The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Review of the novel The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2017

Cost: £7.99 (UK Paperback June 2018)

ISBN: 978-1-473-61699-8-0 (Paperback Edition - 374 pages)

Dedication: N/A

It’s June 2018 and the paperback copy of The Rooster Bar has just come out in print. John Grisham is a very successful writer. He is the author of 43 novels and publishes a new novel every year. After attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981, he practised criminal law for ten years. His first novel, A Time to Kill, was written and published while he was still a practising lawyer. A number of his books have been made into very successful films and Grisham has a very large fan base.

The Rooster Bar is a legal thriller style novel, about three law students, who are depressed with their chances of completing their law degrees at Foggy Bottom Law School and passing the bar exams to enable them to practice as lawyers. All three students have problems within their family background and this adds to the stress of the debt building up while their studies continue.

Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero and Zola Maal, believed that by attending law school they could change the world and make it a better place. However, the stress of the debt up has become a problem for Zola’s boyfriend, Gordy. He has stopped taking his medication for a bipolar disorder and he has dropped out of lessons to research the link between Foggy Bottom Law School and the Student Loans Company. The investigation has resulted in various pieces of paper being, pinned to a wall in the living room of his flat.

The wall was a maze of white poster boards and dozens of sheets of copy paper, all arranged in some crazed order and secured with colored pushpins and Scotch tape. With black, blue, and red markers. Gordy was in the process of piecing together a gigantic corporate puzzle, some grand conspiracy that led to the ominous faces of the few men at the top.

Gordy explains to his friends what the diagram means:

[He] pointed to the top photo. This is the Great Satan. Name’s Hinds Rackley, Wall Street lawyer turned investment crook…... His main vehicle is Shiloh Financial, a private investment operation, [which] owns among many other companies, our dear Foggy Bottom Law School, [one of a total of eight schools].

[….] the Great Satan nets $20 million off dear Foggy Bottom. Multiply that eight times and the math will make you sick.

As they argue, Gordy storms out and locks himself in his bedroom and demands his friends leave the flat. But like all good friends, they decided to remain, taking it in turns to sleep on the sofa. But in the early hours of the morning, Gordy slips out of the flat and drives his car downtown, only to be stopped by the police and charged with DUI (driving under influence). When they discover their friend has been charged, the three friends attend the Central Police station and try to get Gordy out of jail. In the waiting room, they are introduced to a lawyer specialising in DUI cases, who will advise them and the client, Gordy, for a fee of $1,000. Two hours later all four friends leave the police station.

That night the friends decided, once again, to watch over Gordy while he sleeps, taking it in turns on the sofa. But when Zola’s phone finally wakes her, she realises that Gordy has left the flat and driven off in his car. Driving Todd’s car in pursuit of Gordy, they find their friend has stopped on the Arlington Memorial Bridge and dived into the cold river below – committing suicide.

In their depression, the friends return to the research that tormented Gordy and which may have had an impact on his decision to take his own life. The current major news story in the newspapers is about a scandal at the Swift Bank, a company which has shown up in Gordy’s research. When customers register for a standard current account at Swift Bank, they are offered other banking services, if the customer declines them, the bank adviser opens up the accounts regardless and is paid a commission for doing so. As for the customer, the charges for the unknown accounts are hidden in the fees for the main account. A lot of income is being generated for the bank and its owners. Gordy’s research shows that Hinds Rackley owns 12 per cent of Swift Bank under the guise of different hidden companies.

A few days later the three friends meet for dinner in The Rooster Bar and discuss their future. None of them has attended classes at law school recently. However, Todd and Mark have been busy and explain what their future holds. They have set up a business - Upshaw, Parker and Lane - to offer DUI services to clients. Although Zola shows her concern for the boys’ action, which involves her actively being part of the illegal business arrangement, she goes along with it. At their next meeting in The Rooster Bar, they have an income of $1,600 in cash, with promissory notes for another $1,400.

Throughout the story, the three students are being hassled by the Students Loans Company regarding repayment of their loans. The emails get more frequent when it is discovered by the authorities that they have been missing lessons and have very little chance of getting a proper job. As part of the main theme of the novel, there are also background stories for each of the three main characters, that has an impact on the main storyline, particularly in respect of Zola, which will result in a serious decision that impacts all of them.

