The Client by John Grisham

In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client -- even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives.
([source][1])

[1]: http://www.jgrisham.com/books/the-client/

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Also contained in:

- [Novels: The Client / The Firm](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17766481W)
- [Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Volume 4 1993](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15150385W)

This must be the funniest John Grisham book I read so far. The humour in this really got me, it came out of nowhere in the most casual way. There were lines and replies that had me laughing out loud. I don't know if I was just in the right mood or this is really the funniest one, because John Grisham's books definitely made me laugh before.

Besides being very funny, 'The Client' is also (my) first John Grisham book that features a female lawyer as one of the main characters. And I'm here for it. I can't say that I liked Reggie exceptionally much, but I did like her. As expected from a great lawyer, she was fierce and dedicated to her client.

Speaking of the client, Mark was a handful. As clever as he was, he also annoyed me sometimes with his stubbornness, but I couldn't stay mad at him for long, I doubt anyone could. He was essentially just a kid doing his best after experiencing something he really shouldn't have. Poor kid.

As usual, I enjoyed the book a lot, it was very entertaining, I liked the characters and I liked how sometimes the author would follow an idea with 'he would never get to do that' or 'she didn't know that x will happen' and it's never in a spoilery way, but in a way that makes me wonder how on earth will that happen. (I may have mentioned this on other books as well.) There are just so, so many directions the plot can head to and I find myself continuing anxiously because it's 50/50 for something good or bad to happen and I just have no way of knowing without reading on. I love it!

And now I want to rant a bit about the version of the novel I got. So, I was happily reading, thinking I have about 60 pages left when I read a couple 10s of pages and reach the end of the story. And then I can read a few chapters of another John Grisham book. I dislike this so much because it builds up to what might happen next only to reach the finish of the story with no warning whatsoever. And it really sucks because I really had my hopes up for something more and now I feel cheated.

I am actually taking half a star off because of this. It's the second time this happened with a John Grisham book (amazingly, the excerpt was from the same book) so be warned to check if there's any sneaky 20-30 pages of something else lurking at the end of the volume.