatly refused to pay for his medical treatments. While Rudy is skeptical, he soon realizes the Blacks really have been shocking mistreated by the huge company, and that he just may have stumbled upon one of the largest insurance frauds anyone’s ever seen– and one of the most lucrative and important cases in the history of civil litigation. The problem is, Rudy’s flat broke, has no job, hasn’t even passed the bar, and is about to go head-to-head with one of the best defense attorneys– and powerful industries– in America.

Have you read this book? Do tell! Have a book to spotlight: remember to share your links in the comments below.

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Purchase Links
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Rent The Rainmaker, Amazon US
Rent The Rainmaker, Amazon UK

The Rainmaker (1997) Movie Trailer:

 

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Please note: this post contains Amazon and B&N affiliate links. If you purchase this book through the links above I will earn a small fee; at no additional cost to you. This will help me purchase more books to read and recommend to you all!

 

 

20 thoughts on “Saturday Spotlight: The Rainmaker by John Grisham”

  5. I read this years ago. I have to say that he has really written some outstanding books and I don’t know why I haven’t read any for so long.I have an urge to read a Grisham book. (I have some on my tablet that I haven’t read) I won’t read A Time To Kill again (I don’t this so anyway) because I was devastated, angry and more than a little disturbed by it. It was also the Grisham book that has stayed in my mind as the strongest of that time. (around Pelican Brief and The Firm) Thank you for reminding me that he is outstanding with your great review.

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