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Sparring Partners: The new collection of gripping legal stories - The Number One Sunday Times bestseller Hardcover – 31 May 2022
John Grisham (Author) See search results for this author |
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***THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***
'Three sparkling Grisham stories for the price of one . . . Appealing entertainment' IRISH INDEPENDENT
'These three novellas in a single volume show Grisham at his masterful best, exquisite evocations of the law though far from complimentary about lawyers . . . A minor masterpiece' DAILY MAIL
Three thrilling stories of the law from the master of the legal thriller.
Homecoming takes us back to Ford County, the fictional setting of many of John Grisham's unforgettable stories. Jake Brigance is back, but he's not in the courtroom. He's called upon to help an old friend, Mack Stafford, a former lawyer in Clanton who three years earlier became a local legend when he stole some money from his clients, divorced his wife, filed for bankruptcy, and left his family in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again. Until now. Now Mack is back and he's leaning on his old pals, Jake and Harry Rex, to help him return. His homecoming does not go as planned.
In Strawberry Moon, we meet Cody Wallace, a young death row inmate only three hours away from execution. His lawyers can't save him, the courts slam the door, and the Governor says no to a last minute request for clemency. As the clock ticks down, Cody has only one final request.
The Sparring Partners are the Malloy brothers, Kirk and Rusty, two successful young lawyers who inherited a once prosperous firm when its founder, their father, was sent to prison. Kirk and Rusty loathe one another, and speak to each other only when necessary. As the firm disintegrates, the fiasco falls into the lap of Diantha Bradshaw, the only person the partners trust. Can she save the Malloys, or does she take a stand for the first time and try to save herself?
350+ million copies, 45 languages, 10 blockbuster films:
NO ONE WRITES DRAMA LIKE JOHN GRISHAM
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHodder & Stoughton
- Publication date31 May 2022
- Dimensions15.8 x 3 x 23.6 cm
- ISBN-101399708449
- ISBN-13978-1399708449
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Product description
Review
Grisham is on vintage form ― Financial Times
These three novellas in a single volume show Grisham at his masterful best, exquisite evocations of the law though far from complimentary about lawyers . . . A minor masterpiece ― Daily Mail
Grisham's work - always superior entertainment - is evolving into something more serious, more powerful, more worthy of his exceptional talent ― The Washington Post
Book Description
From the Back Cover
In Strawberry Moon, we meet Cody Wallace, a young death row inmate only three hours away from execution. His lawyers can't save him, the courts slam the door, and the Governor says no to a last minute request for clemency. As the clock ticks down, Cody has only one final request.
The Sparring Partners are the Malloy brothers, Kirk and Rusty, two successful young lawyers who inherited a once prosperous firm when its founder, their father, was sent to prison. Kirk and Rusty loathe one another, and speak to each other only when necessary. As the firm disintegrates, the fiasco falls into the lap of Diantha Bradshaw, the only person the partners trust. Can she save the Malloys, or does she take a stand for the first time and try to save herself?
About the Author
Beginning with The Firm in 1991, John Grisham has published at least one #1 bestseller every year. His books have been translated into 45 languages and have sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Ten have been adapted to film, including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time To Kill. His Theodore Boone series for young readers is now in development at Netflix. An avid sports fan, he has written two novels about football, one about baseball, and in 2021 he published Sooley, a story set in the world of college basketball. His lone work of non-fiction, The Innocent Man, was adapted into a six-part Netflix docuseries.
He is the two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize For Legal Fiction and was distinguished with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award For Fiction.
When he's not writing, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his recent fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice systems.
A graduate of Mississippi State University and Ole Miss Law School, he lives on a farm in central Virginia, around the corner from the youth baseball complex he built in 1996. He still serves as its Commissioner.
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Product details
- Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton; 1st edition (31 May 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1399708449
- ISBN-13 : 978-1399708449
- Dimensions : 15.8 x 3 x 23.6 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 1,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi, law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.
That might have put an end to Grisham’s hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing’s greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.
The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham’s reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham’s success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written at least one book a year (his other works are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, The Broker, Playing for Pizza, The Appeal, The Associate, The Confession, The Litigators, Calico Joe, The Racketeer, Sycamore Row, Gray Mountain, Rogue Lawyer, The Whistler, Camino Island, The Rooster Bar, The Reckoning, and The Guardians) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently more than 350 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 45 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marked his first foray into non-fiction, and Ford County (November 2009) was his first short story collection. In addition, Grisham has written seven novels for young adults, all in the Theodore Boone series: Kid Lawyer, The Abduction, The Accused, The Activist, The Fugitive, The Scandal, and The Accomplice.
Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books’ protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients’ case, earning them a jury award of $683,500—the biggest verdict of his career.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
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Judging from the dates in one of the stories they may have been early in the authors career and maybe left on the shelf unfinished as a result.
This just left me disappointed as I’ve really enjoyed the majority of his previous novels. Hopefully his next book will get back to form.
Yes it's always a page turning read but the literary reward is absent. Oh well I guess there is 2023!
Grisham's first novella collection - 3 stories.
Homecoming - p. 6 - 128.
Features Jake Brigance helping fellow lawyer who stole and disappeared with clients money.
Good story, builds well but rushed ending.
Strawberry Moon - p.129 - 179
Death Row inmates last 3 hours.
Concentrates on the inmate as opposed to the legal system.
Gives an insight into his survival and importance of books and reading to escape his confinement.
Good story.
Sparring Partners - p. 180 - 304.
Feuding law firm partners and their imprisoned father.
Bribery, pardons, double dealing.
Features some court room action.
Good story.
Strengths
Strong familiar characters/location.
Traditional Grisham themes.
Weaknesses
Abrupt/quick ending.
If a longer novel ending would develop slower.
Well worth a read for all, especially fans.
Covers traditional Grisham topics well.
Would recommend The Chamber as a traditional Death Row novel and The Runaway Jury for court room action.
The problem with a short story is that there is no time for the author to develop the characters and therefore empathy. When I read a story I want to be rooting for at least one of the characters and see a build-up to a satisfying conclusion. In the case of two out of the three stories in Sparring Partners I didn’t care for any of the players. The middle story of the trilogy was the exception, and it was quite tragic. It was a heart-rending illustration of Grisham’s thoughts about the death penalty. It was the one section that built empathy for the main character – but sadly there was never going to be a good ending.
I am afraid this book, much of which seems to have been written early in the author's writing career, left me feeling disappointed and dissatisfied. However, it won’t stop me reading John Grisham’s books – many of them are excellent.
The first story looked like it was intriguing to start with but then I realised it was just padded out with small talk details about nothing of interest to a Grisham fan.
The 2nd story is about a man on death row waiting for a stay of execution. Absolutely depressing and been covered in two previous books.
3rd story is about a family squabbling law firm which also leaves you high and dry.
If you read this review you'll have more fun.
I have read everything that Grisham has written and Absolutely 💯 loved all the previous books. What's going on? Covid? Ghost writer??
Come on John stop messing about and get back to work.