Gray Mountain by John Grisham

"Gray Mountain" by John Grisham. This book is published by Hachette India And Hodder & Stoughton in 2014 and has 416 pages.

Despite being graduate of Ivy league law school and working as associate in a high profile law firm, Samantha is laid off after Lehman Brothers goes down. She decides to work as legal associate in Braidy, a small town in the south, in coal county. She hates trials. In Braidy, she meets Donovan, a handsome, brilliant, dashing and reckless lawyer and his brother and side kick Jeff. She also comes across people in need, the meth addicts, black lung cases and rape of mother nature by coal mining companies.

Will Samantha like her new job? Can she adjust to the slow life? Will there be a romance? Will she take help from her high flying father or powerful mother? Will she return?

Author has portrayed blatant abuse of mother nature by strip mining for coal. Strip mining is a process of shaving off a mountain top and extracting coal. How powerful coal companies steamroll the laws, regulations & miners and how a number of miners suffer from black lungs. Black lung is a situation where fine coal dust is deposited in lungs causing breathing problems and eventual death. Once coal dust enters lung there is no way to remove it.

It's a fight between rich-poor, powerful-weak and have's-have not's. Here it is presented from lawyers perspective.

The story is good and evenly paced. The twist in the tale is predictable. The story shows that there are also a few lawyers who do not run only after money and power.

Experienced readers can guess the end of this book by the time they have read 20-25%. So then on its not 'what happens' but but 'how does it happen'.

It's a good book. Read if you are interested in lawyers.

Blood red sari by Ashok Banker

"Blood red sari" by Ashok Banker. This book is published by HarperCollins in 2012 and has 300 pages.

Three stories run in parallel. These are stories of three ladies. Anita B. has lost her best friend and is returning from Mumbai to Trivendrum. She finds that her family is trying to kill her. Sheila Ray, an ex investigator, runs a gym in Salt Lake City of Kolkata. She find herself out of business, out of livelihood and declared pariah within a span of two hours. Nachiketa is fighting against in-laws who assaulted her and left her handicapped for life. She finds her office burned, her assistant murdered and herself abandoned by friends with suggestion of psychiatric treatment.

The common thread between them is that each one has been sent a yellow manila envelop upon Lalima's instructions when she was killed.

What's in the envelop? Why is it so important? Who are 'they'? What do they want? Why are they after the three ladies?

This is an all female (main) character novel. It's a curious mix of females. A physically challenged lawyer, a lesbian investigator who was brutally raped when she was 15 years old and an ex investigator and gym owner who was also a victim of brutality. Despite the abuses, they are highly independent and capable women. Incidentally the three protagonists had appeared in previous novel or stories of Ashok Banker.

Ashok Banker has written a gripping story. You are hooked to it and want to know what happens next. Readers get a peek into the past of three main characters but do not get to know it all. The seemingly innocuous lives of the three women are shattered by an external force that is far stonger than any one of them.

Ashok has left a number of loose ends in the book as to what happens to the three protagonists, how did Lalima come into possession of the documents about the biggest conspiracy and business of all. What happens after the book ends.

Apparently this is all deliberate because this book is the first of the series of four. The lose ends will be tied in subsequent books. The human trafficking and terror angle makes a late entry in the book but the reasoning and justification given is not very convincing. Probably more will come in subsequent books. Infact that should be the main theme of subsequent books.

A good book. Read if you also intend to read remaining three, when published.

The Partner by John Grisham

"The Partner", by John Grisham.

This is the story of Patrick Lanigan, a brilliant attorney and partner in law firm, with a beautiful but unfaithful wife.

Patrick learns about a conspiracy by his partners to get 30 million $ in fees and removing him before the money comes. He hatches a brilliant plan and steals 90 million $ by faking his death and is on a run.

He is captured. Who captures him? How did he plan all this? Does he have any more surprises up his sleeve?  Who is his partner? Do they succed?

The story is set up in US and Brazil. Its a brilliant plan. Execution is flawless but then he is captured. Grisham has kept up the pace and excitement till the end. Book starts with Patrick's capture and flash back is used liberally. This book is not a lengthy one and does not allow you to get bored.

This being a John Grisham book is a legal thriller alright, but there is hardly any court room drama. World of legal settlements is presented well. The social, political, publicity & reputation considerations are shown in detail and without being sarcastic.

Patrick does everthing right, however book ends on a very very sad note and you feel really bad.

Recommend reading.

Now you see her by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

"Now you see her", by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.

A teenager, Jenine, is angry at her boyfreind & drunk and accidently kills a person. But she is not arrested. Jennine then marries a cop to find out that he is a bad cop. She runs away, changes name to Nina and becomes a lawyer. Not even her daughter knows her past.

Nina is a successful lawyer and very happy. Her daughter has turned 16. Everything is going fine untill she is assigned a pro-bono work (lawyers work for free) by her law firm.

She is torn between fear for her life and saving an innocent man. If she tries to save him, she may loose all that she has. Who is he? Will she try? Does she have the courage? Who is she afraid of? What does her daughter think? Are there more skeletons in the closet?

Most of the book is narrated by the character of Jenine alias Nina. Authors have an easy writing style. On occasions when it was possible to sensetionalize or spice-up things, authors have missed it, intentionally or unintentionally. The book just about keeps you interested. You don't get bored.

Read it if you have time and nothing better to read.

The racketeer by John Grisham

"The Racketeer" a novel by John Grisham.

Grisham is well known for his legal thrillers. This one is a borderline legal thriller. It has no court room drama.

Malcom Bannister, a black lawyer and ex marine, is sentenced for 10 yrs for money laundering. He claims to be innocent, his only fault being choosing wrong client.
A fedral judge is murdered with his girlfriend. His locker opened. Why was the judge killed? Banister may or may not have some vital info about the murder and killer.

Does the FBI get the info from Banister? What is the price? Is the murderer found? Who is the racketeer?

The story takes place in America and Carrebien. The pace is good, although it slows down in a couple of places. Writing style of this book seemed to be different from the previous Grisham books. Moreover this book is written in present tense (but not continuous present), which is a novelty.

There is a big twist to the story towards end that I did not see coming. It changes all the equations.                      

Its a good change from hard core Grisham legal thrillers. Although this book is not in the same league as 'The runaway jury' its a good one. If you don't like legal thrillers but would still like to read John Grisham, this is your book.