Dene Mackenzie reviews John Grisham's The Rooster Bar. Published by Hachette.
Young New Zealanders with high levels of student loan debt should be encouraged to read the latest legal thriller from John Grisham.
The Rooster Bar details how four friends attend law school together, each year clocking up huge student loans from dubious lenders.
As they find the job market for graduates of a third-tier for-profit law school is not exactly flourishing, the situation takes a turn for the worse.
One of the friends becomes obsessed with trying to tie a law firm to the loan-shark bank specialising in student loans. And so the game begins.
The friends believe they have found a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the banks and the scam - hoping to make a few dollars on the way.
The United States law system is thankfully much different from that in New Zealand and the graphic detail of how non-graduates can stalk the law courts in Washington hunting for clients is almost addictive.
It seems so ridiculously simple, it is probably true.
But in the way of all good page-turning thrillers, Grisham creates several dramas along the way which will leave readers expecting a sticky end.
So as to not provide a spoiler; rest assured the exact details of the plot are not reached until the final two chapters and the fate of the friends is sealed in the last.
This is a variation on the legal thrillers Grisham has written in the past and it is a very welcome addition to his stable of books.
