Reviews

Gray Mountain by John Grisham

the_enobee's review

3.0

I enjoyed Gray Mountain, but I admit I'm a sucker for Grisham novels. I feel like this book was almost a prequel as it appears to be all back story explaining how the main character came to be in their current situation. Kind of a strange way to kick off a new series, but I did enjoy the book. Just not the typical barn-burner of a legal thriller with the bad guys getting theirs.

laramarler's review

emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

While I don’t disagree with the anti-coal mining rhetoric laid out  repeatedly in the first half of the book, it was a bit overdone. The second half was a far better read. 

akharnish's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

bookrantreviews's review

4.0

“She loved Manhattan and could not imagine living anywhere else, but her world was upside down now, and, well, there was nothing certain in her future.”

Twenty-nine year old Samantha Kofer is an associate at a huge New York law firm. She works 100 hours per week doing grunt work that she hates, but she’s earning $180,000 a year and is on track to be a partner by the age of 35, raking in millions. She has an apartment she shares with an associate from another firm and was content with the lifestyle her income afforded her, even if she doesn’t have much free time to enjoy it.

When readers meet Samantha, it’s September 2008 and day ten of the Lehman Brothers crash. Law firms in New York City are in a panic and shedding associates quicker than an Eskimo sheds clothes in the desert. Samantha’s just one of the many associates turned out onto the street, laid off in a city that now offers no prospects of another job. She only has one consolation. If she will agree to intern for a nonprofit agency for a year, she can keep her health benefits and a chance of being rehired by her firm if and when there is a rebound. Samantha bulks at the idea of working for free for an entire year, but soon accepts an internship at the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic in Brady, Virginia, right smack dab in the middle of Appalachia.

Samantha’s boss at the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic is Mattie Wyatt, who has kept the clinic running for twenty-six years. Her job at the clinic is to provide legal services to those who come in for help, all of whom are too poor to be able to afford a lawyer on their own. She deals with a variety of cases from an abused wife who wants to escape her abusive, drug dealing husband, an elderly lady who needs Samantha to draft her will, and a man who is dying of black-lung disease and seeks compensation from his employer.

Big Coal is corrupt, and Samantha learns firsthand just how corrupt from her clients, Mattie and Mattie’s nephew, attorney Donovan Gray. The mining companies are not held at all accountable for their actions no matter who or what they hurt. Doctors, lawyers, and politicians testify in favor of Big Coal to protect companies from being forced to compensate employees who suffer from black-lung. Regulations are overlooked in favor of profit, even when two children lose their lives as a result.

Whereas Mattie and Samantha defend the little people whose lives have been destroyed because of Big Coal, Donovan wages a one-man crusade against the Big Coal companies, a crusade that’s sure to win him plenty of high powered enemies. The two big cases he is working on involve strip mining, or the process of removing the top of mountains to mine the seams of coal instead of digging for it. It’s cheaper for coal companies, but it’s deadly to all that lives below the mountain, such as wildlife, streams, and human beings. As the story unfolds, a murder occurs. Samantha must decide if she wants to retreat back home to New York City or stay and fight for the people who need her most.

Many of Grisham’s novels deal with legal and political issues, such as insurance fraud, homelessness, and capital punishment. Grisham as a writer has a certain magic about him, one that allows him to bring serious topics into his books and make readers care about them. The man can create activists out of couch potatoes just by telling a fictional tale. He has done that again with “Gray Mountain”. The story he tells of Big Coal and strip mining will grab your interest, even if neither of those topics have interested you in the past. You’ll turn the pages and keep reading, wanting to know what happens as you begin to hate Big Coal as much as Mattie, Samantha, and Donovan Gray. When you’re finished, you’ll Google strip mining because -- well, Grisham is just that good.

Truth be told, compared to his other novels, the characters in “Gray Mountain” were flimsy cardboard cutouts. We expect vivid characters as much as we expect fascinating storylines from Grisham, and he just doesn’t quite deliver this time. But I’m not sure that even matters. Gray’s Mountain is not thin in the pages at all, and I finished it in less than two days. It’s a great book. Great story. Great writing. Grisham gets the job done again. Four stars.

mg_in_md_'s review

3.0

I was fortunate to win a copy of this book via a FirstReads giveaway, so my review is based on that copy. The story is set during the 2008 financial meltdown and begins with the protagonist, Samantha Kofer, working at a Big Law firm in New York City. She loses her job as a result of the economic downturn but is dangled an offer by her employer...rather than being fired, she will be furloughed and is promised an opportunity to return to the firm in a year's time if she takes an unpaid job at a legal aid clinic. She eventually finds a legal aid clinic deep in the heart of Appalachia, specifically Brady, Virginia, that still has an opening available. Within a matter of days, she moves from the bustle of Manhattan to the rural town of Brady. She soon begins to learn about Big Coal, which appears to be even more cutthroat than Big Law. Samantha's prior legal experience consisted of reviewing documents from the safety of a desk, so she must overcome her trepidation about seeing the inside of a courtroom. While I found the coal mining issue and premise of the book interesting, I found the secondary characters more compelling than the heroine. Personality-wise, it seemed like she would've been eaten alive at a Big Law firm in the heart of NYC, so she seemed too timid to me and that the people she worked with in Appalachia were bolder and braver...and more suited for the Big Apple than she appeared to be. Overall, the book was a fast read and a fine story, but I wouldn't rank it among my favorites by Grisham. I did appreciate getting reacquainted with the author though since it's been some time since I've read one of his legal thrillers. Thanks again to the FirstReads program for giving me the chance to check this one out!

kendikarimi's review

adventurous informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

lisawhelpley's review

3.0

I wasn't in love with the main character. For a Grisham book, this one seemed like it didn't go as in-depth on the characters as others. I didn't really care enough about what I was reading to enjoy it beyond a 3 out of 5 ranking.

rmarcin's review

3.0

Interesting look into the life of a young lawyer caught in the downsizing due to the recession and her options due to that. She moves to rural VA where she becomes embroiled in the issues surrounding the coal industry: strip mining, black lung, environmental concerns. It wasn't as exciting to me as other Grisham books, so not a favorite.

mtnmomma's review

3.0

This book started off very slowly for my liking. While it was filled with carefully researched information to support the story, Samantha was incredibly boring to follow.

Her character drained the story of any real interest for me. I managed to read the whole book, thinking it would pick up. The few 'exciting' moments of action were really very luke warm, compared to Grisham's previous books.

Overall, I was very disappointed with John Grisham. For the first time really. I absolutely love his books and his style of writing. This book, I'm hoping, will be the random one that just falls flat while the others shine.

ecleirs23's review against another edition

2.0

This book is unusual one. Starts with good pace, becomes pretty swift read, and then it suddenly ends! It feels like 8-9 short stories were put together and tried to create a novel. On second thought, certain things should be kept unfinished, unresolved. That makes you think about that unresolved thing more often. The book has strong female lead, likable one. Hope she will appear more often in future books.