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John Grisham
John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing. Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990. Grisham's first novel, '' A Time to Kill,'' was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham's first bestseller, '' The Firm'', sold more than seven million copies. The book was adap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the fifth-largest city in Arkansas. In 2020, the Jonesboro metropolitan area had a population of 133,860 and a population of 179,932 in the Jonesboro-Paragould Combined Statistical Area. Jonesboro is the home of Arkansas State University and is the cultural and economic center of Northeast Arkansas. History The Jonesboro area was first inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. At the time of European encounter, historic tribes included the Osage, the Caddo, and the Quapaw. The name of the state of Arkansas comes from the Quapaw language. French and Spanish traders and trappers had relations with these groups. After the United States acquired this territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, American settlers eventually made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold. His name was also used on movie scripts written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees. Originally an insurance agent, his literary career began in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller novel ''The Hunt for Red October'' for $5,000 published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland. His works ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1984), ''Patriot Games'' (1987), ''Clear and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skipping Christmas
''Skipping Christmas'' is a comedic novel by John Grisham. It was published by Doubleday on November 6, 2001 and reached #1 on ''The New York Times'' Best-Seller List on December 9 that year. It was also released as a four-CD audiobook, narrated by actor Dennis Boutsikaris, by Random House Audio Publishing Group in October 2006. The book was adapted into the film ''Christmas with the Kranks'' (2004), directed by Joe Roth and written by Chris Columbus. Plot The story focuses on how Luther and Nora Krank try to avoid the frenzy traditionally experienced during the Christmas holiday. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the two take their daughter Blair to the airport, where she departs for a year-long Peace Corps assignment in Peru. Seeing all of the busy traveling at the airport, Luther starts to develop an increasingly personal antipathy for normal Christmas traditions, especially knowing that Blair will not be with them for Christmas this year. To make matters worse, Luther is t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Runaway Jury
''The Runaway Jury'' is a legal thriller novel written by American author John Grisham. It was Grisham's seventh novel. The hardcover first edition was published by Doubleday Books in 1996 (). Pearson Longman released the graded reader edition in 2001 (). The novel was published again in 2003 to coincide with the release of ''Runaway Jury'', a movie adaptation of the novel starring Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. The third printing () bears a movie-themed cover, in place of the covers used on the first and second printings. Plot Wendall Rohr and his team of tort lawyers have filed suit on behalf of plaintiff Celeste Wood, whose husband died of lung cancer, against the tobacco company Pynex. The trial is to be held in Biloxi, Mississippi, a state thought to have favorable tort laws and sympathetic juries. Before the jury in the Pynex trial has been sworn in, a stealth juror, Nicholas Easter, has begun to quietly connive behind the scenes, in concert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rainmaker (novel)
''The Rainmaker'' is a 1995 novel by John Grisham, his sixth. Plot Rudy Baylor is about to graduate from Memphis State Law School. He secures a position with a Memphis law firm but loses the job when the firm is bought out by the large Memphis law firm Tinley Britt. As one of the few members of his class without a job lined up, a desperate Rudy is introduced to J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, a ruthless but successful ambulance chaser, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is required to hunt for potential clients at the local hospital and sign them up to personal injury lawsuits. He is introduced to Deck Shifflet, a less-than-ethical former insurance assessor who received a law degree but doesn't practice law, having failed to pass the bar exam six times. Rudy signs two clients. One is his new elderly landlady, who needs a revised will drawn. The other is a poor family, Dot and Buddy Black, whose insurance bad faith case could be worth several million dollars in damage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pelican Brief
''The Pelican Brief'' is a legal-suspense thriller by John Grisham, published in 1992 by Doubleday. It is his third novel after '' A Time to Kill'' and '' The Firm''. Two paperback editions were published, both by Dell Publishing in 1993. A namesake film adaptation was released in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. Plot The story begins with the assassinations of two ideologically divergent Supreme Court Justices. Both murders are committed by Khamel, the most wanted hitman in the world. Justice Rosenberg, a liberal, is killed at his home while Justice Jensen, a Republican-appointed swing voter, is killed inside a gay movie theater in Washington, D.C. The circumstances surrounding their deaths, as well as the deaths themselves, shock and confuse a politically divided nation. Darby Shaw, a Tulane University law student, conducts research on Rosenberg and Jensen's records and writes a legal brief speculating they were not killed for political reasons. She shows ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Painted House
