Book Review: The Litigators
If I have become increasingly fascinated by court-room proceedings, trials, juries, and all those legal battles between plaintiffs and defendants, the whole credit goes to a few authors, whose books I rarely miss: Erle Stanley Gardner (I am great fan of the Perry Mason novels, thanks to my Granddad for that!), Scott Turow (for Presumed Innocent, a first class legal thriller) and of course my staple, John Grisham. Since the 1991 best seller, The Firm, which catapulted Grisham to such a meteoric rise that he quit his law practice to pursue writing as a full time profession, he has been quite prolific in coming up with a new legal/non-legal fiction, every year. Of late, it has become customary to expect a Grisham novel to make it to the stands every October/November. This year is no different; after the successful The Confession (2010), a tale about wrongful conviction and miscarriage of justice, Grisham is back to what he tells best with The Litigators.
The amusing opening (talk about dark humor!) details a 2-man 'boutique firm' Finley & Figg in Chicago, run by Oscar Finley and Wally Figg. The twenty plus year old firm, located between a massage parlor and a lawn mower repair shop, is pretty much a small time operation that focuses on small divorces, DUI's and occasional automobile accident cases. With both the partners frustrated with the way things are shaping up in the firm, and ever on the lookout for making quick money, they constantly bicker at each other, though it doesn't go far enough to break their partnership. It is to this firm, known for its questionable ethics, that a Harvard Law School graduate turns up one day asking for work.
David Zinc, the main protagonist, 'snaps' and runs away from his lucrative job at Chicago's leading law firm Rogan Rothberg, boozes up heavily, stumbles into Finley & Figg and persuades them to hire him. With no long working hours and work pressure to confront him, Zinc begins to enjoy his stint at the new workplace. But things start moving when Figg comes across a case of drug side-effects, in which it comes to light that Krayoxx, an anti-cholesterol drug manufactured by Varrick Labs (a leading pharmaceutical giant), may have triggered strokes and heart attacks. Lured by the prospects of big money (through settlements), they hustle and chase a few plaintiffs, and climb aboard a class-action suit against the makers of Krayoxx. Do they win? Read the book for the rest.
It is all standard John Grisham fare, which means the following: a plot that moves at a ridiculously fast pace allowing no time to pause and think, a typical David vs. Goliath battle where a novice takes on the powerful, a gripping drama (usually taking up a cause of social unjust) with its laugh out loud moments and a set of sympathetic characters. Grisham's one dimensional characters has never been his forte, either they are too good and perfect or venal to the core. For a change, Grisham imparts the necessary dimensions to the lead characters of Finely and Figg, a set of people whom you would never aspire to be in real-life. But the same can't be said about Zinc, his is trademark Grisham, the idealist and the upright man, comparable to Mitch McDeere (The Firm) or Kyle McAvoy (The Associate).
The secondary characters (Zinc's wife etc.) make no impact while a sub-plot involving Burmese immigrants makes for an interesting diversion and leaves us wanting for more. Sadly on the downside, suspense is a little lacking and the ending is too fairy-tale'sque. Grisham, with this yet another slick morality tale, puts forth an immensely enjoyable tragicomic ride that takes you through the world of shysters, lawsuits, power and greed. He portrays how mass tort litigation as a system makes millionaires out of lawyers on both sides of the legal battle but does little to compensate the actual victims. He had once said he is not into serious literature, and that his aim is to grab readers. He might have done just that with this book. On a parting word, quoting from The Washington Post review of the book: The Litigators is about a man who quits the path of assured wealth to work among the broken and fallible. From a certain distance, he resembles John Grisham.
The amusing opening (talk about dark humor!) details a 2-man 'boutique firm' Finley & Figg in Chicago, run by Oscar Finley and Wally Figg. The twenty plus year old firm, located between a massage parlor and a lawn mower repair shop, is pretty much a small time operation that focuses on small divorces, DUI's and occasional automobile accident cases. With both the partners frustrated with the way things are shaping up in the firm, and ever on the lookout for making quick money, they constantly bicker at each other, though it doesn't go far enough to break their partnership. It is to this firm, known for its questionable ethics, that a Harvard Law School graduate turns up one day asking for work.
David Zinc, the main protagonist, 'snaps' and runs away from his lucrative job at Chicago's leading law firm Rogan Rothberg, boozes up heavily, stumbles into Finley & Figg and persuades them to hire him. With no long working hours and work pressure to confront him, Zinc begins to enjoy his stint at the new workplace. But things start moving when Figg comes across a case of drug side-effects, in which it comes to light that Krayoxx, an anti-cholesterol drug manufactured by Varrick Labs (a leading pharmaceutical giant), may have triggered strokes and heart attacks. Lured by the prospects of big money (through settlements), they hustle and chase a few plaintiffs, and climb aboard a class-action suit against the makers of Krayoxx. Do they win? Read the book for the rest.
It is all standard John Grisham fare, which means the following: a plot that moves at a ridiculously fast pace allowing no time to pause and think, a typical David vs. Goliath battle where a novice takes on the powerful, a gripping drama (usually taking up a cause of social unjust) with its laugh out loud moments and a set of sympathetic characters. Grisham's one dimensional characters has never been his forte, either they are too good and perfect or venal to the core. For a change, Grisham imparts the necessary dimensions to the lead characters of Finely and Figg, a set of people whom you would never aspire to be in real-life. But the same can't be said about Zinc, his is trademark Grisham, the idealist and the upright man, comparable to Mitch McDeere (The Firm) or Kyle McAvoy (The Associate).
The secondary characters (Zinc's wife etc.) make no impact while a sub-plot involving Burmese immigrants makes for an interesting diversion and leaves us wanting for more. Sadly on the downside, suspense is a little lacking and the ending is too fairy-tale'sque. Grisham, with this yet another slick morality tale, puts forth an immensely enjoyable tragicomic ride that takes you through the world of shysters, lawsuits, power and greed. He portrays how mass tort litigation as a system makes millionaires out of lawyers on both sides of the legal battle but does little to compensate the actual victims. He had once said he is not into serious literature, and that his aim is to grab readers. He might have done just that with this book. On a parting word, quoting from The Washington Post review of the book: The Litigators is about a man who quits the path of assured wealth to work among the broken and fallible. From a certain distance, he resembles John Grisham.
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