The Pelican Brief
After my book review on The Runaway Jury, I decided to continue this pattern by reviewing another famous John Grisham book, The Pelican Brief. Thanks to Tom for this one, too!
The book is about a law student named Darby Shaw, studying at Tulane University. She is researching a conspiracy. The conspiracy is about two Supreme Court justices who were killed by an assassin. These deaths were very shocking and absurd due to both justices being on opposite spectrums (meaning that one judge was more Republican, while the other was more Democrat.) The new republican president brushed it off and took upon the opportunity to appoint two new justices for the Supreme Court. Darby felt confused and frustrated after searching through hundreds of cases with no substantial evidence connecting the two justices. Taking a new strategy, she found out everything about these justices and what they had in common. She found nothing except a summary of information known as the Pelican brief.
She immediately tells her lover who is a famous law professor named Thomas Callahan at Tulane. A couple of days later, a bomb is planted in Callahan’s car leaving him blown to pieces. Darby scared for her life runs away and hides out at a hotel. She rereads the Pelican brief multiple times and concludes that whoever is behind the Pelican brief is powerful and out to kill her. The next morning, an assassin named Khamel is constantly chasing her trying to end her life. She meets up with a news reporter named Gray Grantham. Together they constantly escape and try to get this information to the White House in D.C. Throughout the story, the deeper the hole gets as the FBI and the CIA end up on their tail. Will they make it to D.C.? Why must the Pelican Brief be kept secretive? What is the Pelican Brief?
Despite this book being written by a very law-oriented author, it felt filled with lots of action with minor amounts of law. I suggest readers fond of suspense and action novels read The Pelican Brief. There is even a movie based on the book that I have watched starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, which is pretty good I’ll say. I rate this book an 8.5 out of 10 because the ending dragged a little, but the resolution made up for the book. Most of John Grisham’s books are interesting so if you want to be introduced to his works, this is a good book.
- Darshan
When you say "Law orientated" do you mean the book is law orientated with the document or just the writing makes it seem like a lawyer wrote it.
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to see inside the more intricate and complex occupations, like medicine and law, and see the drama of going against every little rule and clause like a detective finding every piece of a puzzle. Great post, thanks!
ReplyDeleteSeems like a pretty cool book! Like Sam said, I agree that it's interesting to see the details behind these complex occupations, but it's also a good thing that The Pelican Brief seems like it doesn't get bogged down with too much law yap that might make it harder to read. Great post Darshan!
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