Sparring Partners

“Mack pulled off the great escape. He left behind an unhappy marriage, a dismal career, and was on a beach somewhere, sipping rum. Or at least that was the fantasy among the lawyers he left behind.”

This passage is indicative of Grisham’s characterization of Mack as a roguish crook. Although readers of Grisham’s legalistic thrillers might not expect to feel sympathy for a man who abandoned his family, this passage shows how some colleagues view Mack’s past as an admirable adventure. Although Jake disapproves of Mack’s activities, he still helps his friend try to return to normal life.

“The two clients who got the twenty-five thousand in cash were Odell Grove and Jerrol Baker. Ask Harry Rex to check on them. Baker was stoned on meth when he signed the settlement agreement, so he could be dead, or in prison again. I don’t expect any trouble out of them.”

Mack’s crimes involve stealing settlement money from clients who were injured at their worksite. In this passage, Mack implies that he was able to manipulate these clients into accepting less than they were owed because of their addiction and legal issues. Mack’s intentional abuse of the legal system is essential to the novella’s subtle criticism of the system.

“She sat her lemonade down on a side table, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. She was a pitiful sight, and Dean and Stephanie ached for her. She knew she was dying, and now this. The past ten years had been hell.”

This passage is indicative of Grisham’s narrative flexibility: Here, the omniscient third-person narrator moves from inhabiting Drew Pettigrew in the first two sentences to his sister-in-law, Lisa, in the second two. By shifting from character to character throughout the novella, Grisham exposes the reader to a variety of perspectives on the action. In this instance, the devastating effects of Mack’s actions on his family are revealed for the first time.