The Rooster Bar: A Novel

First, I'd like to say that I'm an avid Grisham fan. I've read everything he's written (including his children's stories) and have always enjoyed them. However, "The Rooster Bar" was very disappointing in so many ways. The first three-fourths of the book was just downright boring and slightly depressing. Two of the three main characters were borderline repulsive and the third female character came across as stupid and insulting to me as a female. There was a lot of unnecessary repetition about the theme. I truly struggled to get through this read. What were you thinking Mr. Grisham?

I'm done with Grisham. I've read all of his books, but his latest ones have severely declined in both imagination and writing quality. Much of the early part of "The Rooster Bar" is simply the author on a soapbox, this time about law school student debt. Character names are cringe-worthy: Hadley Caviness, Wilson Featherstone, Chap Gronski. Female characters are always described by where their skirt falls on their thigh, and they serve no dramatic purpose. Cops do nothing but "snarl," and at one point they do it three times on a single page. Does Mr. Grisham no longer have an editor? Or a thesaurus? I found the main characters so annoying that I was actively rooting for them to fail. But of course, as in every other Grisham novel, they somehow manage to transfer millions of dollars to an offshore bank and live out the rest of their lives in a secluded tropical paradise. If Grisham won't take more time and care in writing his novels, I'm not going to waste my time reading them.

Struggled through 400 pages of Grisham's characters complaining about student loans and immigration strong-arm tactics. All the student loan servicing officials were mean and stupid and immigration officials were thugs. Meanwhile the plot wandered around with the far-fetched assumption that law students could successfully pose as lawyers in criminal courts. The final scam doesn't pass even a friendly giggle test. Grisham clearly sees himself as a social crusader - just turning out dribble to fill the pages. He can't even get a 4/5 rating anymore on Amazon.

A real cynical, bleeding-heart, boring tale of two losers who end up getting away with their scarcely-believable criminal activity while thumbing their noses at the nasty, evil, law enforcement people who annoyingly insist that we follow the rules. I have always enjoyed reading Grisham, but was really toughing it out to reach the end of this depressing effort. Maybe he should make a career switch to politics.

I was very disappointed in this last publication. It did not intrigue me from the beginning as all his other books did. The characters were hardly believable. The action was repetitive, the ending was flat. This was not the great story telling that one comes to expect with his books. Even the sentence structure was below par. I am not quick to criticize, but this time it is merited.

Let me preface my review by saying that I love John Grisham novels. I usually devour them in two or three days. It took me three WEEKS to finish this one—that alone should tell you a great deal. Honestly, I did not like a single one of the protagonists. Let’s recap: three law students choose to go to a private law school unaffiliated with any college or university in DC. Apparently it takes them three years to figure out that few people graduate/pass the bar/find jobs. They complain that the brochure was misleading. The brochure? They chose to spend thousands of dollars based on a brochure? Obviously none of their classes covered the concept of due diligence. They want to get even so they do so by dropping out and practicing law without a license. That’s right, they get even with the school and it’s owner by scamming people in some of the worst moments of their life. Grisham manages to wrap this all up with them scamming the scammers and paying off their student loans. So the bad guys lose. But who wins? Certainly not their clients who hired them in good faith. Certainly not their families who will probably never see them again. I just kept thinking that these guys were not much better than the people who ran the law school. One last thing: supposedly all this was triggered by the death of their friend but it angered me to see this become more of an excuse than a real motivation. I really hope Grisham’s next novel will give me someone I want to root for

I am a huge John Grisham fan. However his past few novels have been hit or miss. This one is a miss for me. The civics lesson, got it. The Wells Fargo banking scam, got it. Made for profit schools, got it. Maybe it's a sign of our current times that there is such apathy about right and wrong. John, I love your David vs Goliath storylines, stick to them. Your characters are likable with a moral compass. This book is about unlikable characters trying to screw more unlikable characters who end up screwing everyone.

I am a huge John Grisham fan. But I was very disappointed with THE ROOSTER BAR. The story was slow and draggy throughout the book. I found it very predictable and boring. The characters were not likable nor redeemable. They were like today’s “snowflakes”. They accepted the money quickly but tried to find ways to not pay it back.

Without a doubt the worst Grisham book I've ever read... struggled, but persevered to complete it. That he has contractually obliged (so I understand) to write one every year clearly showed...

Ah, Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Back to school, the weather starts to nip, boots and coats are dug out of the closet, the leaves change colour and…it is time for a new John Grisham release. I always equate this time of year with the time to get a new one of his book. I now always have them on pre-order so I get them the day they come out, because I absolutely love his books. Always an edge-of-your-seat, irresistible combination of thriller and legal puzzle, his book are guaranteed to keep me glued to the pages from start to finish. I normally devour them as soon as they are out.So imagine my surprise when, whilst waiting for his new book The Reckoning to be published, I realised that I hadn’t read last year’s release, The Rooster Bar. How did that happen? I can’t imagine except that my memory is like a sieve these days (I blame my age and hormones. In fact, it is even possible that I have read it and forgotten, things have got that bad.) Anyway, happy days – I now had another unread John Grisham to enjoy on my recent holiday.I am always fascinated as to where authors get their ideas for novels from and there is an interesting note at the back of this book where Grisham reveals that the idea for this novel came from an article he read about the level of debt students in the US were taking on in order to put themselves through law school. Quite how he goes from what sounds like quite a dull article, particularly to non-lawyers, to a nail-biting thriller is the nature of his genius, because somehow he manages to spin it in to one of his classic plots that kept me up late desperate to get to the end.The plot of this book is quite outrageous and I think you need to suspend your disbelief to buy in to it, but that is true of most thrillers, which are by their nature outlandish and pushing the boundaries of what is probable. These books are pure escapism, sometimes keeping only a slight grasp on reality and I am sure the court system in the USA would be outraged to think this could possibly happen (although I am now waiting for someone to tell me that it has been done.) Anyway, likelihood aside, the plot is original and gripping and an interesting spin on the ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ roles as the protagonists are actually breaking the law but we still end up rooting for them, despite the fact that they are jeopardising the futures of their clients, because they themselves are victims in some respects. Should they get away scot-free? Is what happens to them justice? I don’t want to give anything away by revealing my thoughts but I think you will find more to ponder in these books than people often give Grisham credit for.When I have revealed to people in the past what a massive fan I am of John Grisham’s books, I have met with some literary snobbery, most particularly from people who have never read any of his books. Well, firstly, I would query whether you can form a valid opinion of an author without reading a word they have written. And, secondly, you don’t sell as many books as John Grisham has without being able to write. He is the master of creating a taut, exciting and interesting thriller and this one is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I always do, and can’t wait to read his new book.

These days Grisham 's books are pretty average , it seems a long time since he wrote anything of substance. The Rooster Bar is ok as a lightweight weekend read but that's about it. I found the storyline a little far fetched and the subplot distracting and didn't add much to the book. JG can do so much better.

I am a big John Grisham fan but was disappointed with this book, as I have been the last few. Not a patch on his earlier work and I really struggled to find anything in the first third to keep me reading it. I persevered but it didn't get much better. Sorry to complain but I feel that at £9.99 for kindle, it should have been better

This was one of the three John Grishams novels I recently read back-to-back. Unfortunately this one was probably one of the poorer novels - The Confession being the better one. The Rooster Bar was a bit cliched in parts and not as tense as some of the other novels by Grisham. The characters themselves were not delved into in any great detail and I found little empathy with the leads. Overall an okay-ish read.*** Please could you click Yes if my review has helped you in any way ***