Rogue Lawyer: A Novel

I don't know what conventional wisdom dictates, but for me 5-stars means I loved it enough to read or listen to it again. I'm not sure if it's the book itself -- though I do love me some John Grisham -- or the reader, but I LOVE this book and have already looked to find others read by the same guy. He rocks.

Feels like he stole the Lincoln Lawyer

Rogue Lawyer is a consistently written story. It is narrated by the main character, an attorney who defends awful people. He tries to do the best job he can for his clients. Three stars were given in this review.

Sebastian Rudd is not your typical lawyer. He works out of a van and has a heavily armed driver. He has no firm, no partners, and only one employee, his driver.
Sebastian defends people other lawyers won’t touch.

Sebastian Rudd is one heck of a rogue lawyer. I like a character who goes against the grain and pushes the limits, especially when dealing with the criminal justice system. While he operates outside of the box, he advocates for people and fights the system when the system is wrong. He is a humanly flawed character and he knows his weaknesses. Rudd defends some interesting individuals that often leads to him into dangerous situations. This was a bit of a different Grisham novel compared to his previous and I really enjoyed it.

Sebastian Rudd isn't exactly an unsavory character, but his reputation for representing them gets him in trouble with many on both sides of the law. Therefore, he lives in a nondescript high-rise apartment, maintains an "office" in a customized van, has an unlisted phone number and employs a bodyguard/driver/paralegal/investigator who isn't afraid of much. Sebastian has an uneasy relationship with his ex-wife, another high-profile attorney who runs a militantly feminist lawfirm, left him for another woman, and harrasses him constantly for full custody of their 7-year-old son. As compelling as ever, Grisham has not lost his story-telling ability in what must be close to his 30th novel, although this one has no real beginning, middle and end; it's more a collection of legal adventures with Rudd as the protagonist, but the pages pretty much turn themselves. If you like this kind of thing, this is definitely the kind of thing you'll like. Beware of cage fighting scenes and really really bad cops
Reviewed March 2016

Another satisfying book by the king of the legal thriller. Notable for the cynical look at the legal system through the eyes of a defense attorney.

I enjoyed all the stories in this book - the telling was spot on. The stories, not so much. They just never seemed to go anywhere. Kind of a line of mismatched train cars. But, nicely appointed, pretty fine train cars. I really did enjoy the story telling from beginning to end. I just kind of wish there had been more of one big story.

Rogue Lawyer is divided into several parts, each part tells the story of another of Sebastian Rudd's clients and how he attempted to help them, and in most parts, resolved their case. Whilst I was expecting the final part to link all the loosely related parts together into a chain of events of sorts, this turned out not to be the case, rather it's merely a collection of encounters with his clients told in chronological order.

Whilst it wasn't quite what I was expecting it was still an enjoyable read and I particular enjoyed the conniving manoeuvres under taken by Rudd in his pursuit of victory.

Whilst slightly different from the standard Grisham novel, fans of his books would still enjoy it.

Our "rogue lawyer" takes the cases that no one else will. Cage fighter supporter while fighting to retain custody of son. Seems like a collection of unconnected plots that seem to work well in this case.

I can see why some Grisham fans wouldn't enjoy this book as much as others, as it's not quite like anything else I've read from him or in this genre. For the first half of the book, it almost feels as if we're getting day-in-the-life stories and novellas from the main character Sebastian Rudd's POV, vs. getting a single full novel. And it takes some getting used to. There's a lot of territory and voice to be appreciated in the early parts of the book, but it definitely doesn't read as the traditional legal thriller--and if you don't enjoy voice and character-driven narratives that are sometimes more about character than plot, there's a good chance you won't like them. Personally, once I got used to it, I found it a kind of interesting change of pace.

That said, things do pull together into a more centralized, if complicated, plot as the book goes on. Where some books work from various characters' POVs and then follow them as they eventually come together, this book does the same, but with cases--covering the separate cases/clients early on, and then following them as they begin impacting each other and coming together in Rudd's professional and personal life all at the same time. Yet, it's his voice and persona that absolutely drives the book from beginning to end.