''A Painted House'' is a 2001 novel by American author John Grisham. Inspired by his childhood in Arkansas, it is Grisham's first major work outside the legal thriller genre in which he established himself. Initially published in serial form, the book was released in six installments in ''The Oxford American'' magazine. The entire novel was later published in hardback and paperback by Doubleday. Set in the late summer and early fall of 1952, its story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke Chandler, the youngest in a family of cotton farmers struggling to harvest their crop and earn enough to settle their debts. The novel portrays the experiences that bring him from a world of innocence into one of harsh reality. Plot The story begins as Luke Chandler and his grandfather Eli, also known as Pappy, search for migrant workers to help them with the cotton picking. They initially consider themselves lucky to hire the Spruills, a family of "hill people," and a few Mexican mig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Client (novel)
''The Client'' (1993) is a legal thriller written by American author John Grisham, set mostly in Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana. It is Grisham's fourth novel. Plot Boyd Boyette, a United States Senator from Louisiana, goes missing. Because of his vocal opposition to a proposed major toxic landfill project by a company known to be Mafia-backed, murder is suspected. But no body can be found and Roy Foltrigg, United States Attorney in New Orleans, is desperate for a suspect. Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, a well-known thug and nephew of Johnny Sulari, acting boss of the New Orleans crime family is suspected. The FBI stalk Muldanno, hoping he'll lead them to the body. Eleven-year-old Mark Sway, his younger brother Ricky, and their divorced mother Dianne live in a trailer park in Memphis. Mark and Ricky are smoking cigarettes in the woods near their home, when they encounter a man trying to commit suicide by piping exhaust fumes into his car. Trying to remove the hose, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chamber (novel)
''The Chamber'' (1994) is a legal thriller written by American author John Grisham. It is Grisham's fifth novel. Plot In 1967, in Greenville, Mississippi, the office of Jewish lawyer Marvin Kramer is bombed, injuring Kramer and killing his two young sons. Sam Cayhall, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, is identified, arrested and tried for their murders, committed in retaliation for Kramer's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Sam's first two trials, engineered by his Klan-connected lawyer, each end in a mistrial. Twenty years later, the FBI pressures a suspected associate to testify against Sam at a third trial. Sam is convicted and sentenced to death by lethal gas. He is sent to the Mississippi State Penitentiary and placed on death row. Now without a lawyer, Sam becomes a ''pro bono'' case for a team of anti-death penalty lawyers from the large - and Jewish - Chicago law firm of Kravitz and Bane. Representing Sam is his own grandson, Adam Hall, who travels to the firm's Memph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Firm (2012 TV Series)
''The Firm'' is a legal thriller television series that began airing on January 8, 2012, on Global in Canada and NBC in the United States and in February 2012 on AXN, and is a sequel to the 1991 John Grisham novel of the same name and its 1993 film adaptation. The television adaptation is set ten years after the novel and film. On February 3, 2012, NBC announced that the series would be pulled from its Thursday 10/9c slot immediately, and placed on Saturdays at 9/8c starting on February 18; Global continued to air the series at the former time slot until March 3, when the show was moved to Saturdays. AXN began broadcasts in over 125 territories and countries on February 19. On May 13, 2012, NBC canceled the series after one season. Plot The 2012 television show picks up on the story of Mitchell Y. McDeere and his family ten years after the fictional setting of the 1991 novel and 1993 film. In the original film and book, McDeere helped topple the Memphis law firm of Bendini, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards. His films have grossed over in North America and over worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box-office stars of all time. Cruise began acting in the early 1980s and made his breakthrough with leading roles in the comedy film '' Risky Business'' (1983) and action film '' Top Gun'' (1986). Critical acclaim came with his roles in the dramas ''The Color of Money'' (1986), ''Rain Man'' (1988), and ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989). For his portrayal of Ron Kovic in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As a leading Hollywood star in the 1990s, he starred in several commercially successful f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Firm (1993 Film)
''The Firm'' is a 1993 American legal thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn and Gary Busey in a critically acclaimed role. The film is based on the 1991 novel '' The Firm'' by author John Grisham. ''The Firm'' was one of two films released in 1993 that were adapted from a Grisham novel, the other being ''The Pelican Brief''. Released on June 30, 1993, the film was a major commercial success, grossing $270.2 million against a budget of $42 million, making it the highest grossing film adapted from a Grisham novel and the highest-grossing R-rated film of 1993, and received positive reviews for the performances (particularly from Cruise and Hunter), although the screenplay received some criticism. Holly Hunter was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, while Dave Grusin was nominated for Best Original Score. Plot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
