The Rainmaker
John Grisham
Synopsis
The Rainmaker (1995) follows Rudy Baylor, a broke Memphis law student about to graduate. His job offer vanishes when the firm he was joining merges into another, so he ends up working for a shady, small-time lawyer named Bruiser Stone. His only help is Deck Shifflet, a streetwise paralegal who has failed the bar exam six times.
Rudy’s first real cases are small. He helps an elderly widow, Miss Birdie, rewrite her will to cut out her greedy relatives. He also takes on Dot and Buddy Black, whose son Donny Ray is dying of leukemia after their insurer, Great Benefit, refused to pay for the treatment that could have saved him.
Rudy sues the company, facing Leo Drummond, one of the city’s most polished corporate lawyers, backed by an army of associates. Rudy has almost no money and no trial experience. Along the way he meets Kelly Riker, a young woman trapped in a violent marriage, and he is drawn into her situation.
Before the trial begins, Donny Ray dies, which gives Rudy’s fight new weight. In court he exposes how the company trained its staff to deny claims on purpose, and he wins a huge verdict for the Blacks, many millions of dollars.
The victory turns hollow. Great Benefit hides its money and goes bankrupt, so the family collects nothing. Meanwhile Kelly’s husband comes after her, and the violence ends in tragedy that Rudy helps her put behind them. Disillusioned, Rudy gives up law. He had hoped to become a “rainmaker,” a lawyer who brings in big money, but he leaves the profession and starts over elsewhere with Kelly.
The book is a sharp, funny look at how the legal system favors those with money and power.
Richard says
Typical John Grisham: a story set in the legal world he knows best. A lawyer himself, he found writing about the law more lucrative than practicing it. Every Grisham novel turns on the legal system, and though that may be repetitive, he is a solid writer. His plots are tightly built page-turners, his characters believable, and his clipped, snappy style keeps you reaching for the next paragraph.
The Rainmaker is no exception, with two plots running side by side. In the first, Rudy Baylor, a young, newly graduated lawyer, is David against the Goliath of a big insurance company and its formidable lead counsel, Leo Drummond. Rudy wants justice for a young leukemia victim whose claim the insurer refused to pay.
The second plot follows a young woman beaten by her husband, an aspiring pro baseball player who uses a bat. Rudy sympathizes, then becomes infatuated, and he brings his legal skills to her fight after her husband’s death.
Two good stories keep the entertainment high and the reader cheering for the underdog. Grisham never fails to deliver a polished, readable tale, and this one delivers.