So, all told, I'd absolutely read another book in this vein if he comes out with on, but it definitely won't be for every fan of his or every reader of legal thrillers. For something different, though, it's worth stepping into.

With the caveats above in mind, I'd still absolutely recommend it.

Sebastian Rudd is not your typical lawyer. He is divorced with a son who is sees once a month for 36 hours. He has a love/hate, mostly hate relationship with his ex-wife who is presently in a relationship with Ava. He has no office, it was fire-bombed, and an apartment with a pool table as his one piece of furniture. He owns part of a mixed-martial-arts cage fighter and is pretty much a loaner. "Partner" a man he defended and got off is his chauffeur, para-legal, overall gopher and his only friend. It is a hard life when you defend the people that nobody else will take on. The book follows a few cases that he is defending, most he wins and when he knows he won't, he does his best to get the best plea-bargain he can for his clients. He has sued and won substantial settlements as well. When one client, a mob-boss, does not win, he escapes from death row and then tries to get his money back from Rudd. At one point someone kidnaps his son and firebombs his van with Partner inside. It is quite a ride being a Rogue Lawyer.

For those who quit after a few pages, Not so fast! The book ties together in the second half. Funky construction, but a fun read. Because he's abnormal, Sebastian Rudd--he's the kind of protagonist that could be hard to relate to and easy to despise, He's only one of several characters who's like that. There are many. the plots all come together for a good and exciting ending.

The structure of this book is virtually that of a series of episodes, or linked short stories, in Sebastian Rudd's life.

Rudd's clients are often those whom other lawyers will not take, and sometimes they are not innocent. Rudd often attracts a lot of opposition, even becoming a target for those who despise his clients.

The narration is excellent with Mark Deakin dramatising a number of voices.

This is set in a very different world than his previous books, and one I simply found less interesting. So I read 50 pages or so and put it aside for another more appealing choice.

I usually enjoy Grisham, but this was very disappointing. Seemed as if he didn't have the stamina for a fully developed novel and came up with a rather rough collection of tales to crank out another book. I didn't even bother to finish it.

Great storyline - great characters - fast paced. And then it ended. Almost like Mr. Grisham's publisher said, "we need the book today" and there ya have it he ends it.

This was not the John Grisham fiction I remember from reading his earlier works. In fact, I felt like the author could not develop any of his plot ideas enough to create a full novel, so just slung several of them together into this book as a kind of character study of Sebastian Rudd, a lawyer who will defend those that no one else wants to defend.

He represents both the supervillians and the hopeless cases – and he usually gets them off: Sebastian Rudd calls himself a Rogue Lawyer and will either charge a fortune for his services, or work for almost nothing, depending on the client.

He’s a semi-vigilante who, as the cover line informs us – won’t let truth [or the law] get in the way of justice: in other words, there’s little to distinguish him from any of the many maverick lawyers in the legal thriller genre.

The story is somewhat disjointed and unoriginal but despite its lack of finesse, this Grisham potboiler is compulsively readable.

I generally love John Grisham's legal thrillers but I suppose even good authors sometimes produce duds, and this is a big dud. The story is a disjointed, boring mess, and its main character seems like a total rip-off of Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller (Lincoln Lawyer) character.

confirmed my worst fears about formulaic crime fiction - NEVER going there again!

As the name states, this is about a defense lawyer who takes difficult, unpopular cases. His name is Sebastian Rudd. He is a loner with a grayish ponytail; he only has one friend who he calls "Partner" who is body guard, chauffeur, and general professional listener. Rudd is smart, successful, a divorced single father, and a formidable foe in the courtroom. Because a substantial portion of the story line is about case surrounding cage fighting, It is not my favorite story but I must say, I love stories told in first person and enjoyed it all the same. It also uses corruption in the police force as part of the story plot which is difficult for me to deal with as well. Someone else may like it more than I did.

Love John Grisham, loved this book. The hero of the tale, Sebastian Rudd, is indeed a rogue. Very entertaining.

Not as complex or well written as some of his other legal thrillers.

