If one thinks courtrooms are boring and serious, one should read John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1995). Meet Rudy Baylor who just passed his bar exam and has a week before he takes the oath. But he’s already handling a lawsuit in court after his boss, Bruiser Stone fails to show up. Rudy has to face the great Leo F. Drummond who represents Great Benefit, a big insurance company.
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Things get interesting and humorous when Judge Harvey Hale is replaced by Tyrone Kipler upon the former’s death. At first, I planned to spend a few weeks on this 598 page novel; between lecture hours. But after Chapter Thirty, it’s very hard to stop reading. You just want to know what happens next to Dot and Buddy Black, Donny Ray, Miss Birdie Birdsong, Kelly Riker and the narrator, Rudy Baylor.
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I have watched the movie version of Grisham's novels: A Time To Kill, The Rainmaker, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client and The Runaway Jury. Still, I prefer the book version for the simple reason that his novels are far too interesting to be watched as one and a half or two hour movies. My advice: read the novel. Then watch the movie.