“the master of the legal thriller” JOHN GRISHAM “the master of the legal thriller”

John Ray Grisham, Jr. (born February 8, 1955)  is an American lawyer, politician, and author, best known for his popular  legal thrillers. His books have been translated into forty-two languages. John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University . He went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990. He used to work about 60/70 hour a week. His hobby was writing but he didn’t have enough time, so he started getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work. Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987 and published it in June 1988. The book had a lot of success, so it stopped being a hobby and turned it into a new full-time career.

After A Time to Kill, John started writing one novel a year, the most important are: The firm (turned into a movie) The rainmaker The testament The summons The broker

john’s childhood In an interview John said that when he was a kid he had some experiencies that inspired him. One of them is that his mother didn’t believe in television , she didn’t like it. But she did believe in books, so since John was a kid he started reading. “We spent our time reading, reading to each other. And my mother spent a lot of time reading to us. I've always had a love for books and a love for literature and a love for reading. Oddly, I never thought about writing until late in life.” He also said he had the benefit of some very good high school English teachers, in particulary  Francis McGuffey, who is still in touch with him. From the age of 6 to 20 John wanted to play professional baseball, like every kid. He says it took a long time to realize he didn't have the talent to play. Before his junior year in college he said to himself "Enough of the partying, it's time to get busy and get serious" at the same decided to forget about baseball, and at that point, he was no longer a kid. 

There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (THE FIRM, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE CLIENT, A TIME TO KILL, THE RAINMAKER, THE CHAMBER, A PAINTED HOUSE, THE RUNAWAY JURY, and SKIPPING CHRISTMAS). The most recent book is Gray Mountain, and it had a lot of success: “Searing.” —The Washington Post “Powerful.” —The Christian Science Monitor “One of his best legal dramas in quite some time.” —Associated Press “ My success was not planned, but it could only happen in America. We entertain the world. There are very few foreign authors that sell here. There are a lot of American authors who sell well around the world. There are very few foreign movies that anybody will watch here. Yet our movies and our music are watched and listened to around the world. ”

a writer and a lawyer ― John Grisham Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full- time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books’ protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients’ case, earning them a jury award of $683,500—the biggest verdict of his career. In may 1997, in an interview John said he doesn´t want to be in a courtroom again: “ Book Report: You tried a case last year. Think you'll do it again? John Grisham: We won, and I was thrilled to leave the courtroom. I cannot see myself returning. Trial work is quite stressful when you do it every day, and I had not seen a courtroom in eight years. Never say never --- but never again. ” “I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.” ― John Grisham

When he's not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA. John and renee