The one big mystery at the heart of this Cinderella story is why the lion’s share of the American reading public continues to shell out for stories that, by any of the usual standards of good pop fiction, simply don’t work. “The Rainmaker,” the tale of a novice lawyer who beats a powerful Memphis law firm in a bad-faith insurance case, is typical Grisham: after the first 200 pages, it lacks a shred of conflict. You sit there thinking, “Something bad has to happen”-because this is a legal thriller, right? About three quarters through the story, even the novel’s narrator figures, “Something has got to go wrong.” But no. If you want suspense in a Grisham novel, plan to bring your own.
But then, Grisham doesn’t want to be Scott Turow. He just wants revenge. His protagonists aren’t nearly as interested in getting out of trouble as they are in getting even with somebody-the law-school classmate who got into the right firm, the jock who got the girl in high school. So, if it’s payback you want, Grisham’s your man. Judging by those sales figures, there are a startling number of readers out there nursing a grudge.
