Book Review / The Racketeer by John Grisham

Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered.

Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five.

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge’s body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.

What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday . . .

Published:     23rd October 2012
Publisher:  Doubleday
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

I have absolutely adored each and every John Grisham novel I have read so far but there are some that I have enjoyed more than that and this is one of them.  There were so many twists and turns, this just kept me on the edge of my seat right the way very way through this entire novel.

We follow Malcolm who at the start of the novel is situated in a prison for a crime that I won't go into here but best delved into when you pick up this book.  He knows something and can use this to bargain for his hopeful freedom.  At first, he is not taken seriously but as time goes on maybe he knows more than what the authorities think he does.  

A wonderfully twisty and turny novel that, as I mentioned above, kept me at the edge of my seat.  What I believed at the start of the novel was not necessarily what I believed at the end of the novel and I loved that feeling of being on the edge and not really knowing what is true and what is false.