This week I was able to finish two novels: The Litigators, by John Grisham, and Kill Alex Cross, by James Patterson. The Litigators was enjoyable, though it isn't really a mystery of the type Grisham is known for. Kill Alex Cross is a standard mystery/thriller with a couple of interesting twists at the end. Both were fast, entertaining reads.
The Litigators taught me a lot about class action suits, especially those involving claims of harm caused by medications. Grisham brings us a flawed attorney in this one--in fact, three flawed personal injury lawyers with ethical issues, substance abuse problems, and questionable motives. The character who ends up being the main protagonist, though, is a good but inexperienced lawyer who decides to move from a highly paid corporate position to practice with the two barely successful ambulance-chasing attorneys as they decide to take on a giant pharmaceutical corporation over an allegedly harmful drug, mostly for the big payday they see at the end. When they combine with a big-time class-action attorney, lots of interesting consequences ensue. There's more than one suit being filed in the book, though, and more than one ending. All were satisfying.
I like Grisham--he can make any legal subject interesting. What was especially educational for me is learning what the plaintiffs have to go through during the suit--interviews, doctor appointments, depositions, and then if the case isn't settled out of court, testimony at trial. I can see it all taking up quite a bit of time, and if there's no money at the end, it's all wasted time and probably lost income. Of course, the lawyers promise big paydays to everyone, but I think at the end of some of these big suits, even those with a settlement, there may be very little for each individual plaintiff, whereas the lawyers still cash in. Of course, if they lose, the plaintiffs are better off than the attorneys who must absorb the loss of money they paid up front. Tort law can be very complex (though the media tries hard to oversimplify it), and the process of bringing suit to recover damages from harm done by others--though it could use some reform--is a process more people ought to understand and appreciate, especially since the right to sue is one of our most important freedoms. The Litigators helps with that understanding and I recommend it highly.
James Patterson's Kill Alex Cross is more conventional in its aims and methods, but there is an interesting structure to the novel. There are two crimes, seemingly related, that must be investigated and solved, as well as crimes yet to be committed that must be prevented, all within a very short amount of time (of course!). So it's a very fast paced book, with lots of action and suspense. I like Patterson, but he's not one of my favorites, mostly because his characters seem a little flat. Even Alex Cross is a bit shallow, despite his flaws. In fact, everybody is just a tad too macho and steely for my taste (even the women), but then that's the hard-boiled detective genre, I guess. Some writers are better at transcending it than others; Patterson's not one of them. He's wildly prolific, though, and (I'm sure) terribly rich. And he does write entertaining novels. What more can a reader ask?
This week is magazine week, so I'm setting aside books for now. But when I resume, I will take up a memoir by Homer Hickam, Sky of Stone, the third in his series about growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia. The first was October Sky, made into a very good movie; the second was called The Coalwood Way. I've already started it, and have learned something about what it was like to live in a town owned by the coal company who employed its residents. Apparently, in order to live there, you had to work for the coal company, and if you stopped working for them, you had to leave immediately, no matter the reason for losing your job. Even if you died in a mining accident, your survivors had pack up and find another place to live as soon as possible. Pretty cold, eh? Hickam's a very good writer; I'm looking forward to reading his story.
See you next week!
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