The Rainmaker

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Grisham returns to the courtroom and weaves a riveting tale of legal intrigue and corporate greed.

Grisham's sixth spellbinding novel of legal intrigue and corporate greed displays all of the intricate plotting, fast-paced action, humor, and suspense that have made him the most popular author of our time.

In his first courtroom thriller since A Time To Kill, John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America -- and exposing a complex, multibillion-dollar insurance scam. In his final semester of law school Rudy Baylor is required to provide free legal advice to a group of senior citizens, and it is there that he meets his first "clients," Dot and Buddy Black.

Their son, Donny Ray, is dying of leukemia, and their insurance company has flatly refused to pay for his medical treatments. While Rudy is at first skeptical, he soon realizes that the Blacks really have been shockingly mistreated by the huge company, and that he just may have stumbled upon one of the largest insurance frauds anyone's ever seen -- and one of the most lucrative and important cases in the history of civil litigation. The problem is, Rudy's flat broke, has no job, hasn't even passed the bar, and is about to go head-to-head with one of the best defense attorneys -- and powerful industries -- in America.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

©1995 John Grisham (P)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Great fun to read.... The complex plotting is Grisham's major accomplishment." (Los Angeles Times)

"A taut and terrific page-turner." (Entertainment Weekly)

Great book - Shameful Production

Loved the story and the narration, however, there are issues with the production. On at least six occasions, the book pauses, then goes back about 15 seconds and reads back the same part. I am guessing this is due to the fact that it was converted from the CD version, as at one point in the book it tells you that “this book continues on disc 8.” Pretty embarrassing and unprofessional but overall does not diminish the quality of the work.

Frank Muller knows how to bring a story to life

An enjoyable book. No surprises, though. Generally, I prefer the book over the movie. The movie version here, though, is more compelling because it holds more suspense. It is interesting to see how the screenwriters adapted the book to do that. I suggest watching the movie as well as reading the book.

Great story, bad copy.

The recording is low quality and several sentences are repeated. I think it a poorly edited copy of a cassette recording.

Excellent

This was the first John Grisham book I read/listened to, and I must say, The Rainmaker is my personal favorite Grisham novel. Frank Muller was an excellent narrator- I actually found my heart thudding in my chest during some of the trial scenes!

There were a few a few sub-plots throughout the book, which is why I liked it so much, but others my find this distracting. Also, some may find the ending a bit anticlimactic. I was a little dissatisfied with the ending at first, but the more time I spend away from it, the more satisfying it became.

Classic Grisham but a bit dated

Would you listen to The Rainmaker again? Why?

The Rainmaker is classic Grisham with the usual twists and turns as another young lawyer learns to ply his trade. I really enjoyed the story, despite it being set in a world somewhat different from today - at least where technology is concerned. The performance was first rate. Muller was tops in his field - he could read the phone book and make that sound good. But the production values sucked. I'd estimate that at least 10 times a sentence or two was repeated - usually at the start of a chapter. And at least twice that I noticed, Muller said defense when he should of said plaintiff - or vice versa. Someone should have caught these errors. All in all though, it was still a good read (or I guess I should say, listen). Yes, I'll listen to it again someday.

Have you listened to any of Frank Muller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Typical Muller. He was great in everything he did but like a type cast actor whenever I hear his voice I first hear Roland Deschain.

Any additional comments?

Someone should listen to the damn thing before releasing it. Why all the repeated sentences?

great story

it had three story lines. It will obviously never be rewritten, but about 10 more chapters could have tied the two minor story lines up better. It felt to me like he tired out and just zipped them up as fast as he could once the main story completed.

Still I loved the book. It is very well narrated.

Best Grisham!

Best Grisham book yet. The Narration was perfect! So many twists and turns yet still easy to follow the lively characters.
Loved it!!

Gripping story-beautifully narrated.

One of Grisham's near best novels, but as with Prince of Tides (Pat Conway) muller took great story and read it right into a masterpiece. God rest Miller's soul. His haunting voice and range of accents (male and female) brings this story and its rich characters to life like reality.

Repeating

Certain parts in the recording kept repeating. But over all I really enjoyed the book

Great book

I was hooked after the first page and it only got better. Great book and I highly recommend.