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The Street Lawyer Author: John Grisham Binding: Paperback Published: 2005-04-26 ISBN: 0385339097 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours from Delta Price: $11.20 Editorial Review: Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three 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 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. From the Hardcover edition. Looking for a romantic, hardboiled legal drama with a social conscience? Look no further. This audio version of John Grisham's blockbuster The Street Lawyer is narrated by Michael Beck (The Golden Seal, Xanadu), whose portrayal of the similarly named Michael Brock, with his squeaky-clean voice and crisp annunciation, is in perfect pitch with the corporate attorney's Ivy League image. Beck's believable, engaging performance is compelling, drawing the listener into Brock's charmed life and his decision to quit the firm after being held hostage by a disgruntled homeless man. Moved by a crisis of conscience, Brock seeks out the gravel-throated, streetwise legal aid counselor Mordecai Green. Green shows him the ropes, and Brock soon becomes part of the scenery he used to look down on from his plush 14th-floor office. Meanwhile, our hero is on the lam for stealing an important file that holds the secret to an illegal eviction--one that may lead to a murder charge. Faced with a failing marriage, a client on crack, and the threat of disbarment, Michael has plenty to think about as he and Mordecai negotiate a fair settlement for the victims of an inexcusable crime. (Running time: 360 minutes; 4 cassettes) Award-winning narrator Frank Muller delivers a poignant and candid reading in this unabridged courtroom drama. Muller's first-person delivery embraces Michael Brock's complexities as he grapples with a burgeoning conscience. With Brock's revelation that "I am a human first, then a lawyer," he is transformed from a rigid middle-class male into a compassionate Robin Hood-like character. Muller flawlessly interchanges voices and gives a powerful delivery worthy of character who heroically sacrifices everything to become an advocate for the homeless. (Running time: 11 hours, 12 cassettes) --Gina Kaysen Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0 "Ideals lost and regained" "Just a step away" "Boring boring boring and more boring. Did I mention it's boring?" "A Lawyer Develops a Heart for the Homeless"   Ready to buy? Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 You save: $2.80 (20%)

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

• Ideals lost and regained
  Michael Brock had grand ideals of serving humanity when he entered law school. When he graduated and joined a leadinng Washington, D.C., law firm, the realities set in. Success was measured by billable hours, and the competition to be one of the few who advanced to partner was intense. Practicing trust law meant few contacts with actual people except other attorneys. The practice of law was an jealous mistress. There was little time for anything else, and the divorce rate was high.
  Invasion of the law... more info

• Just a step away
  Many people that I know live from paycheck to paycheck. Housing prices are out of sight. Gasoline prices for commuting have gone past $4 a gallon. Grain prices are high and food prices are up. This is an era of downsizing and outsourcing. Job security may be tenuous. Everyone except the president seems to know that the country is in a recession and that things will get worse before they get better. Someone, observing the homeless, said that he was only a short step away from joining them. This novel... more info

• Boring boring boring and more boring. Did I mention it's boring?
  Booooooooorrrring!!! Too much of a snoozer to finish reading it. I can see why they didn't make a feature film out of this Grisham book

• A Lawyer Develops a Heart for the Homeless
  This is an arresting novel about a corporate lawyer who is taken hostage by a desperate homeless mannamed Devon Hardy. He survives physically, but is forever changed internally. Michael Brock develops a heart for the homeless, while also discovering that it was his firm that wrongfully evicted this man along with 16 others.
  Michael deceitfully steals a file containing the evidence for this wrongful eviction. Soon enough, his former employee becomes his enemy.
  John Grisham is certainly out to prick... more info

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