… by prolific legal writer John Grisham. A number of his publications have been read and reviewed here: most paperback versions: all interesting, well written, dog-eared, recycled and passed around over time. The list of his work printed inside the front cover numbers nine, with the publishing date indicating this one was printed in 1999. Seems quite feasible there could easily be a dozen more in the decades since, that have been written and enjoyed by his fan base. According to internet research: currently he has published 47 books, not all legal thrillers, but in a variety of genres.
One of the interesting traits that seem consistent with his various published works is the Grisham method of devoting himself to research before composing. All have such details that flesh out the characters, subject matter, story lines. The people and circumstances of their lives are unique to each book, but provide fascinating insights into situations and environments the reader is rarely privy to. In this case, details about the lives of beyond-wealthy attorneys who are completely out of touch with work-a-day humans. And people who depend on the mercy of soup-kitchens, shelters for sleeping in freezing weather, kindness of complete strangers for basic necessities: clothing, shoes, water.
Michael Brock is an attorney, working in a high rise office building, as an employee of Drake and Sweeney, a large high-powered firm with four hundred attorneys. Followed into work one morning, by a homeless man, Brock and others are briefly held hostage, before the situation is resolved by a SWAT team. The death of the homeless man, who apparently only wanted to be seen and heard, rather than feeling as if his needs were ignored and he was invisible, causes Brock to seek out a man, Mordecai, who is a ‘street lawyer’. Serving the needs of this segment of the population, Brock is compelled to quit his well-paying job, recruited to become part of the team of the attorneys who focus on the basic survival needs of these people who fall through the cracks of society: with no permanent address, little income, lack of the things most consider necessities like food, clothing, shelter, warm coats, shoes.
The research involved in telling the compelling story was fascinating: providing many small details one would not consider when thinking of the culture and environment this group of people accepts as a way of life. From standing in lines in soup kitchens for hot meal, to finding shoes in cold weather, it is difficult to imagine some of the challenges that complicate the lives of the underserved. Sleeping in public places – city park benches, doorways of commcecain cities large and small, the population often becomes invisible. Often rounded up en masse to be literally ‘vanished’, loaded onto buses to make the problem disappear, those who are struggling in so many ways often seem to have no ‘voice’, feel ignored, unseen and without recourse when politicians are making promises they cannot keep.
Interesting and surprise ending. Clearly a lesson in compassion as a description of what life is like on the streets. Although the lead character had the resources and where-with-all to avoid some of what happened, the hardships that befall someone with little funding, struggling with daily necessities is painfully apparent in then narrative.
