Just Finished Reading John Grisham's Rogue Lawyer

Rogue Lawyer, which came out in 2015, is the seventh John Grisham novel I've read so far.  Seeing how six of them are stories about the legal profession, it's surprising I've gone this far into the genre, considering that I entertain a deeply-held revulsion toward courtrooms, trial lawyers, and judges.  Not that I've ever been in trouble with the law...I haven't...but jury duty over the years has left me cold...I might say disillusioned as well, but I never had any illusions about it to begin with. Whenever I get a jury summons...and they seem to be annoyingly attracted to me...the immediate reaction I get is a feeling of disgust, anticipating the spectacle I'm about to experience against my will.  But Grisham is a very good writer and his ability to spin a good yarn, along with how well he develops his characters, has overridden my aversion to the "justice" system...consequently, here I am with another book to write about...

Sebastian Rudd, the protagonist in this story, is just what the book's title suggests: a rogue lawyer, someone operating on the fringes of the profession who takes cases nobody else wants and who has no problem making enemies with the police or the prosecution when it comes to defending his clients.  He operates his law practice out of a modified van, which brings to mind the 2005 Michael Connelly novel The Lincoln Lawyer that spotlighted another renegade attorney who ran things out of a vehicle.  There are a few more similarities between the two books, but I read Rogue Lawyer on its own terms and don't consider it to be a ripoff of Connelly. After all, it is the nature of literature, art, and music to be derivative...this is why we have different genres and schools in the first place.  Rudd tells the story in the first person, which gives the reader a lot of information concerning his attitudes about life, relationships, and justice.  He has a big mercy streak to his personality, but finds that many of those he defends are suffering from their own self-made problems and attitudes that get in the way of his trying to help them.  And the symbols of justice and law and order...the judges, lawyers, juries, and especially the police...don't carry much, if any, credibility with him...

Rogue Lawyer is, in a way, a collection of shorter stories, interwoven into a cohesive whole, that describes different cases Rudd works, along with his dysfunctional relationship with his ex-wife and their son.  Also, he has to make several ethically-questionable decisions in order to achieve the greater good...something that carries a more universal application beyond practicing law. Throw in a little romance on the side, along with Rudd's penchant for managing and betting on cage fighters, and you pretty much have this novel down...albeit without the main details of which I'm going to hold back in case you'd like to read it yourself...

I liked Rogue Lawyer...but then again I like John Grisham's writing.  If you're a fan of his, go for it and read this book!