Review: Sparring Partners by John Grisham

Plotting is John Grisham’s USP and law, his most-visited territory. Sparring Partners, his latest work, consists of three novellas. Homecoming revolves around a former lawyer. Strawberry Moon focuses on a death row inmate. Sparring Partners, the third story after which the collection is named, takes us inside the St Louis-based law firm Malloy & Malloy, where a lot is happening behind closed doors. Rusty and Kirk, the two Malloy brothers, had inherited the law firm after their father was sent to jail. The two brothers, or “sparring partners,” have contrasting personalities. They have different professional priorities and political leanings and cannot stand each other. The firm has a third unofficial partner, Diantha Bradshaw, the mediator between the Malloy brothers with an office in the “demilitarized” zone. Sparring Partners has conspiracy and suspense, which involves the father who wants to get out of jail and the sons who unite to stop that from happening. With the help of someone, the father has been transferring settlement money received annually for a tobacco case to offshore accounts. Neither the Malloy brothers nor Diantha know about it – until they do. Why do the Malloy brothers want their father to stay in jail? What is the father doing to walk out of it? Will Diantha remain quiet or act when her time comes? Sparring Partners answers these and many more questions as it reaches an interesting, but not unexpected, climax.Sparring Partners could have been a full-length novel. The father’s back story could have been interesting. Many readers will seek information on how pardons can be “sold” to those convicted of state crimes. In other words, this is a good story that could have been much better. Strawberry Moon is about Cody Wallace, a 29-year-old man awaiting execution after 14 years in prison. He and his brother Brian had come across a couple during a break-in, resulting in a shoot out and deaths. With death by needle three hours away, the inmate talks to his lawyer, the chaplain, the guard, the doctor, the warden and an 80-year-old visitor opposed to capital punishment, who had stayed in touch with him. Cody is an unusual prisoner. He has read close to 2,000 books because of the visitor’s generosity. He sounds philosophical when he says: “When we die, we’re dead. Nothing about us keeps living.” He believes God was “created by man for man’s own benefit.” Unlike most others on death row who want a sumptuous last meal before execution, he asks for simple food: a pizza and a shake. He also requests the guard on duty to help him fulfil a last wish. If Strawberry Moon makes us reflect on capital punishment, Homecoming sees the return of Jack Brigance, a familiar Grisham character. Jack is a lawyer in Ford County, the fictional setting of several of his stories. He is a friend of Mack Stafford, a former lawyer who has divorced his wife, filed for bankruptcy and left for somewhere unknown.There are times when lawyers succumb to temptation while handling their clients’ funds. Mack might have done the same and disappeared. Nothing happens until Mack calls up Jack one day. Jack decides that taking a break with his wife is not a bad idea, especially because Mack is paying for the trip. When they meet, he tells Jack he needs his help to meet his two daughters, who live with their ailing mother. Homecoming grabs the reader’s attention when Mack meets Margot, his rebellious elder daughter. She addresses him by his first name, smokes after taking formal permission that means nothing, and wants to flee her home town when her mother is no more. But the story about a man who has pocketed money from his settlement funds with forged notarization fails to exploit the possibilities offered by a fine idea. A quick read, this collection is nowhere near Grisham’s best. But a reader of best sellers who finds time for it won’t be entirely disappointed either. Biswadeep Ghosh is an independent journalist. He lives in Patna.

Review: Sparring Partners by John Grisham

Comprising three novellas, John Grisham’s latest work features stories about a former lawyer, a death row inmate, and a law firm where much is happening behind closed doors