PlanetPapers.com RSS Feedhttps://www.planetpapers.com/ The Testament John Grisham’s book The Testament is a story that mixes legal suspense with a remarkable adventure, their lives is forever altered by the startling secret of a billionaires last wishes. The setting takes place in Washington, D.C. and in the Pantanal in Brazil. The main characters in this book are: Nate O’Riley: The main character in this book. He is a washed-up, alcoholic litigator with two ruined marriages in his wake and the IRS on his tail. He has been in rehab for his alcoholism four times. Troy Phelan: A 78-year-old eccentric and the 10th-richest man in America. People question on whether or not he is of sane mind. Troy has three ex-wives who bore seven children, six of them are still alive and doing all they can to torment him. Troy’s first wife was Lillian, She had four kids: Troy Junior, Rex, Libbigail, and Mary Ross. Troy’s second wife was Janie, she had two kids: Geena and Rocky. Rocky was killed in a car accident while he was in college. Troy’s third wife was Tira, she had one kid, and his name is Ramble. A quote from Troy about his family: “A dying man should not hate, but I cannot help it. They are a miserable bunch, all of them. Their mothers hate me, so the children in turn have been taught to hate me too.” Josh Stafford- Attorney for Mr. Troy Phelan Jevy- Guide of Nate in the Pantanal. Welly- Deck hand in the Pantanal. Valdir- Lawyer in Brazil. Rachel Lane- An illegitimate child of Troy that nobody knew about. Troy gives his whole fortune to her. Phil Sinclair- Church minister at St. Michaels. The story begins as Troy Phelan is about to read his last will and testament, divvying up an estate worth $11 billion. Phelan's three ex-wives, their kids, a legion of lawyers, several psychiatrists, and a plethora of sound technicians wait breathlessly, all eyes glued to digital monitors as they watch the old man read his verdict. Troy Phelan hates his greedy, spoiled children. The aging multi billionaire knows that they’re circling like vultures as he waits to die. Phelan’s last will and testament names an unknown beneficiary, a missionary living deep in the wilds of Brazil. This will would nullify all other wills. But Phelan shocks everyone with a bizarre, last-gasp attempt to redistribute the spoils. This will gave enough money to clear all debts of his offspring. But it gave them nothing after the debts 2002-01-16T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Testament-4278.aspx The Brethren The Brethren is a book written by John Grisham. The story takes place in locations all over the United States. The main locations include Washington D.C. and a minimum security prison in Florida. This book begins by introducing three former judges - Finn Yarber, Hatlee Beach, and Joe Roy Spicer, who are in a federal prison in Trumble. They call themselves the Brethren. The three of them place ads in gay magazines looking for a gay partner. Yarber and Beech both had aliases that they used in their letters. When someone would write to them, they would reply by saying that they were in rehab and would be getting out soon. After exchanging letters back and forth, the Brethren would collect enough information about their victim that they would ask for money. They told their victim who they really were and if they didn’t get paid, the Brethren would reveal there victim’s secret to their families. The Brethren started making thousands of dollars until they picked the wrong victim. This book is also about an evil Russian about to blow up the world. The CIA is well aware about this man’s plans so they decide to put a President in office that will listen to them. They chose a congressman from Arizona. They had checked his background and didn’t see any problems. So Aaron Lake was chosen to be the next President. The CIA would take care of the election. Aaron ran on one platform that was to better the Defense Department. The CIA would buy the election for Aaron. And Aaron became President he would prepare the United States for war. But there is something in all of the CIA’s background checks that they didn’t see. Aaron had replied to one of the gay ads in a magazine. The CIA was keeping track of everything that Aaron did for his security and they came across the letters that Aaron and the Brethren were exchanging. The CIA decides not to tell Aaron that they know yet. In order for Aaron to become President, the CIA has to make sure that the Brethren doesn’t reveal Aaron’s little secret so they would have to put an end to the Brethren. They locate where the letters are being sent from. So the CIA sends a private team to the mail site and setup a watch across the street. The brethren’s lawyer on the outside, who is 2001-12-06T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Brethren-4098.aspx The Runaway Jury Normally the lawyers give their arguments and then the jury go and deliberate but not so in John Grisham’s thriller “The Runaway Jury”. In this book one mysterious girl, known only as Marlee, is controlling the whole jury from the outside. Her background is obscure and if they knew it they wouldn’t trust her. Which way will she turn, for the plaintiff and send tobacco companies worldwide into a crisis, or for the defence and stop all litigation cases for a generation? Her accomplice Nicholas Easter, is introduced as a mystifying potential juror. “The problem with Easter, potential juror number fifty-six, was that they knew so little about him.” From this, we deduce that Easter will be the thriller aspect which Grisham is known to use throughout his novels. His not-yet known enemy Rankin Fitch, the defence’s background man, is the next character brought to our attention. After showing the change in attitude as he walks in the door: “Carl stopped. The lawyers bolted upright in their seats” Grisham uses the short paragraph “Fitch was back. Fitch was in the room” to show us how powerful and respected this man is. Easter also starts to gain respect and portray his image as the ideal jury leader through making known that he was an ex-law student and by trying to gain them extra amenities. One of the stranger things he wanted was to perform the Pledge of Allegiance every week as they walked into the courtroom. Mystery seems to be cropping up all over as Marlee, the mysterious girl, shows up with the note: “Dear Mr. Fitch: Tomorrow, juror number two, Easter, will wear a grey pullover golf shirt with red trim, starched khakis, white socks and brown leather shoes, lace-up” There is more to this woman than is first thought. She then arranges a meeting with Fitch, at which she conveys what she’s really doing: “ ‘So why are we here?’ he asked. ‘One meeting leads to another.’ ‘And where do all the meetings lead?’ ‘To the verdict.’ ” Grisham is quite aware that both sides in trials bribe jurors but Marlee has been introduced to keep the reader captivated, as it is quite unusual for an outsider to volunteer to do the dirty work, for a price. “the price of Pynex shares dipped … attributed to the dramatic events in the courtroom”. This shows that Easter’s seemingly senseless demands and goings on in the courtroom were actually doing something 2001-10-21T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Runaway-Jury-3891.aspx The Client The Client by John Grisham takes place in Memphis, Tennessee. It starts out with a little boy, named Mark and his brother sneaking into the woods to try and smoke cigarettes. While in the woods, they witness a man kill himself. But before he does so, this man tells Mark some very important secrets, which ends up putting Mark and his entire family at risk of being hurt. This event ends up putting Mark's brother in a coma. There are lawyers who keep on pressuring Mark to tell these things that he is not supposed to know, except that the Mafia threatens to kill Mark and his family if they tell the truth. This is because the secret is that the Mafia killed a Senator and buried him in their lawyer's garage, and the lawyer is the person who commits suicide. Since Mark didn't confess to the lawyers, he is put in jail until he admits this secret. This is where he hires a lawyer named Reggie Love for the fee of one dollar. He eventually escapes for jail and figures that the only way to really know if this is true or not is if he goes and sees it himself. It is a coincidence though that the Mafia decides to do the same thing. Mark and Reggie end up finding the body, and the mob finds them. Mark and Reggie escape unharmed from the Mafia, and strike a deal with the district attorney. It is that they will tell them where the body is, if they agree to put them in a witness protection program, which is what they end up doing. Mark and his family move to Arizona, and everything ends up being okay. One of the main characters in this book is Mark Sway, a little ten-year-old boy. He is strong willed, you can tell this because he keeps on going through all of this turmoil. He also seems to be really smart, and he speaks like someone who's a lot older than ten-years-old. Another main character is Roy Foltrigg. He is the district attorney in the story. He has a really big ego, and it seems like he's lazy. He always has a team of lawyers who do everything for him, while he takes all of the credit. He seems like a typical man of politics. I feel that I didn't really learn too much from this book. 1999-11-10T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Client-1144.aspx The Client 1) The main character of my book was Mark Sway. 2) Mark Sway is a bad little eleven year old boy with a huge burden on his hands. Mark smokes ciggaretes, uses foul language, and picks on his little brother, Ricky. Mark grew up in a trailer, with an abusive father, a mother who is hardly around, and his little brother Ricky who annoys him plenty. Mark was a very strong character who did not take anything from anyone! The trouble Mark ran into with Jerome Clifford only made him stronger. All he cared about was protecting his little brother, and his mother. Jerome Clifford was a heavy set man, who was trying to commit suicide, because of a dangerous secret he knew. Mark and his younger brother Ricky, stumbled upon Jerome one day, as he was trying to commit suicide. Jerome revealed the dangerous secret to Mark, which made Mark a major target of the mafia. Mark was pushed around and overlooked, but as soon as people found out Mark knew this dangerous secret, they all wanted a piece of him. Mark knew he was in trouble so he did t! he only thing he knew possible, which was get a lawyer. The lawyers' name was Reggie Love, a woman. Mark despised Reggie at first, knowing that a woman was not capable of fullfilling his needs, like a man could. Then something happened where Reggie grew on him, he got more used too her, and he found himself telling her personal things, spending tons of time with her, and starting to care for her. She was like the mother figure he never had. Mark and Reggie were in the tangle of mess together. Mark realized through the whole ordeal he could not do everything by himself, he also realized how vulnerable he was by being independent. Mark and Reggie became bestest friends, right up to the point where he would have to leave into the witness protection program. 3) I liked the way Mark was so rowdy, and uncontrollable. He was so young, yet so smart and mature. He knew how to protect himself, and he knew the importance of his family members and friends, and how important it was too protect them. No matter what the mafia did to Mark, he made sure his family was safe first, than he took care of himself. 4) I could not really find 1999-08-22T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Client-806.aspx The Client Book Review The Client by John Grisham takes place in Memphis, Tennessee. It starts out with a little boy, named Mark and his brother sneaking into the woods to try and smoke cigarettes. While in the woods, they witness a man kill himself. But before he does so, this man tells Mark some very important secrets, which ends up putting Mark and his entire family at risk of being hurt. This event ends up putting Mark's brother in a coma. There are lawyers who keep on pressuring Mark to tell these things that he is not supposed to know, except that the Mafia threatens to kill Mark and his family if they tell the truth. This is because the secret is that the Mafia killed a Senator and buried him in their lawyer's garage, and the lawyer is the person who commits suicide. Since Mark didn't confess to the lawyers, he is put in jail until he admits this secret. This is where he hires a lawyer named Reggie Love for the fee of one dollar. He eventually escapes for jail and figures that the only way to really know if this is true or not is if he goes and sees it himself. It is a coincidence though that the Mafia decides to do the same thing. Mark and Reggie end up finding the body, and the mob finds them. Mark and Reggie escape unharmed from the Mafia, and strike a deal with the district attorney. It is that they will tell them where the body is, if they agree to put them in a witness protection program, which is what they end up doing. Mark and his family move to Arizona, and everything ends up being okay. One of the main characters in this book is Mark Sway, a little ten-year-old boy. He is strong willed, you can tell this because he keeps on going through all of this turmoil. He also seems to be really smart, and he speaks like someone who's a lot older than ten-years-old. Another main character is Roy Foltrigg. He is the district attorney in the story. He has a really big ego, and it seems like he's lazy. He always has a team of lawyers who do everything for him, while he takes all of the credit. He seems like a typical man of politics. I feel that I didn't really learn too much from this book. 1999-07-02T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Client-Book-Review-725.aspx