Gray Mountain - A Novel

Zusatztext “[An] important new novel . . . superior entertainment.” — The Washington Post   “Powerful . . . a satisfying! old-fashioned! good guy/bad guy legal thriller.” — The Christian Science Monitor   “Yes! Gray Mountain is fiction. But after reading the book! you’ll believe heroic action must be taken.” — USA Today   “Grisham has written one of his best legal dramas.” —Associated Press Informationen zum Autor John Grisham Klappentext #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader's Circle for author chats and more. The year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer's career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track-until the recession hits and she is downsized, furloughed, and escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, all for a slim chance of getting rehired. In a matter of days Samantha moves from Manhattan to Brady, Virginia, population 2,200, in the heart of Appalachia, a part of the world she has only read about. Samantha's new job takes her into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, where laws are often broken, communities are divided, and the land itself is under attack. But some of the locals aren't so thrilled to have a big-city lawyer in town, and within weeks Samantha is engulfed in litigation that turns deadly. Because like most small towns, Brady harbors big secrets that some will kill to conceal. Praise for Gray Mountain "[An] important new novel . . . superior entertainment."-The Washington Post "Powerful . . . a satisfying, old-fashioned, good guy/bad guy legal thriller."-The Christian Science Monitor "Yes, Gray Mountain is fiction. But after reading the book, you'll believe heroic action must be taken."-USA Today "Grisham has written one of his best legal dramas."-Associated Press1 The horror was in the waiting--the unknown, the insomnia, the ulcers. Co-workers ignored each other and hid behind locked doors. Secretaries and paralegals passed along the rumors and refused eye contact. Everyone was on edge, wondering, "Who might be next?" The partners, the big boys, appeared shell-shocked and wanted no contact with their underlings. They might soon be ordered to slaughter them. The gossip was brutal. Ten associates in Litigation terminated; partially true--only seven. The entire Estate division closed, partners and all; true. Eight partners in Antitrust jumping to another firm; false, for now. The atmosphere was so toxic that Samantha left the building whenever possible and worked with her laptop in coffee shops around lower Manhattan. She sat on a park bench one pleasant day--day ten after the fall of Lehman Brothers--and gazed at the tall building down the street. It was called 110 Broad, and the top half was leased by Scully & Pershing, the biggest law firm the world had ever seen. Her firm, for now, though the future was anything but certain. Two thousand lawyers in twenty countries, half of them in New York City alone, a thousand right up there packed together on floors 30 through 65. How many wanted to jump? She couldn't guess, but she wasn't the only one. The world's largest firm was shrinking in chaos, as were its competitors. Big Law, as it was known, was just as panicked as the hedge funds, investment banks, real banks, insurance conglomerates, Washington, and on down the food chain to the merchants on Main Street. Day ten passed without bloodshed, as did the next. On day twelve there was a flash of optimism as Ben, one of Samantha's colleagues, shared a rumor that credit markets in London were loosening a bit. Borrowers might find some cash after all. But late that afternoon the rumor had run o...

Product details

• Authors: John Grisham
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2015
• EAN: 9781101964873
• ISBN: 978-1-101-96487-3
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 134 mm x 203 mm x 21 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense