The Client Novel Analysis

The novel The Client of John Grisham evolves with the struggles of a young boy who had witnessed a suicide incident and who almost knew everything about a very serious crime but felt so uncertain to deal with these changes and consequences of the situations that happened. Mark Sway, the young hero of the novel (and also of the movie because it was filmed by famous Hollywood stars), was the aggressive type of person who wanted to try and sneak out on all things. And coincidentally, he and his younger brother, Ricky, had seen and experienced to get involved in the suicidal attempt of a depressed lawyer, in the character of Jerome Clifford.

Mark is a smart boy that in spite of the butterflies in his stomach, he still had managed to stand and think over the right way to handle such situations. He knew a very confidential and complicated information regarding a controversial murder of a US senator but he was brave enough to mingle with the circumstances that arose because of this unwanted and unpredictable confirmation of Atty. Clifford before he committed suicide.

The story was full of conflicting interests as shown by the district attorney, Roy Foltrigg, who is very eager to solve the case and who almost tortured Mark, both mentally and emotionally. And the neophyte, Reggie Love, who at first hesitant to accept Mark as a client, but sooner had made a remarkable part on the story, when she persisted and fought for Mark's individual rights as a witness.

You can hardly breathe on your seat when Reggie and Mark secretly spied on the late Atty. Clifford's house because they are trying to prove if Atty. Clifford was honest in saying that the senator's corpse was buried under his boat in the garage. In reality, it was insane to see an attorney and her client sneaking out somebody's house in the middle of the night just to come up with something they can put up as evidence. And fortunately, it was very exhilarating to know that they found the body and it's like winning a basketball game because it is an obvious victory on their part.

It was also touching to see that Reggie and Mark's relationship is not just a plain and formal attorney-client relationship as everyone expected. In spite of their age gap and differences in level of interests and views, they had maintained to get close as friends and stay comfortable in each other's company. The story also showed the affectionate side of Mark as a brother when he felt guilty as his brother, Ricky, went through a traumatic phase about the suicide. This grossly affected his decisions whether he will continue or not.

The character of Roy Foltrigg made also an outstanding role in the novel because being the district attorney and being completely responsible for the resolution of the murder case, he turned out to be so persuasive and eager to hear Mark's revelations regarding the crime.