The Racketeer

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: JD Jackson

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

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....

Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever new novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

©2012 Belfry Holdings, Inc. (P)2012 Random House Audio

Great story

This story kept me riveted through the entire book!! Once again Grisham has nailed it!

This was sooooo good!

I’m appointed by John Grisham, but this book made me so happy. It’s rare for a white man to write a black character and empower him, make him intelligent, and let him be the one who wins at the end. The twists and turns in this book are crazy good! You won’t be disappointed!

Indeed fantasy

So many things fall into place. So many things-all things—go just right. Truly was a work of fiction on steroids. Nice story with a good ending, but not Mr. Grisham’s best work, but a fun diversion.

Full of twists and turns!

I loved this book! It was different than most Grisham books, but it was incredibly interesting!

Another Grisham great novel

Held my interest with twisting plot. Storytelling at its best that captured my imagination. I could easily picture each setting.

Fascinating plot but

It was riveting to watch this unfairly incarcerated lawyer get his own and more back from the feds. But reader sympathies go haywire when he cons and abuses a hapless uneducated guy who still cries over the death at police hands of his brother. And finding out the Truth about him doesn’t help

Great listen. Recommend

Another Grisham success. Wonderful story line. Narration seems to drag at first, but it does pick up. Any adult can enjoy this.

Kept me interested

I enjoyed this book. I did get a little lost in the middle during the character development of Nat. It comes together in the end, so trust the process. I almost stopped listening because it seemed so off the wall and I didn’t understand why the main characters were harassing him so much. Just keep listening.

great story

Loved the story and unexpected turns. wish the narrator would have been a bit more animated but nice reader.

Excellent Narration and Subpar ending

Let’s face it. Grisham is o e if the greatest story tellers of our time, so the bar keeps getting pushed higher and the need for new and unused material keeps becoming harder to find. Overall this is a typical Novel by Grisham with twists and turns that can surprise his fans but not totally. Every fact laid out is in question from the beginning and by the time you reach the end, it’s not hard to figure out. Some of the cleanup details and explanations in the last chapters seemed a little cheesy to me. The letters written by the main character to the FBI just came off as childish. It felt like Grisham lost I treat in his own novel. The end is cleaned up nicely but not without some shoulda coulda woulda moments by an experienced top selling author. I gave this three stars because it’s a great read with an awesome performance by the narrator. But overall, the book slips in areas and the supporting facts throughout are sloppy for a Grisham novel. Just my opinion. And I’m no writer, but I am a huge fan. This story is another testament to John Grisham’s ability to tell a story that keeps you turning pages until the end.