"The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham

Audible.com Summary:

Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. firm with 800 lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was 3 years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street-lawyer. And a thief.

After "The Partner" I moved on to "The Street Lawyer". It was an easy flow since Frank Muller narrated this as well. This is a great story that shows that not all lawyers are scum... some will do what's right instead of what's easy.

Author: John Grisham
Narrator: Frank Muller
Running Time: 10 hours and 30 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: *****
(out of 5 stars)

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"The Partner" by John Grisham

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They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in a small town in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well. But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes. From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm's offshore account. And Patrick fled some more. But they found him.

Quite a change in pace after just finishing Stephen King's "Cell"! The Partner is a great story with rich characters. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the ending but it wasn't bad enough to ruin the whole story. Production gets 5 stars because Frank Muller is one of the BEST in his business.

Author: John Grisham
Narrator: Frank Muller
Running Time: 12 hours
Book Rating: ****
Production: *****
(out of 5 stars)

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"Cell" by Stephen King

Audible.com Summary:

On October 1st, God is in His heaven, the stock market stands at 10,140, most of the planes are on time, and Clayton Riddell, an artist from Maine, is almost bouncing up Boylston Street in Boston. He's just landed a comic book deal that might finally enable him to support his family by making art instead of teaching it. He's already picked up a gift for his long-suffering wife, and he knows just what he'll get for his boy Johnny. Why not a little treat for himself? Clay's feeling good about the future. That changes in a hurry. The cause of the devastation is a phenomenon that will come to be known as The Pulse, and the delivery method is a cell phone. Everyone's cell phone. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature...and then begins to evolve. There are one hundred and ninety-three million cell phones in the United States alone. Who doesn't have one? Stephen King's utterly gripping, gory, and fascinating novel doesn't just ask the question "Can you hear me now?" It answers it with a vengeance.

3 Words... ABSOLUTELY KICK ASS!!!! This is a book where my commute listening was not enough. Not only would I stay in my car some extra time after I got home... but I sat in my car, in my garage, after the kids went to bed and listened while having a cigar. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK and can't wait for the movie (coming in 2007 with Eli Roth (the twisted fuck who wrote and directed Hostel) at the helm) but then again, I'm a sucker for a good zombie story... even if these aren't your "normal" every day zombies.

I gave the production 3 stars because there were several points in the narration that for some reason or another was redubbed with someone else's voice. A bit distracting, yes... but it didn't ruin the flow of this nail biting story.

Author: Stephen King
Narrator: Campbell Scott
Running Time: 12 hours and 29 min.
Book Rating: *****
Production: ***
(out of 5 stars)

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