Book #38. The Racketeer,
by John Grisham. Unabridged audio.
It has been a few years since I
read any Grisham, and they are starting to pile up in my to-be-read list. So I figured
I’d start with this one.
The plot starts with federal
convict Malcolm Bannister half way through his 10-year prison term, having been caught up in a racketeering case that he was only barely involved with. In that
time, the man has been disbarred, divorced, and lost contact with his son. And
he is nursing a bitter grudge against the Federal Government.
He gets his
chance at freedom and revenge when a federal judge is murdered. The FBI has no
idea who killed the judge, but Bannister does. He also knows that the judge has
millions of dollars of gold bars hidden somewhere, and he has a plan to get his
hands on them.
This is a fast-paced, exciting
novel. Similar to many of Grisham’s protagonists, Bannister is a smart,
self-assured fellow. He is always the smartest man in the room, but he is
facing tough odds in this one. Major institutions are aligned against him. One
way that Bannister is unique in Grisham’s novels in that he is
African-American. Grisham has written about race before, but this book only
tangentially touches on the topic. It’s an interesting story into which to insert
an African-American lead.
This was a solid novel, start to finish. There are
hints along the way, but the details of Bannister’s plot did surprise me. I enjoyed this read very
much.
Source: public library
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