Halfway through the book, it is the Swift Banking scandal that comes to the fore and the new lawyers soon get involved. A major firm of lawyers has set up a class action against Swift Bank, and the newly created firm of Upshaw, Parker and Lane, decides to join forces to claim misappropriated funds on behalf of their fictional clients. When the legal action seems to be stalling, Mark decides to approach Rackley directly and challenge him on links he has with the Swift Bank and its underhand dealings, threatening to publish the facts using the files and research done by Gordy. Hinds Rackley panics and agrees to settle all six class actions against Swift Bank, out of court. The cheque from the class action to Upshaw, Parker and Lane is $4,583,256. Mark, Tom and Zola now find themselves running from the authorities, with fake drivers licences and passports, to set up a new life. As the story ends, they purchase a run-down bar in Senegal, do it up, and name it The Rooster Bar.

The story has a lot more to it than I have covered and it is captivating throughout, in places it was impossible to put down it was so gripping. It really was an enjoyable read and one I would recommend. Rating: 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard

27 July 2018

The International Agatha Christie Festival Programme 2018

The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver

The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver

Review of the novel The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver

Published by Hodder & Stoughton in April 2017

Cost: £7.99 (UK Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-473-61864-0 (Paperback Edition - 476 pages - starts on page 3 – small font)

Dedication: To the memory of my friend Giorgio Faletti. The world misses you.

I’m a great fan of Jeffery Deaver, and particularly the Lincoln Rhyme series of which this is number thirteen. Number fourteen in the series, Cutting Edge, is out in the UK on 17 May 2018 in hardback.

Lincoln Rhyme was first introduced in The Bone Collector published in 1997. He is a quadriplegic forensic criminalist who was head of the New York Police Department’s Central Investigation and Resource Division, until an oak beam fell on him, crushing his C4 vertebrae, leaving him only able to move from his shoulders up and his left ring finger. Things have moved on in the series and Rhyme has gained a little more movement in his arms.

He was largely paralyzed, yes. But surgery and daily exercise had returned to him some mobility to move his right arm and hand. Fate had helped him too. … He could grasp objects – like single malt scotch bottles, to pick a random example – but he could not rise from his complex wheelchair to fetch them if his resident helper (Thom), kept them out of his reach.

As you might imagine, Rhyme is unable to investigate any of the crime scenes, but in The Bone Collector, he persuades Amelia Sachs, a 31-year-old police officer to walk the scene as his eyes. They have been a team ever since. In chapter 2 of The Burial Hour, Lincoln is discussing with Thom where Amelia and he might go for their honeymoon.

            “No. You and Amelia cannot go to Greenland.” …………………….

            “Because you need to go someplace romantic. Florida, California.”

The discussion is with Thom, who is Lincolns arms and legs and considerably more. But they are interrupted by a visit from Lon Sellitto, a detective in the NYPD Major Cases Division. He’s hoping that Amelia Sachs can walk through a crime scene. An adult male has been kidnapped, observed by a child, the victim had a hood placed over his head and was then dumped in the trunk of a car. The perpetrator has left behind a signature of his visit, a small noose made from catgut.

When Amelia returns from the crime scene the investigation team set up a flipchart to record and review the crime scene data. ‘Often the month and day are used as a temporary nickname for the unknown criminal subject. [In The Burial Hour,] ‘this perb would be UNSUB 920, for September 20.’

[They] set out the items out on examination tables, which were in a separate part of the parlour, away from where the others, dressed in street clothing, clustered, to avoid contamination.

The pickings were sparse. Rhyme knew this, as he’d been ‘with’ Sachs, via video feed, as she’d walked the grid at the scene. All she had found was a small noose, random trace from where the abduction had occurred and some shoe prints and tire mark evidence.

First, the noose. Any prints?

Cooper tested the cord in the fuming tent to raise invisible fingerprints and said, ‘A few slivers. Nothing to work with.’

‘What’s it made out of?’

‘I can run the chromatograph but I’m sure it’s proteins – collagen, keratin and fibroin. I’d say catgut.’

They discover the material the noose is made from is used for stringed musical instruments and most likely, because of its length, a cello. Moments later the team discover that the perp has released a live video of the victim being strangled, depending on his movements, the noose will tighten. The video is set with a soundtrack, The Blue Danube, but as the tune slows down, it’s the victims breathing that matches the tempo of the tune. The video is signed off with the words ‘© The Composer’ in the middle of the screen.

