The Rainmaker

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A taut and terrific page-turner” (Entertainment Weekly) from the master of the courtroom thriller

In development as a USA Network series starring John Slattery

It’s summer in Memphis. The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor’s shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels. Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life. Now he doesn’t have a job or a prayer—except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it.

By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him. And suddenly he’s in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings. A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill, and outright violence—a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land.

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

Critic reviews

“A mighty narrative talent and an unerring eye for hot-button issues . . . Grisham also reveals for the first time a surprising knack for comedy.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Great fun to read . . . The complex plotting is Grisham’s major accomplishment.”—Los Angeles Times

“Passages in The Rainmaker are reminiscent of Pat Conroy. . . . This is Grisham’s most barbed book since The Firm, and it is by far his most entertaining.”—People

“Melding the courtroom savvy of A Time to Kill with the psychological nuance of The Chamber, imbued with wry humor and rich characters, this bittersweet tale, the author’s quietest and most thoughtful, shows that Grisham’s imagination can hold its own in a courtroom as well as on the violent streets outside.”—Publishers Weekly

Really great book

Can’t say enough really great, I was up and down 30 times! Great listen but it

Good

It took a while to get into it but it was worth it once the plot developed more.

An Easy Read

A good story, an easy read, early Grisham, one of his best efforts. Impossible to read now without seeing Danny Divito as the paralawyer.

Excellent story bad editting

Excellent story and narration. Sadly editting is terrible with sentances repeating themselves and at some point in mid story a line letting me know the story continues on disc 8......

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.