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The Rooster Bar: The New York Times and Sunday Times Number One Bestseller Paperback – 24 October 2017
John Grisham (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHodder & Stoughton
- Publication date24 October 2017
- Dimensions20.6 x 2.7 x 23.6 cm
- ISBN-101473616956
- ISBN-13978-1473616950
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From the Publisher
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From one of the bestselling authors of The Whistler comes a legal thriller from the world’s favourite storyteller. The Rooster Bar a must-read for thriller fans everywhere. |
Law students Mark, Todd and Zola will learn the hard way that justice doesn’t always happen as it should, in court and according to the law. Instead they must hunt it down on the streets and in the backroom bars of Washington. |
The Telegraph claims ‘no one does it better than Grisham’, Ken Follett thinks he is ‘one of the best thriller writer alive’, and according to Time Out, Grisham is the ‘giant of the thriller genre’. Read The Rooster Bar and find out for yourself what makes Grisham the best, bar none. |
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Review
The multi-layered plot is inventively sustained and, as always with Grisham, the scintillating storytelling serves to highlight a substantial issue: the ruinous repercussions of graduate debt and the scandal of "diploma mill" colleges (The Sunday Times)
A wild, hard-to-put-down romp (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Smartly told . . . Bravo to Grisham for using his star power to shine another spotlight on an all-too-real problem in this gratifying and all-too-real book (The Washington Post)
Grisham writes in such an inventive spirit . . . [a] buoyant, mischievous thriller . . . THE ROOSTER BAR is written with the same verve Grisham brought to this summer's CAMINO ISLAND with the same sense that this reliable best-selling author is feeling real pleasure, and not just obligation, in delivering his work (New York Times)
Good idea; good, vengeful execution (Janet Maslin, Independent)
Engrossing (Chris Roberts, CrimeReview.co.uk)
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Product details
- Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton; 1st edition (24 October 2017)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1473616956
- ISBN-13 : 978-1473616950
- Dimensions : 20.6 x 2.7 x 23.6 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 37,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 608 in Heist Thrillers
- 726 in Conspiracy Thrillers
- 1,145 in Organised Crime Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi, law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.
That might have put an end to Grisham’s hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing’s greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.
The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham’s reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham’s success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written at least one book a year (his other works are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, The Broker, Playing for Pizza, The Appeal, The Associate, The Confession, The Litigators, Calico Joe, The Racketeer, Sycamore Row, Gray Mountain, Rogue Lawyer, The Whistler, Camino Island, The Rooster Bar, The Reckoning, and The Guardians) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently more than 350 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 45 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marked his first foray into non-fiction, and Ford County (November 2009) was his first short story collection. In addition, Grisham has written seven novels for young adults, all in the Theodore Boone series: Kid Lawyer, The Abduction, The Accused, The Activist, The Fugitive, The Scandal, and The Accomplice.
Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books’ protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients’ case, earning them a jury award of $683,500—the biggest verdict of his career.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
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Three law students Mark, Todd, and Zola come to realise their law course is a sham and they have mounting student debts. This friend goes bipolar and commits suicide but not before describing how the whole scam works. They try their hand at being lawyers but get deeper in fraud. Their lives start to unravel and they are forced to escape and hide. But are they able to make a comeback. Will the perpetrators of the scam receive justice and will their friend be vindicated.
This story becomes a bit of a cocktail. There is the usual Grishamesque description of the court system where justice out of control. It seems at first that Mark and Todd might succeed but it is a dog eat dog existence and newcomers are not welcome. Another is the fate of Zola's family who go through the eviction from America process to Senegal. This is pretty unpleasant at both ends.
Another is the complex web of companies behind the law school scam. The company is vertically integrated from governments grants through fees and private student loans and debt collection. Separately providing dubious banking services for the system and the wider community. This is a very strong area and sub plot for John Grisham. It is also sad.
The main story is about the students who turn to fraud to survive. Unlike the big end of town their criminal behaviour is immediately acted on. As they say "why pick on us with all the terrorism and murders that need to be solved". John conveys the sense of helplessness of their situation very well.
There is some redemption at the end. Mostly it is about escaping. It may depend on your outlook whether you see some justice or like me leave a bit downhearted. This is a theme Grisham has used before. The Firm is one example. It provides a chase for keep you interested but the ending while realistic represents the overwhelming odds that individuals are up against and escape becomes the only answer.
Grisham has added his touch to the book so it should be read. I found it not quite up to the bar but still above other authors might do.
Came back to find out the ending & eventually finished, but surprised, as this was the first John Grisham book read that didn't grab me.
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So imagine my surprise when, whilst waiting for his new book The Reckoning to be published, I realised that I hadn’t read last year’s release, The Rooster Bar. How did that happen? I can’t imagine except that my memory is like a sieve these days (I blame my age and hormones. In fact, it is even possible that I have read it and forgotten, things have got that bad.) Anyway, happy days – I now had another unread John Grisham to enjoy on my recent holiday.
I am always fascinated as to where authors get their ideas for novels from and there is an interesting note at the back of this book where Grisham reveals that the idea for this novel came from an article he read about the level of debt students in the US were taking on in order to put themselves through law school. Quite how he goes from what sounds like quite a dull article, particularly to non-lawyers, to a nail-biting thriller is the nature of his genius, because somehow he manages to spin it in to one of his classic plots that kept me up late desperate to get to the end.
The plot of this book is quite outrageous and I think you need to suspend your disbelief to buy in to it, but that is true of most thrillers, which are by their nature outlandish and pushing the boundaries of what is probable. These books are pure escapism, sometimes keeping only a slight grasp on reality and I am sure the court system in the USA would be outraged to think this could possibly happen (although I am now waiting for someone to tell me that it has been done.) Anyway, likelihood aside, the plot is original and gripping and an interesting spin on the ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ roles as the protagonists are actually breaking the law but we still end up rooting for them, despite the fact that they are jeopardising the futures of their clients, because they themselves are victims in some respects. Should they get away scot-free? Is what happens to them justice? I don’t want to give anything away by revealing my thoughts but I think you will find more to ponder in these books than people often give Grisham credit for.
When I have revealed to people in the past what a massive fan I am of John Grisham’s books, I have met with some literary snobbery, most particularly from people who have never read any of his books. Well, firstly, I would query whether you can form a valid opinion of an author without reading a word they have written. And, secondly, you don’t sell as many books as John Grisham has without being able to write. He is the master of creating a taut, exciting and interesting thriller and this one is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I always do, and can’t wait to read his new book.



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