In a desperate desire to save the victim from a terrible death, the team put all their efforts into analysing the data they have before them, time being of the essence. Sachs is soon of on a desperate car journey to the crime scene and arrives in time to release the victim from the noose around his neck. Most important is a find that Sachs comes across while walking the crime scene. A scrap of paper, more or less intact, with four indistinct words. It’s a receipt from a currency exchange bureau.

One of the features used in the Lincoln Rhyme novels is a ‘picture’ of the crime scene board, which spreads over two, sometimes three pages. It will be a case of you like it as a reminder of the case findings, or you find it easy to turn the page and move on. The crime scene board ‘picture’ will be updated throughout the novel so it will appear as many as eight times.

Based on the exchange bureau receipt, the details of the crime and possible trail of the perp is sent out to police forces across Europe. When a local police force in Naples, Italy, request further information on the case, as there are similarities to a case of their own, the story takes a complete change from previous novels. The team are soon on a flight to Italy. It’s the first time Deaver has taken his characters out the USA.

The local team in Naples are surprised that the information on the New York kidnapping arrives on their doorstep in the personal hands of Lincoln Rhyme, and are not happy. However, when they acknowledge Rhyme’s expertise they agree to allow him to review their investigation into the local case as it unfolds. Amelia is also allowed to partner the police officer managing the Naples crime investigation. She proves her value as she walks the grid and quickly solves another kidnapping, even though the criminal escapes. They realise that with another video of the crime, which shows a victim in trouble while haunting music is playing, they are on the trail of The Composer. The team solve three incidents in total, but it is The Composer that helps them prevent a serious incident towards the end of the novel. Released from custody to aid the investigation, he listens to a recorded phone call linked with the case. The Composer has the ability to hear the background sounds from where the call has been made.

I can hear transmissions downshifting and increasing in volume, as the cars get closer to the phone. That means the callers on top of the hill. The hill’s steep. They are mostly cars, mostly small ones, both diesel and gas. One has a muffler about to go. Some vans, I think. But no large trucks.’

Another playback. Staring at a blank wall. ‘Birds. Two different types. First pigeons. There are many of them. I can hear their wings flutter from time to time: once, when a roller board – those things boys ride on – went by. Once when children, about four or five years old, ran after the birds. I can tell the age from their footfalls and the laughs. The pigeons returned at once. They didn’t fly off when cars went by. That tells us that they’re in a square or plaza. Not a street.’

As with all Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme novels, there is a second case running alongside the main story – sometimes the two are linked, but not always. In this instance, the chief of the Naples police wants to quickly close the second case, but Rhyme decides to secretly work on the forensics and discovers the man they have arrested is being set up. This story has a twist towards the end of the story, that is quite strange and a little complex, but I’m not going to give it away. As you might expect, it’s a story that runs at a fast pace; all Deaver Rhyme novels solve a crime in two or three days, but his story runs to eight days, as a result of the trip to Naples. The novel uses a lot of American phrases and sayings, which the reader has to get used to, I enjoy the use of them and it adds to the setting of the novel. This is another fantastic Jeffery Deaver novel, a real page-turner. Rating: 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard

21 May 2018

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

 

Review of the novel Worth Dying For by Lee Child

Published by Bantam Books on 30 September 2010

Cost: £7.99 (UK)

ISBN: 978-0-553-82548-0 (Paperback Edition - 511 pages - starts on page 11)

Dedication: For Ruth my daughter

I saw a sale of Jack Reacher books recently and bought four, which were missing from my collection. The problem was which one to review. Although the series is all about Jack Reacher, they are not all the same, as we learn something new about the character in every novel.

Worth Dying For is the fifteenth book in the series of twenty-two to date, however, there is a short story collection called No Middle Name.

Just in case you don’t already know about Jack Reacher I ought to explain a little about his background.

Brought up in a USA Military Family, he spent much of his youth travelling the world living in military accommodation. It was almost inevitable he would have a career in the army. He rises to the rank of Major, earning a number of medals for outstanding bravery and conduct, finally becoming the commanding officer of the (fictional) 110^th Military Police Squadron. When the military began restructuring and reducing numbers Reacher decides he doesn’t like the future as he sees it, and he retires himself out of the military. He finds the thought of settling down in one place unbearable so he becomes a drifter, travelling around the USA staying in motels for one or two nights at a time, travelling by long-distance coach or hitching rides to his next destination. His only luggage is a folding toothbrush – frequently opting to purchase new clothes rather than wash his current ones.

