Losing the Plot

Why does he live under the radar? Because he believes everyone, including perceived criminals, are entitled to a fair trial and he as a lawyer would go to any length to get it. Rogue, daredevil with an appetite for risk, he is not afraid to piss off police, judges, prosecutors, politicians or twist society’s notions of ethical behavior in his quest for justice.
Anti-hero-versus-establishment plots usually make for entertaining reads, but the premise of this Grisham book appears to have been lifted from the extremely popular Lincoln Lawyer novels by Michael Connelly, leading to a sense of deja vu from the very beginning.

Grisham’s hero, Sebastian Rudd, is almost like Connelly’s Mickey Haller, a defence lawyer working out of a motor vehicle instead of an office. He is a man of loose morals, with a host of family problems and a smart-alecky first-person voice. His former client acts as his driver and muscle.

The book is more like a series of short stories, all featuring the protagonist. The lack of a main narrative thread is disappointing, especially considering the fact that Grisham had written some of the most densely plotted novels we have read. Characters come in and out of the story over the span of a few dozen pages, and no character other than Rudd is memorable or fleshed out.

That it is loaded with cheesy oneliners trying to cast Rudd as saviour of the unnamed midsize American city — “I’m a lone gunman, a rogue who fights the system and hates injustice…” Or: “A lawyer like me is forced to work in the shadows” — doesn’t help the book’s case either.

The lone saving grace of the book: the brisk pace at which the plot moves and Grisham’s ability to write about law and the dull courtroom proceedings in an engaging way. Rogue Lawyer is Grisham channeling Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller. But when it comes to the street, Grisham is no Connelly.