Like most people, I have read a lot of Grisham. There were a few things I really enjoyed about this book that made it just a bit different than many of his other books. Sebastian Rudd is a street lawyer in an unnamed city in the South. I assumed it was either Memphis or Mississippi like most of the other books but that is never made clear. It works well because it erases preconceived notions of the south and makes the reader think urban rather than rural.

There are many strands within the story that slowly combine to become one story. At first, I thought the book was going to be a series of novellas about different characters but as the book wore on, things began to come together.

This lawyer is not your average guy. His main piece of furniture in his loft is a pool table. He drives around in an armor plated van as an office. He has a financial interest in backing and betting on cage fighters. He represents mobsters, murderers and other villains. His bodyguard/driver is named Partner.

He has a complicated relationship with his ex-wife, her lover and his young son. You aren’t quite sure how the kid got here considering the wife but she too is a lawyer and is constantly dragging Rudd to court on custody issues.

Grisham is great reading for relaxation. When I need a book that will be an easy read but a reliably good plot with interesting characters, Grisham is right there. This is an airport novel/beach novel/vacation novel. And just a little bit different than your average Grisham. I hope to meet Sebastian Rudd again.

Grisham must have found a fountain of youth because this book is as good as his early hits--like The Firm. The author is at his most cynical in this tale; corruption and immorality is rampant. Cops lie, DAs lie, mayors lie, and pity the poor innocent defendant who is at the mercy of these liars. Enter the anti-hero, the attorney on a black horse, who is as corrupt as everyone else and will do whatever it takes to defend his clients. This book has echoes of Michael Connolly's "The Lincoln Lawyer," but stands on its own merits. The pages turn almost by themselves. What a narrative force Grisham is!

Grisham once again proves he is a master story teller. The book follows Sebastian Rudd through some interesting professional dealings on the margin of sketchy sense and balances that with a private life handled much the same way. Interesting look at "fictional", but plausible, legal and ethical situations.

Very fast-paced, unlike some of Grisham's books, where the pace trudges along. There are some differences with his other books. One, this was written in the first person. Two, the book starts with short stories, and this leads you to think that this is the style for the rest of the book till most of the stories come together in the latter part. This makes for very easy reading except that some of the stories could have been more developed. At least Sebastian Rudd is not a one-dimensional character who is only keen on making money but has some conscience.

I liked this book because of how it shows people in a realistic light. The lead has plenty of good points and plenty of bad. I'm not a lawyer, but I can imagine dealing with clients and the system can be just as taxing as he makes it feel. The story is written like tv episodes. Some things concluded within each, and some are an ongoing project over several of the episodes. There isn't some big win for an innocent man that leaves the reader feeling wonderful. It's a constant struggle of back and forth in the life. There's no hero in the story really.

Sebastian Rudd is not your typical street lawyer. He works out of a customized bulletproof solid black van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, fine leather chairs, a hidden gun compartment, and a heavily armed and massive driver. He has no firm, no partners, no associates, and only one employee, his driver, who’s also his bodyguard, law clerk, confidant, and golf caddy. He calls him Partner. He lives alone in a small but extremely safe penthouse apartment, (after all there are so many people who would like to see him dead), and his primary piece of furniture is a vintage pool table. He drinks small-batch bourbon and carries a gun.

Sebastian defends people other lawyers won’t go near because they are already presumed guilty: a drug-addled, tattooed kid rumored to be in a satanic cult, who is accused of molesting and murdering two little girls; a vicious crime lord on death row; a homeowner arrested for shooting at a SWAT team that mistakenly invaded his house. Why these clients? Because he believes everyone is entitled to a fair trial, even if he, Sebastian, has to cheat to secure one. He hates injustice, doesn’t like insurance companies, banks, or big corporations; he distrusts all levels of government and laughs at the justice system’s notions of ethical behavior.

I liked the book all they way through until the end. I was listening to the book so I didn't realize I was at the end until I heard "Thank you for listening to Audible, we hope you have enjoyed..."
The ending was very unsatisfying. I wanted more closure I guess.