jake lassiter – Page 5

John Grisham, the king of the legal thrillers, has a new book out. So, what’s new about that? For more than two decades, Grisham has been writing about a book a year, starting with “A Time to Kill” in 1989. We’ll consider both the new book and all Grisham books in order.

What’s interesting about “Sycamore Row,” this year’s release, is that it brings us back to the Ford County Courthouse and some characters of “A Time to Kill.”

You’ll remember that riveting first novel was a story of race, violence, and small time prejudices. In some ways, it echoed the themes of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (The film version starred a young Matthew McConaughey as lawyer Jake Brigance, Samuel L. Jackson as his client, who had killed two men who raped his daughter, and Sandra Bullock in a supporting role.

According to Wikipedia, the idea for the first book came from a real case:

“As he was hanging around the court, Grisham overheard a 12-year-old girl telling the jury what had happened to her. Her story intrigued Grisham and he began watching the trial. He saw how the members of the jury cried as she told them about having been raped and beaten. It was then, Grisham later wrote in The New York Times, that a story was born.

Musing over what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants,

Grisham took three years to complete his first book, ‘A Time to Kill.’ Finding a publisher was not easy. The book was rejected by 28 publishers before Wynwood Press, an unknown publisher, agreed to give it a modest 5,000-copy printing.”

Grisham Books in Order: “A Time to Kill” was the first

Now, defense lawyer Jake Brigance is back in “Sycamore Row” in another racially charged trial. I’m looking forward to meeting Grisham on that familiar terrain. Now, let’s move on to the Grisham books in order.

Grisham’s themes are clearly defined. Corruption, greed, and untidy justice permeate his work. Large corporations and Big Money exert cruel power over the weak…until a lawyer (usually flawed) takes up the cause. This rings a bell with me. Behind the judge’s bench in every Miami courtroom is the sign, “We Who Labor Here Seek Only Truth.” You can see the sign, barely, in this goofy publicity shot of me when I was flogging my first novel, “To Speak for the Dead,” many years ago.

Lawyer/Author Paul Levine in Courtroom. The sign behind the bench reads: “We Who Labor Here Seek Only Truth.”

My fictional lawyer, Jake Lassiter, examined the sign and cracked, “There oughta be a footnote. Subject to the truth being concealed by lying witnesses, distorted by sleazy lawyers, and overlooked by lazy judges.” I think Grisham’s protagonists would agree.

But back to Grisham’s oeuvre. It was Grisham’s second novel, “The Firm,” that rocketed him to the top of the charts and spun off the hit Tom Cruise movie. A young attorney is seduced by the pay and perks at a Memphis law firm that is actually a front for the mob. Chaos and murder ensue.

The rest, as they say, is history. Omitting the “Theodore Boone” young adult books and some non-fiction, here are:

GRISHAM BOOKS IN ORDER

A Time to Kill (1989)

The Firm (1991)

The Pelican Brief (1992)

The Client (1993)

The Chamber (1994)

The Rainmaker (1995)

The Runaway Jury (1996)

The Partner (1997)

The Street Lawyer (1998)

The Testament (1999)

The Brethren (2000)

A Painted House (2001)

Skipping Christmas (2001

The Summons (2002)

The King of Torts (2003)

The Bleachers (2003)

The Last Juror (2004)

The Broker (2005)

Playing for Pizza (2007)

The Appeal (2008)

The Associate (2009)

The Confession (2010)

The Litigators (2011)

Calico Joe (2012)

The Racketeer (2012)

Sycamore Row (2013)

GRISHAM BOOKS IN ORDER: A FAVORITE QUOTE

Yes, the man is prolific. Just typing all those titles wore me out. I’ll leave you with a quote from young lawyer Rudy Baylor, a classic Grisham underdog in “The Rainmaker,” who takes on a massive insurance fraud case against overwhelming odds. “I’m alone and outgunned, scared and inexperienced, but I’m right.”

Paul Levine

By Paul Levine

Lots of people compile lists of their favorite books. So why not the best book covers? I thought I’d share a few of my favorites, my personal list of the Best Book Covers of All Time.

I’d start with Joseph Hirsch. He was a Social Realist painter whose cover of Arthur Miller’s classic “Death of a Salesman,” is…well, social realism at work. (Yes, I know it was a play, but it’s in print so it qualifies as one of the best book covers of all time).

Now, going way more commercial, how about Chip Kidd’s iconic vision for Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park?” (It was so good the moviemakers used it, too).

Book Covers: Jurassic Park — The T-Rex cover of “Jurassic Park” has become iconic.

Many people regard fellow Penn State grad Kidd as the designer of the best book covers of the past quarter century. According to Wikipedia:

“Publishers Weekly described his book jackets as ‘creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers that make readers appreciate books as objects of art as well as literature.’ USA TODAY called him ‘the closest thing to a rock star’ in graphic design today, while author James Ellroy has called him ‘the world’s greatest book-jacket designer.’”

Best Book Covers: “Psycho” is Just Perfect

Then there’s Tony Palladino’s fractured cover image for Robert Bloch’s “Psycho,” which of course was adapted into the scary-as-hell Hitchcock film.

I like (but have mixed feelings about) the cover of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22.” It was designed by Paul Bacon, known for large type and small illustrations. Hey, you need good eyesight to find the B-25 bomber. The cover wouldn’t fly in the era of the Internet with postage-stamp size images on Amazon, Barnes & Noble et al. Still, the wacky image representing Captain Yossarian strikes me as just the right note.

(Like the fictional Yossarian, Heller was a bombardier on a B-25 in World War II, flying 60 combat missions over Italy. When I met him once in Key West, I told Heller he was my father’s favorite writer and that my father had been a navigator on a B-29, flying combat missions over Japan. “Then your Dad’s my hero,” Heller replied).

Now, you may disagree with me here, but I really don’t like one of the most famous book covers of all time. It’s Elmer Hader’s illustration for John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Hader wrote children’s stories and this cover, it seems to me, is too optimistic and cheery. I would have liked something more grim, along the lines of Hirsch’s tone with “Death of a Salesman.” But I could be wrong.

Certainly, Steinbeck would not agree with my position. He chose Hader for the book, approved the cover, then had him do both “East of Eden” and “The Winter of Our Discontent.”

I asked a reader (a fan of my Jake Lassiter series) for her favorite book cover. She chose Lawrence Block’s “Getting Off.” Subtitled, “a novel of sex and violence,” the pulp cover delivers what is promised. Maybe more than is necessary. It’s what people in Hollywood would call “on the nose.”

What say you? Do you have any favorite book covers?

Paul Levine