
The Litigators is a fun book. John Grisham knows how to tell a story in an entertaining manner, and in this book he does it in a light-handed manner which I suspect he has had a lot of fun writing. It’s a story of misery and greed in all walks of life, fertilized with the dream of a huge settlement.
In this tale, lawyers in a sleazy little Chicago law firm that is conveniently located near an intersection known for its high accident rate, stumble over an opportunity for a huge tort suit. The firm is Finley & Figg, consisting of the reserved and grumpy Oscar Finley and the alcoholic, cheap and unethical Wally Figg, partners in the constant ambulance chasing of their insignificant and unsuccessful firm. They have not had a decent case in years – actually they have never had a decent case. Now these bottom feeders see an opportunity, and realize that although they know nothing about how huge cases like these are handled and have never actually had any experience in court, they can sign up clients and run coattail on the big, prestigious and rich firms specializing in the huge mass tort cases.
Now they get a case as well as a new associate: A dead drunk lawyer from one of the big firms in town accidentally stumbles into their office. Meet David Zinc, a young Harvard graduate who after five years is already burned out. After a serious bender he feels a need to do something else – he wants to get in touch with how legal work is really done, and Finley & Figg looks just as good or bad, as any other two-dime law shop out there. At least, Zinc thinks, it can’t possibly be worse than the huge firm he has spent time in so far.
So there they are, the wanna-be litigators: Finley & Figg suddenly has a big new case and a brand new associate who even seems smart. They feel ready to seize the moment and move into the big time. Their ticket is Krayoxx, an extremely popular drug, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion. F & F can smell the money!
Of course, it almost seems too good to be true. And it is much too good to be true.
I laughed out loud several times reading The Litigators, and I greatly enjoyed all the shady characters and the characterizations of the legal wolves in this book. A great romp, excellent entertainment and good, clean fun. John Grisham still delivers the goods.
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Only Time Will Tell is a splendid and very well-told tale of people from both sides of that very deep divide that ran through all Western societies in the twentieth century: namely class; and the huge differences between the haves and the have-nots – perhaps especially in England with its titled upper class and their elite institutions. The writing is very good and the characterizations are mostly excellent. The story moves at a more than sufficient speed and I had a hard time putting Only Time Will Tell down. A great and fun read!