This story picks up where the last one, 61 hours, finished. Reacher is travelling to Virginia to meet Major Susan Turner, the current commanding officer of his old unit. On route, he stops off at a motel in Nebraska. It’s not crucial to the story but it might be of interest to give a little insight to Nebraska. It lies in The Great Plains in the Midwestern United States, an area of just over 77,220 square miles. Composed of two major land regions: The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills and The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska, characterised by a treeless prairie.

On page twelve there is a good description of Jack Reacher:

‘Connections?’

‘None at all, that we can see. He won’t be missed. He’s a drifter. Like a hobo. He blew in like a tumbleweed. Now he needs to blow out again.’

Description?’

‘He’s a big guy,’ the voice said. ‘Six-five at least, probably two-fifty. Last seen wearing a big old brown parker and a wool cap. He moves funny like he’s stiff. Like he’s hurting.’

Reacher has walked into a town ruled by the Duncans. A family of three older brothers and Seth, the son of one of the three who lives nearby with his wife.

At the bar of the motel, Reacher askes for a coffee, he’s not a beer drinker, preferring to survive on coffee and can tell what makes a good cup. When the phone on the shelf behind the bar rings it’s for the local doctor, requesting that he calls on one of his patients. However, he’s too drunk to drive and Reacher insists that he will drive the doctor to his patient. And so, the story of the Duncan family unfolds.

Eleanor Duncan has a broken nose, having been struck by her husband Seth. It seems that it’s a regular occurrence. Reacher decides to go and look for the husband and discuss his behaviour. After driving the doctor home, he takes off in the car but has no idea where to find the steakhouse and Seth Duncan. In typical Jack Reacher fashion, he reviews the situation.

Reacher killed the headlights and climbed out of the Subaru and grabbed one of the roof rails and stepping on the hood and then crouched and eased himself up on the roof. He stood tall, his eye line eleven feet above the grade in a flat part of the world. He turned full 360 and peered into the darkness. Saw the ghostly blue glow of the motel far off to the north, and then a distant pink halo maybe ten miles south and west. Maybe just a gas station, but it was the only other light to be seen. So Reacher drove south and then west.

This is typical Reacher, he uses his instinct to solve what appears impossible problems. It is the police investigative side of Jack Reacher that wants to put right the wrongs of stories that he comes across on his travels. At the heart of his actions is the loyalty to the 110^th Military Police Squadron, and although not stated in the book, the USA ‘oath of allegiance’.

As you can imagine, Jack Reacher finds himself in a number of fights, some he instigates himself and others when he responds to an attack on him. This time he goes searching for Seth Duncan and lets him know his behaviour is unacceptable where women are concerned.

The next action is the heart of the story. Reacher meets Dorothy Coe, a maid at the motel. She reveals that the Duncans drove her into poverty many years ago after she accused them of kidnapping her daughter, which led to her husband committing suicide. Moved by the story, Reacher borrows Seth Duncan’s car and decides to investigate a little further into the disappearance of the daughter. Gaining access to the local police investigation files, he finds that the Duncans have been cleared of all charges after an investigation by a federal agency. The question left unanswered is whether the investigation was a coverup? So, taken by the passionate feeling that there is an aspect to the story that has not been told, Reacher decides to reopen the investigation of the missing child.

At this point in the story, a chain of gangsters gets involved, chasing a delayed delivery by the Duncan’s haulage firm. However, they prove to be incompetent and although they agree to work together they end up killing each other and help Reacher eliminate his potential killers.

Returning the borrowed car, Reacher reflects on the situation while talking to the doctor and his wife. The wife asks:

‘So what kind of gangs are they?

‘The usual kind. The kind that makes big money out of something illegal.’

‘What kind of something?’

‘I don’t know. But it’s not gambling debt. It’s not something theoretical on paper. It’s something real. Something physical. With weight, and dimensions. It has to be. That’s what the Duncans do. They run a transportation company. So they’re trucking something in, and it’s getting passed along from A to B to C to D.’

‘Drugs?’

‘I don’t think so. You don’t need to truck drugs south to Vegas. You can get them direct from Mexico or South America. Or California.’

