The financial future was bright, and Michael could have spent the rest of his working days assisting corporate clients with antitrust litigation. Michael was married to a woman from a wealthy family, and she was in medical school and headed for a lucrative practice as a surgeon. The partners generally netted salary and benefits in the $1 million range each year.

The experience led to a personal reevaluation of his position as an associate on the fast track to partnership in a firm at the top of the legal economic ladder. When he recovered from the shock, his world was never the same. Michael is so close to Mister at the time that he was covered with blood and initially thought he had been shot as well. The hostage experience comes to an abrupt end as Mister is shot by the police. Michael Brock gets off the elevator at his Washington megafirm to find himself minutes later held hostage in the firm’s conference room by a demented street person named simply, 'Mister.' Over the course of several hours he watches the man, and the seeds of a new perspective on life are planted. Grisham’s newest novel starts with a bang, quite literally.

The greed motif was apparent throughout the book, in stark contrast to the theme of The Street Lawyer. In The Partner, his last novel, the main character was motivated primarily by money as he put his former law partners through the ringer by making off with funds intended for them and a client. The answer depends on whether you are socially or economically oriented. Depending on your value system, Grisham deals with either the lower end of the legal ladder or the higher end. Journal Article: In The Street Lawyer, John Grisham has gone from one end of the legal world hierarchy to the other.

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham