The ClientBy: John Grisham

What is a “Courtroom thriller/” Grisham was a lawyer for 10 years.

• Specialized in criminal defense and personal injury claims.

Many of John Grisham’s novels are considered ‘courtroom thrillers’ because they have a legal background.

Thriller genre: a novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, usually involving crime or spying.

What is a “Client?” Someone who gets services or advice

from a professional person, company, or organization

Also can be considered a customer.

Cover Analysis What do you see on the front cover? What is the tone that is expressed by

the characters on the front cover? How do you think the boy is feeling?

Why do you think this? What do you think the story will be

about?

The FBI Stands for the Federal Bureau of

Investigation The police department in the US that

is controlled by the central government

Deals with crimes that break national laws rather than state laws

http://www.fbi.gov/

The Mafia A large organized group of criminals

who control many illegal activities, especially in Italy and the US

The Mafia in the United States

The American Mafia is an Italian-American organized-crime network with operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York and Chicago.

Came to power through its success in the illegal liquor trade during the 1920s Prohibition era.

After Prohibition, the Mafia moved into other criminal ventures, from drug trafficking to illegal gambling,

The Mafia’s violent crimes, secret rituals and notorious characters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have fascinated the public and become a part of popular culture.

The government tried to convict high-ranking mobsters and weaken the Mafia.

However, it remains in business today.

Chapters 1-4 Vocabulary 1. Trailer: a vehicle that can be pulled behind a car

and used as someone’s home

2. Tail pipe: a pipe on a vehicle or machine through which gas or steam passes

3. Urgently: doing something or dealing with something immediately (right away) because it is very important

4. Restless: unwilling to keep still or stay where you are, especially because you are nervous or bored

Trailer

Tail Pipe of a Car

Chapters 1-4 Vocabulary 5. innocent: not having much experience of the bad things in

the world, so that you are easily deceived…*when talking about age

6. “full of holes”: an argument or plan that cannot stand up to challenge because it has many problems or missing pieces

7. “go mad”: go crazy

8. Prison: a building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime, or while they are waiting to go to court for their trial

9.Trial: a legal process in which a judge and often a jury in a court of law examine information to decide whether someone is guilty of a crime

Chapters 1-4 Vocabulary 10. shiny: smooth and bright

11.senator: a member of the Senate (the smaller and more important of the two parts of the government with the power to make laws)

12. fingerprints: a mark made by the pattern of lines at the end of a person's finger, which is used by the police to find out who has committed a crime

13. thief: someone who steals things from another person or place

14. “The lift”: an elevator

Shiny

Fingerprint

Characters (Chapters 1-4) Mark:

• Protagonist• Witnessed Jerome Clifford’s death• Knows where the senator’s dead body is

hidden

Ricky: • Mark’s younger brother• Also witnessed Jerome Clifford’s death• Is in shock after witnessing Jerome’s death• In the hospital from the shock

Characters (Chapters 1-4) Jerome Clifford:

• Barry the Blade’s lawyer• Killed himself out of fear of Barry

Barry Muldanno• Member of the New Orleans Mafia• Killed a US Senator and hid the body in Jerome’s

garage

Roy Foltrigg:• U.S. government lawyer• Job= prove that Barry killed the senator• Traveling to Memphis to investigate

Characters (Chapters 1-4) Slick Moeller (Alfred)

• Crime reporter for the Memphis Press• Wants to know more about Jerome Clifford’s death• Crime is his life

Jay McThume: • FBI Memphis detective working on the case

Larry Trumann: • FBI New Orleans detective working on the case

Gill Teal: • Lawyer that Mark sees in the hospital café• Mark took his business card from the table.