It’s then that Reacher has an idea triggered by his review of the police investigation. Twenty-five years ago, the detective neglected to search somewhere. Reacher discovers that fifty years ago, two local farms were purchased for a development that never happened. The outbuildings of one of them are still there way out in a field - a barn, and a smaller shed. Reacher goes to investigate.

With 80 pages to go, the story begins to reach a climax and clarifies the missing pieces and explains what has been happening in the small town for the past 50 years.

Reacher explains to the terrified doctor:

‘Don’t worry, doctor. There won’t be any comebacks. Never again. This is the last day. Tomorrow you’ll be living like normal people.

Reacher reveals to the terrified town folk that have helped him solve the crime, what has been happening in their town that has been ruled and controlled by the Duncans for so many years. He sets a trap for the Duncans as they feel secure in their own homes - all very near to each other - and one by one eliminates them from the tale. It’s all over. The town can start again on a new trail and the people can begin to live their lives again without the fear and the horrors that have terrorised them for so long.

You will either love or hate the Jack Reacher stores, but I find that once I’ve started them I can’t put them down. I have read some of the novels in my collection four times. They are fast moving and captivating. OK, they do contain violence, but it is handled well by Lee Child, and it’s not needless violence, it only happens when Jack Reacher wants to get out of trouble and frequently he gives his opponent a chance to back away. Although the stories can be read out of sequence, the reader will have to bear in mind that there is a slight link to the previous story, which explains why Jack Reacher is where he finds himself. Rating: 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard

09 April 20182018

My Recent Reading 2018

My Recent Reading: 40 in 2018

Date	Book Title	Author	Notes / Rating
17 December 2018	The Solomon Curse	Clive Cussler	4 stars
3 December 2018	The Christmas Sisters	Sarah Morgan	3 stars
12 November 2018	Leviathan Wakes	James S.A. Corey	4 stars
5 November 2018	The Silent Sea	Clive Cussler	5 stars
29 October 2018	Lord Peter Wimsey	Dorothy L Sayers	5 stars
22 October 2018	In Prior’s Wood	G. M. Malliet	5 stars
15 October 2018	The Book of Dust	Philip Pullman	3 stars
5 October 2018	A Dangerous Fortune	Ken Follett	5 stars
24 September 2018	Murder in Belgravia	Lynn Brittney	5 stars
17 September 2018	The Romanov Ransom	Clive Cussler	4 stars
10 September 2018	The Fall of Gondolin	J. R. R. Tolkien	5 stars
27 August 2018	The Mystery of Three Quarters	Sophie Hanna	5 stars
20 August 2018	Time Trap	Micah Caid	3 stars
12 August 2018	They Came to Baghdad	Agatha Christie	4 stars
22 July 2018	Bodies from the Library	Golden Age writers	5 stars
12 July 2018	Best Practice	Penny Parkes	4 stars
4 July 2018	Munich	Robert Harris	4 stars
28 June 2018	The Rooster Bar	John Grisham	5 stars
14 June 2018	A Legacy of Spies	John le Carré	5 stars
28 May 2018	The Tiger’s Prey	Wilber Smith	4 stars
22 May 2018	Nighthawk	Clive Cussler	5 stars
15 May 2018	Appointment with Death	Agatha Christie	4 stars
1 May 2018	Classic Locked-Room Mysteries	David Davies	4 stars
1 May 2018	The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries	Otto Penzler	4 stars
25 April 2018	Persons Unknown	Susie Steiner	3 stars
20 April 2018	The Burial Hour	Jeffery Deaver	5 stars
16 April 2018	The Midnight Line	Lee Child	5 stars
9 April 2018	Dreamer	Cornelis van de Burg	5 stars
31 March 2018	The Cutthroat	Clive Cussler	5 stars
19 March 2018	Bring Me Back	B A Paris	3 stars
8 March 2018	Blade Runner	Philip K. Dick	4 stars
24 February 2018	Ask an Astronaut	Tim Peake	4 stars
20 February 2018	No Middle Name	Lee Child	5 stars
17 February 2018	The Last Praetorian	Mike Smith	3 stars
9 February 2018	Worth Dying For	Lee Child	5 stars
2 February 2018	61 Hours	Lee Child	5 stars
25 January 2018	Echo Burning	Lee Child	5 stars
15 January 2018	The Killing Floor	Lee Child	5 stars
7 January 2018	Miracle on Regent Street	Ali Harris	4 stars
1 January 2018	Artemis	Andy Weir	3 stars